Food, glorious food

[John Arton]

At sea we were treated to three meals per day along with tab nabs at smokos, cooked breakfast , (never saw cereal for breakfast), lunch and evening meals usually a minimum of soup, entrée, main and dessert. All of that depending upon the chief steward to purchase the food of acceptable quality and quantity together with the cooks abilities to turn the raw ingredients into wholesome and tasty meals, which of course often fell short of the acceptable norm. The be st cooks I sailed with were Filipino, followed by Spanish, the British cooks I sailed with tended to be unimaginative in their meal choices with the worst being on the empress of Canada where although eating in the first class dining saloon we did not enjoy the food prepared for the first class diner's.
After retirement my eating habits have changed a lot, never have a cooked breakfast coffee and a pastry for me, then nothing untill evening meal a main and dessert only. Occasionally have a sarnie at midday depending on what work (decorating, gardening,car maintenance etc) but still have a biscuit with morning and afternoon smokos and strangely enough still tend to shipboard times for meals.
Anyone else still sticking with shipboard routines regarding meals etc?
Rgds
J.A

[Peter Copley]

At sea we were treated to three meals per day along with tab nabs at smokos, cooked breakfast , (never saw cereal for breakfast), lunch and evening meals usually a minimum of soup, entrée, main and dessert. All of that depending upon the chief steward to purchase the food of acceptable quality and quantity together with the cooks abilities to turn the raw ingredients into wholesome and tasty meals, which of course often fell short of the acceptable norm. The be st cooks I sailed with were Filipino, followed by Spanish, the British cooks I sailed with tended to be unimaginative in their meal choices with the worst being on the empress of Canada where although eating in the first class dining saloon we did not enjoy the food prepared for the first class diner's.
After retirement my eating habits have changed a lot, never have a cooked breakfast coffee and a pastry for me, then nothing untill evening meal a main and dessert only. Occasionally have a sarnie at midday depending on what work (decorating, gardening,car maintenance etc) but still have a biscuit with morning and afternoon smokos and strangely enough still tend to shipboard times for meals.
Anyone else still sticking with shipboard routines regarding meals etc?
Rgds
J.A

Best cooks I sailed with were Chinese from Liverpool - MV Azadeh Iranian Shipping Services.

[James Curry]

Problem with food at sea for me anyway was I tended to over eat but being in the engineroom and sailing on a lot of hard working ships could work the excess off, now as for having a few beers or three lol.
Mostly good food and decent cooks, only one sticks in my mind , Stir fry George a filipino lad and as the name suggests if you did not like stir fry you went hungary lol.

[happy daze john in oz]

There were three types of cooks on most ships.
Cooks, cuckoos, and willful bloody murderers who could stuff up just about any meal.
Like the soup served up by one winger.

What soup is this asked the blood.
Bean soup sir.
I can see that but what is it now?

[j.sabourn]

Think Birds Eye soup was also an apt name for a soup. Nearly as good as Birds Nest. JS.

[James Curry]

Thinking about the years at sea and food, many ships and many different crews. Scouse cooks, Geordie cooks, Cooks from Glasgow , Cardiff and Cockneys. West Africans, West Indians, Chinese, Indian, Bangladesh, Pakistan and of course Filipino. Some good some bad.
Will say this for a 20 year old lad who was brought up on things like Blind Scouse , Posh Scouse, Chips and Gravy the odd Wet Nelly lol.
Never forget the first time I had West African Pepper pot bloody hell thought my mouth was on fire. Thankfully the 2nd steward handed me a wedge of bread and butter, must have been a few ounces of butter on the bread, did the trick and put the fire out.
As the time went by I got to love hot spicy food, still do but nowhere near as hot these days.
My first time home I took me mum to a Chinses restaurant. Man of the world now, took charge and ordered Chicken fried rice for my mum. Her face was a picture, fried rice!!! you only have rice as a pudding, not fried lol. Bless her clean plate everytime. I would take her out and she would ask me what's this thing here Nasi Goreng, give it a go mum , clean plate.
Worse cook I ever sailed with was Polish, thankfully he did the coast only and was sacked when the Polish crew downed tools until he was replaced.
The next Polish cook was excellent , some of his dishes seemed strange but that was down to my ignorance of Polish cusine.
So one thing being at sea did for me was give educate me about the world of food.

Stir fry George was another cook well remembered lol

[Des Taff Jenkins]

The best food I have had is my wife,s, I have Rice Bubbles, one wheatabex, and a spoonful of Sultanas for breakfast, dinner is a dinner either up the Club or at home, tea time just a sandwich light on the stomach for bed. My weight has always been around 12-13 stone and still is.
At sea the best food I had, other than the NZ coast where one could have many choices, was on a New oil tanker owned by the Baron Co. The Baron Kilmarnock, we where out for twelve months and had a cook from Cardiff who had been a chef in a big Hotel there, the food he cooked was gastronomic, the only drawback was in port where he went on the booze and we ate rubbish cooked by the chief steward.
Des

[j.sabourn]

I used to make a point of visiting the chief stewards room after breakfast to have a cup of tea if nothing better on offer. There was method in my madness as used to often be a threesome with the cook there also. The two of them used to discuss the food situation and the menus for the day, which was not too much interest to me , but did show the thoughts that were put into the job. However I also managed to hear the gossip and the chance to forestall any impending future problems. It was a mobile galley radio. JS.

[j.sabourn]

#7 A luxury food during the war Des was a piece of bread and butter sprinkled with sugar. My mother used to make it sound like caviar . JS.

[vic mcclymont]

On the Ranald the cook served traitional British food.
A change of crew brought a new cook, who pestered the Chief Steward to let him serve Nasi Goering and Bhami Goring, answer No.
So the Cook cooked a single meal of Nasi Goring, presented it to the Chief Steward, he eat it and both gorings featured on the Menu.
Leaving Argentina, T Bone steaks were on the Sunday Lunch menu with Saratoga chips.

The Steaks were as big as the dinner plates. Saratoga Chips, were crisps warmed up.
Vic