Oysters, pigeons and foie gras: What menu was offered to passengers of the Titanic

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

More than a hundred years have passed since the sinking of the most luxurious and most ill-fated liner in history. However, the details of this tragedy still excite the imagination. After many decades, new facts emerge. Interestingly, people are equally interested in the details of the sad end of the Titanic, and in the description of the luxurious conditions that were created on it. Thanks to the surviving leaves of the menu, today it is reliably known what the passengers were fed shortly before the tragedy.

Eating more than two thousand people for two weeks - that is how long the voyage was supposed to last - is very difficult. Before the voyage, a huge amount of food was delivered to the ship: 75 thousand pounds of meat (34,020 kg), 11 thousand pounds of fresh fish (4,990 kg), 40 tons of potatoes, 40 thousand eggs, 7 thousand heads of lettuce, as well as 10 thousand pounds of sugar, 250 barrels of flour, 36 thousand apples, 1500 gallons of milk (5678 liters), more than 1000 bottles of alcohol, mainly rum, champagne and Bordeaux. To prepare this food, serve it and serve it, a whole team of chefs and waiters was hired on the Titanic, a total of 69 people. The menu and living conditions on the ship varied greatly depending on the class of the ticket. For most passengers, food was included in the price.

Third class

The vast majority of passengers (more than 700 people) traveled in third class. I must say that the conditions created for these people on the Titanic at that time were much better than on other ships, and approximately corresponded to the second class.

The dining saloon for third-class passengers was located on Deck F. The spacious white-painted space contained long tables for 20 people. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner here in two shifts. The food was simple, no frills, but plentiful and tasty. Judging by the surviving menu, on the last day in the third-class dining room, they were fed the following dishes:

Second class

The second class passengers lived and ate much more refined meals. They had at their disposal comfortable cabins (the bathrooms, however, were shared), promenade decks and a large, beautiful dining room. This huge room was paneled with oak and the floor was covered with colored linoleum. The tables were also long, but lined with comfortable swivel chairs. The lunch menu consisted of three courses.

First grade

After paying a fortune on tickets (roughly $ 1,300 to $ 50,000 in 2013), First Class passengers enjoyed all the comforts of this floating luxury hotel. The food was mostly French, but with some English and American food. Passengers were provided with comfortable cabins, a grand staircase, a swimming pool, Turkish bath, gym, squash court, lounges and several dining rooms. The magnificent finishes of these spaces are awe-inspiring, even when looking at black and white photographs.

The dining room was decorated with carved painted panels, the portholes were covered with windows. The space of the dining room allowed free movement between the tables, which were laid for guests from two to eight people. Before the meal, the passengers drank cocktails, and then, following the sound of the bugle, they passed into the dining room. The food here was luxurious. Guests were offered many changes of dishes in different versions. In 2012, in Hong Kong, in memory of the centenary of the sinking of the Titanic, a dinner was held, which completely repeated the menu of the last meal of the passengers of the first class of the liner. Its cost was $ 1930 per person at modern prices.

In addition to sumptuous meals in the common dining room, first-class passengers could at any time visit the à la carte restaurant and the Parisienne café, located aft of the ship. "A la carte" was decorated in the style of Louis XVI: wall decoration in light walnut, large windows, silk curtains, gilded carved columns and moldings on the ceiling. The restaurant served the menu of the Italian restaurateur Luigi Gatti. Café Parisienne resembled a Parisian street cafe, with wicker chairs around small tables.

Read in continuation of the topic: "We lived together - and together we will die": an invented love story from the sunken "Titanic"