How to eat on the high seas

You never forget your first cruise. Mine was aboard a 650ft vessel touring the Black Sea. We embarked at Istanbul, stopped at Nessebar, Constanța, Odesa and Yalta, skipped Sinop because of rough waters, and sailed up the Bosphorus Strait a week heavier. The ship had a capacity for 229 guests and several dining options that ranged from a Michelin-level restaurant to an all-day patisserie, where I became a regular. There was no call for a wallet. All the bars were open. Some of the restaurants were buffet. Restraint was possible but not practical. Unshackled from routine and pieties around portion control, I ate like a king. 

My experience was not unusual. It’s commonly understood that the average cruise passenger puts on a pound a day. This has given rise to a whole category of travel journalism on how not to gain weight on a cruise (“while still having fun”). Food has always been a key factor in the onboard experience: as customers have become more discerning, so has the offering. A well- curated culinary programme is now a major point of distinction. This can take the form of wine and gastronomy-themed itineraries, such as Ponant’s “gourmet escapade in the Canary Islands” with the “Picasso of Pastry” Pierre Hermé. Or more extensive partnerships, such as Nobu Matsuhisa teaming up with Crystal Cruises to install his restaurants aboard their ships, or Thomas Keller joining forces with Seabourn to launch The Grill by Thomas Keller across the fleet.

Former editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine Adam Sachs is director of Silversea’s SALT programme, which stands for Sea and Land Taste. “One of the things people traditionally loved about cruises is you can be sailing in the Mediterranean or the Caribbean and have the same beef wellington and same bottle of burgundy,” he says. “There is pleasure and comfort in that consistency. But there comes a point when the everywhere-and-nowhere-ness you get from the classic cruise-ship dining experience fades and you want to feel like you’re somewhere. Food is a great way to connect to a place and tie what’s happening aboard to what’s happening ashore.”

The SALT programme offers shore excursions to organic farms near Copenhagen, olive groves in the Aegean and biodynamic vineyards in the Tuscan hills. Passengers are known to book cruises on the back of attractions such as “the Franco Pepe experience”, which grants access to Italy’s most famous pizzaiolo at his flagship restaurant in Caiazzo. Equally important are elements that bring those local flavours on board, such as SALT Kitchen, a dining venue that explores the area’s culinary heritage, and SALT Bar, where regionally inspired cocktails are made using locally produced spirits. “When we launched SALT in the Greek islands in 2021, we had more Greek wines on board than you would find at a Greek resort,” says Sachs.

We had more Greek wines on board than you’d find at a Greek resort

The gastronomic life on private yachts is the subject of a new cookbook by Sidney Bensimon. The French-born photographer grew up spending summers on the beach in Corsica, learned to scuba-dive in Florida and now lives between Brooklyn and a coastal house in Maine. But the central focus of A Sea Lover’s Cookbook (Chronicle) is her time spent working as a photographer and cook on board various private charters to Martinique, Haiti, Greece, Croatia and the British Virgin Islands, among other destinations.

The book offers practical advice to cabin cooks such as how much drinking water to factor in per person per day (3.8 litres) and a checklist of pantry goods, fresh ingredients and dairy to stock. For her, this includes a starting provision of 740ml of olive oil, about 500g of butter, a jar of coconut oil, 240ml each of her preferred spices, various fruit and vegetables that don’t require refrigeration (saving space in the small gallery fridge for meat, dairy and greens), plenty of lemons and limes (for seasoning, salad dressing, lemonade and Margaritas) and lots of crisps (“the salt can help with boat nausea”). Recipes include buckwheat ginger granola; pasta with walnuts, chillies and greens; and lemon tahini cookies, and are eminently transferrable to dry land. But thanks to a bevy of sunkissed photography, the book also works like a dose of vitamin D. Bensimon cites trips to the Sunday market in Canggu, Bali, to stock up on tropical fruit, including her favourite mangosteen, and visits to the Kallidromiou farmers’ market in Athens to collect honey and Greek yoghurt. Her account is an appetite-whetter for the holiday of your dreams.

For comparable reasons, I’ve developed a soft spot for The Boat Cookbook (Adlard Coles) by food and wine writer Fiona Sims. Sims has sailed since the age of eight and spent countless weekends and holidays on boats off the south coast of England. Her unpretentious book includes recipes from chefs-turned-boatmen such as Chris Galvin (I particularly like his piperade basquaise – a spicy tomato pepper marmalade to scoff with scrambled eggs and croutons) as well as professional seamen like Robin Knox-Johnston (I recommend his spicy dhal). Among her favourite comforts are cod, chorizo and chickpea stew, penne with sardines, saffron and pine nuts, and crab macaroni cheese. 

The book caters for a niche but sizeable audience of leisure sailors who want to become more creative in their galley kitchens (the book is now in its second edition). Sims advocates using herb saver pods for fresh herbs (better than dried and generally less cooking time required), investing in a good pressure cooker (the perfect fuel/time/space saver), tarting up soups and stews with dried porcini or chorizo and relying on ready-prepared ingredients (such as duck confit and tinned beans in a “super-quick cassoulet”) for when the waves are up. Her ultimate advice, however: “Only cook at anchor, or when the sea is calm. It’s no fun in the galley when you’re rocking about – even for the sturdiest stomachs.” 

For rough passages, sandwiches made ahead of time or a Thermos of soup are her best bet, with a flapjack or piece of fruit cake. Navigating her other entries on managing a galley stove, catching and filleting mackerel and stocking up on wine (“boating and booze go together,” Sims insists, but best when in harbour), couched in a tone of British can-do and camaraderie, I can’t help being transported to salty harbours up and down the country and feeling the tug of the sea. 

@ajesh34