# fridays



## the brit

most fridays on the RFA ships i sailed on it was fish and chips and mushy peas at lunch time was this the norm with other companys. and is this still the norm to this day.


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## spongebob

Fish and chips for lunch or dinner was standard practice on Union Co Ships in the fifties and it was pretty standard fare ashore also.
I think that this was due to the Roman Catholics not eating meat on Fridays and the rest of us following suit.

Bob


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## Mick Spear

Brit
Still fish and chips every Friday in RFA and 90% of the time served with mushy peas.
Mick S


the brit said:


> most fridays on the RFA ships i sailed on it was fish and chips and mushy peas at lunch time was this the norm with other companys. and is this still the norm to this day.


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## Malcolm S

I remember in Royal Mail it was always fish on Friday but also the starter was curried eggs.


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## spongebob

AS I remember Friday night was especially a pub night when in port and we would get back on board after six o'clock closing in NZ or Australia to find our saved fish and chip meal shriveled up in the hot press.

Bob


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## ALAN TYLER

Fish & Chips was pretty much a regular dish on Fridays in the MN as well, also the "Steak" day was Sunday. Once on the "Hardwicke Grange" I didn,t put steak on the menu on Sunday and there was uproar because the bulk of the Officers always had a bottle of wine with their steak. Pity I can,t remember what I replaced the Steak with. Alot of ships menus got into the habit of being able to tell the day of the week by the menu!!! not the best of ideas.


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## trotterdotpom

Friday's did tend to be fish day, what's wrong with that? A lot of folk could do with a bit of religion - or at least a bit of Omega 3.

In my present "plaice" of work, we always get fish on Fridays, but they went public recently and admitted the fish came from the swamps of the Mekong Delta - not popular with anyone who watches the Discovery Channel.


John T.


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## Ray Mac

Used to put Fish n Chips on during the week either confused them or got a sarky remark(Smoke) The good days(Thumb) 

Ray(Jester) (Smoke)


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## spongebob

John, 
You cod have bream but it's not what it seems.
You would tuna have whiting but it's not that enticing
Did you try to groper and did she say holy mackerel ?
Do you get Barra on Monday?
No the "local" fish is not always what it seems, new odd names keep cropping up to disguise their origins like the cat fish from Vietnam.
Orange Roughy from the NZ west coast is classed as foreign by Hoki

Bob


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## kevjacko

I was never a fan of having particular dishes on particular days. I think it showed lack of imagination. I remember on a Rowbotham ship I was on once for a short while, I did'nt quite grasp the signifigance of having steak on a weekend, There was uproar, I could'nt have given a toss. Short memories those lads though that kept ****ging the regular cook off for serving the "same ****e",(their words) trip in trip out, day in day out.


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## stevie burgess

When i was on the boxboats years ago it was the norm for us too to have fish n' chips on Fridays and Sundays were usually a steak day also train smash for breakfast which i hated. As the years went by some of the cooks put on a Chinese night and was excellent for a change and appreciated but a work up for the cook but am sure they took pleasure in seeing our satisfied faces! In the latter years i was there they started doing A La Carte menu for lunch,just picked what you wanted from a list in advance which was great...work up for the cook but very little or no wastage...crew of 18 by the way.


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## john fraser

North Boat in the early 60,s,passengers had fish every Friday.Only time the crew saw fish was if they bought a fish supper in Lerwick or Leith.or,in the herring season the Shetland crew got a fry of herring on a Thursday.Ben Line cargo boats had fish regularly,then box boats had a la carte menu. DSV,s and other oil related vessels had fish on regularly. Worked GoM where they had Fish Friday as tradition the idiotic Off/man stated. very few ate it including Americans.It consisted. of Crawfish Etouffe.Fried Shrimp.Steamed Shrimp.Stuffed Crab.Fried Tilapia.Catfish.etc. Most crew preferred a burger or chicken.but it was tradition to have Fish Friday


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## ian keyl

Thats right John, and it was most welcome even though it had been frozen it was good fish to start with and with the wee slice of lemon in the metal squizzer a sprig of parcley it went down a treat, even aberdeen kippers for breakfast was a great delight for some. We never had a bad feeder in ben .
rgds ian.


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## trotterdotpom

spongebob said:


> John,
> You cod have bream but it's not what it seems.
> You would tuna have whiting but it's not that enticing
> Did you try to groper and did she say holy mackerel ?
> Do you get Barra on Monday?
> No the "local" fish is not always what it seems, new odd names keep cropping up to disguise tThere's been a bit of a backlash heir origins like the cat fish from Vietnam.
> Orange Roughy from the NZ west coast is classed as foreign by Hoki
> 
> Bob


Just saw your post Bob.

