Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 06/98) - Living north of the 60th parallel, everyday items are not always easy to come by.

Now imagine if you happen to get a craving for a Big Mac or Kentucky Fried Chicken -- or even a pizza.

Stories of Northerners who return home with at least one box from a fast food restaurant are common. But if there are no immediate plans to travel to a bigger city, reliance on air cargo becomes essential -- even for everyday items.

For the Hamlet of Grise Fiord, all food items -- of any kind -- are delivered by Kenn Borek Air out of Resolute. Tim McCagherty, base manager for Kenn Borek Air, says that the residents of Grise Fiord can get anything they need.

"We fly in fresh produce, frozen meats, anything they need we can generally get from Yellowknife or Edmonton," he says. "All the food is ordered by the Co-op manager and then arrangements are made to fly it in."

McCagherty, who has worked for the charter service in Resolute for the past five years, says the dependence on air delivery keeps things hopping in the hangar -- not to mention a slave to Mother Nature.

"We fly when the weather is clear," he says. "Sometimes our schedule is controlled by the flights which are bring the deliveries to us.

"(Last Thursday) First Air was late coming in, and it had a delivery of fresh fruits and vegetables for Grise Fiord. We had to delay our flight four hours to accommodate that delay.

"But we got the produce delivered."

For fried chicken enthusiasts across the North, Kentucky Fried Chicken in Yellowknife will send their food to all communities in the North -- and some communities have been know to plan their special events around the flight schedule.

"Some communities are only serviced once or twice a week by the airlines," says KFC manager Euthelie Fabian. "So they try to plan their events around when the flights come in."

And while KFC will fly the food out to the communities, Fabian says many Northerners stop in on their way out of Yellowknife for a bucket of chicken.

But some communities who tried to bring in food items in the past have learned that satisfying people's craving is not always appreciated.

In Hall Beach, the manager of the Co-op says he used to have items such as cheeseburgers flown in for the people of Hall Beach, but that the practice has been stopped.

"The health department said it was taking too long for the food to get here," he says. "I guess it's become more important to bring in the people and not the cargo."