A MOVING FEAST
Look back at some of the greatest yachts in history, and you’ll notice that their menus hardly changed for decades. On April 13, 1912, for example, hours before
RMS Titanic struck the iceberg that led to its tragic sinking, guests in first class would have enjoyed a lavish 10 courses of fine French cuisine – including oysters, pâté de foie gras and sirloin of beef with parmentier potatoes – that would still be at home on a superyacht today. Fast-forward to 1935 on the RMS Ausonia , and it was a similar story – 10 courses again, and classical French in style, with dishes such as supreme of salmon, soufflé Rothschild and “French pastry.” The archives of the Royal Yacht Britannia make for similar reading. Occasionally, there’s an odd signifier of the times – in 1972, for example, a very 70s-sounding bombe glacée Cyrano sneaked on to the dining table – but as late as 1995, Queen Elizabeth II will still have enjoyed vacherin de fruits on her way to Cape Town.
“Being a chef wasn’t very cool 20 years ago. It was all done below decks. But nowadays, partly thanks to reality television, everyone’s more excited about cooking; they want to