There's been a bit of a backlash against foreign food, especially fish, lately. A few weeks ago I was waiting for a large lady to move away so I could see inside the fish display at the supermarket. She said loudly to her friend: "I'm not buying any of that, it's all foreign muck!" After they left, a glance through the glass revealed it was all from New Zealand! Must admit, I thought she was being a bit picky.

I met an Orange Roughy in Belfast once - she lured me into a bar but I never got my hands on her cod end.

John T.


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## Pat McCardle

Curry & Rice then fish & chips to let you know it's the start of the weekend & steak on sunday to remind you that the party is to be put on hold for another 5 days.


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## forthbridge

ian keyl said:


> Thats right John, and it was most welcome even though it had been frozen it was good fish to start with and with the wee slice of lemon in the metal squizzer a sprig of parcley it went down a treat, even aberdeen kippers for breakfast was a great delight for some. *We never had a bad feeder in ben .*rgds ian.


Ian, you obviously did not sail on Benlarig or Benmhor, the two worst feeders that I was on in Ben Line. Common factor was that both of these had two saloons,one for senior officers and one for juniors and the seniors did not know or care what happened in the junior saloon. I agree though that every other Ben Boat that I was on was a good feeder and I was on most of them at some time.


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## Prudence

*Fish on Fridays.*

Someone told me that the custom of having fish on Fridays came from a particular pronouncement of a Pontiff. It was not a religious decree but an economic decree. Italy was in a pretty bad way financially especially those who relied on the fishing industry...so that Pontiff whose name I forget decreed Fridays as a "fast" day where no meat was to be eaten. I believe that fishing fleets around the world picked up business. Any school or hospital I have been in certainly served fish on Fridays regardless of their denomination.


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## trotterdotpom

In Argentina they used to have a meatless day - think it was Thursday - every week. You could not buy meat in a shop or restaurant - not sure if they had a "meat squad" kicking down doors to check peoples' tables or not. It came about because the locals were eating steak for breakfast, lunch and tea and stuffing up the important meat export trade.

Anybody know how long it lasted - it was certainly going in the early '70s.

John T.


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## alan ward

stevie burgess said:


> When i was on the boxboats years ago it was the norm for us too to have fish n' chips on Fridays and Sundays were usually a steak day also train smash for breakfast which i hated. As the years went by some of the cooks put on a Chinese night and was excellent for a change and appreciated but a work up for the cook but am sure they took pleasure in seeing our satisfied faces! In the latter years i was there they started doing A La Carte menu for lunch,just picked what you wanted from a list in advance which was great...work up for the cook but very little or no wastage...crew of 18 by the way.


On my last trip with Clan I was on the Malcolm and the company experimented with a la carte menus for dinner for the homeward leg from Mombasa.I worked in the galley for the entire passage working the grill with the Bangladeshi Cook and 2nd.Cook doing everything else.We had a 2nd.Engineer from Birmingham who had fillet steak every night for the whole period.I`ll bet he has forgotten all about that and still moans about Clan food.


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## TOM ALEXANDER

Don't remember what day of the week it was, but once, in Narvik, Norway, before the crew turned to in the morning, four of us started fishing off the stern of the ship. We were so successful that dispensation was given to carry on fishing rather than scrub ship, etc. We packed it in about noon, and the whole crew of 45 had fresh deep fried haddock and chips for supper.Scrumptious!!


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## dom

*dom*



spongebob said:


> John,
> You cod have bream but it's not what it seems.
> You would tuna have whiting but it's not that enticing
> Did you try to groper and did she say holy mackerel ?
> Do you get Barra on Monday?
> No the "local" fish is not always what it seems, new odd names keep cropping up to disguise their origins like the cat fish from Vietnam.
> Orange Roughy from the NZ west coast is classed as foreign by Hoki
> 
> Bob


please dont make a Halibut of this or others will chip in


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## andyburn

"the Officers always had a bottle of wine with their steak"

Mind you when they got home it was back to beans on toast.


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## R831814

On the Union Castle mini mails (Southampton and Good Hope) not only could you tell what day of the week it was you could tell which port you were in. Only one I can remember was "plate pie" Las Palmas.


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## john blythe

All ways fish&chips, and curry&rice on fridays. Steak sundays, Roast on mondays. Dont think its changed much


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## septiclecky

Remember working for Unted Arab every sunday was pub lunch which one of the hot course was chicken curry every week.

On another ship off theirs which I was on for over 6 months we had Roast Turkey once a week for every week during the 6 months, got home just in time for christmas told me mum f she gave me turkey for crimbo dinner I would not be responsible for my actions got a whole goose to myself. Lovely jubbly.


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## William Clark8

*Fish on friday*



the brit said:


> most fridays on the RFA ships i sailed on it was fish and chips and mushy peas at lunch time was this the norm with other companys. and is this still the norm to this day.


We used to call them Catholic Steaks (==D)


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