Ed Miller

Senior Cook, R/V Melville

Ed Miller plays a key role on the R/V Melville working with one other cook, cooking three meals a day - seven days a week for months, keeping everyone working aboard the Melville healthy and satisfied!

Denise: When you are preparing for a cruise, how much food would you bring?
Ed: For six months, we'd purchase about 6,000 lbs of meat, 2,000 lbs frozen vegetables, ice cream, maybe 6-700 lbs of that.

Denise: Is that for 40 people, crew and scientists?
Ed: Approximately. Your usage depends on the age group. The younger they are the more they eat, the older the group is, the less they'll eat and they're a little more particular than the younger kids.

Denise: Do you know ahead of time what you're getting?
Ed: Not unless I've sailed with the group before, and a lot of them I have so I basically know what we have to do.

Denise: So when you go to port, recently we were in Port Moresby, do you restock vegetables, fruits, lettuce?
Ed: Fresh produce, some dairy and some meat, though I didn't buy a lot of meat here because you don't know what your getting and I don't trust it.

Denise: How much fresh produce do you get when you're in port?
Ed: For the last six week cruise, we went through about probably 1,500 lbs of produce alone, onions that's about 40 lbs/week.

Denise: And how do you keep your lettuce fresh for that time?
Ed: The drier you can keep it, the longer it will last. Humidity destroys produce, so we keep it as dry as we possibly can.

Denise: Do you refrigerate it and keep it dry?
Ed: Yeah, we keep it as dry as we possibly can, in a refrigerated area. And, if we get it done we usually order it wrapped in newspaper which helps it stay longer. You can do that at home too.

Denise: The fish we have onboard, is that primarily fish that we catch (on the Melville) at sea?
Ed: The fish we usually buy at port, but when we do get lucky, then we have fresh fish on board. Denise: Like tonight we have the two mackerel. So do they clean the fish?

Ed: Whoever catches it cleans it, and then I take it from there.
Denise: It's a lot of food.
Ed: It's a lot of people to be responsible for - keep healthy.

Denise: So how long have you been working here?
Ed: Here at Scripps since 1999.
Denise: And you've been working as a chef for how long.

Ed: Basically my whole life, since I was five. I got my working cook license which takes two years, and my Executive Chef license which takes four years.

Denise: What do you think is the hardest thing about being a chef onboard a ship?
Ed: I don't find it really that difficult. If you enjoy what you're doing, it's an easy job. But for those who don't like dealing with people seven days a week, it's a stressful job.

Denise: Do you get days off or are you working every day you're out here?
Ed: Yeah, we work seven days in a row, every day we're at sea, 10-12 hours a day.

Denise: So are you off two months then?
Ed: Yeah, rotation schedule, four on, two off.

Denise: Do you work on other ships aside from the Melville?
Ed: I work on the Revelle and the New Horizon. (Both are ships in the Scripps Institution of Oceanography fleet.)

Denise: Do you have a favorite?
Ed: The Melville.

Denise: What is your favorite part of working at sea?
Ed: The thing is you get to be creative, as long as creative juices are flowing you can be creative, and that is the whole thing to cooking.

Denise: Kind of an art form.
Ed: Yeah, I can't draw a straight line but I can cook a mean meal!