The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning pays homage to the scientists currently working in Antarctica but also the determined early scientists and explorers of this ice continent who endured unimaginable conditions surviving on penguin meat and dog paw stew. Taking inspiration from the journals and newsletters of historic polar explorers, such as Shackleton's South Polar Times and Sir Douglas Mawson's Adelie Blizzard, The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning draws on the journals, letters, recipes, menu plans and provision lists of Carol Devine and Wendy Trusler written from December 1995-March 1996. Woven throughout are modern and vintage photos and vignettes from Antarctica's short history. On one page, the reader joins the volunteers as they pick up rusty nails. On the next, they are in the mind and belly of Mawson, a lone scientist in 1912 in East Antarctica. The members of his sledging party have perished and he is left with little hope until he discovers a food stash left behind by previous explorers.