# Ships Galley's/ Restaurant



## bob johnston

As I have been in the hospitality industry all my life and very interested in food service does anyone have any good pictures of ships galleys? Today I am sure they call them kitchens ( or do they ?). I am interested also in menus on all types of ships from the very new cruise ships to the old.

It is interesting to see how food has changed and the variety that is served to passengers today .It is interesting to hear how crew of today are treated and with the variety of food served . I know when I was at sea it was pretty bad at times and you had to pay someone to get a decent feed in the galley.


From my experience working in the restaurant as a waiter ( winger in my time ) was hard work especially when you had to guard your cutlery and coffee pots from dissappearing from your eyes as the ship did not have enough equipment . I think most of it was locked in crew cabins. The other funny story was you had to pay someone to get your cutlery back out of the dishwasher otherwise some how if you did not pay the wash up crew you conveniently had to search for it.

Looking forward to comments as there must be some funny stories and nice menus out there. Food has come along way on ships and restaurant standards have risen ten fold. (Applause)


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## buevik

*ships galley*

here are a few pictures of the galley and messroom on the North Sea rescue vessel Viking Provider.
The ship carries a crew of 15 and normally spends afull month at sea.
Although meals are usually quite good, fresh veg,fruit and salad are exhausted after three weeks so the last week is dependant on frozen.
Ed.


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## bob johnston

*Galley*

Looks very clean it looks as if there might have been captains rounds. Thanks for the picture.


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## mick Wright

Hi Bob

I have memories of keeping the precious teaspoons in my pocket as a waiter on the QE1 keeping them away from other wingers but more to the point the passengers.
I remember signing off the Reina del Pacifico with silver in my pocket,accidentantly of course.

Mick Wright


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## trotterdotpom

My first ship in Australia was BHP's 'Iron Curtis'. At my first mealtime, I entered the saloon and found my seat. The steward looked the part in smart black trousers and white shirt, but turned out to be of the "hands Up for soup" variety. He offered the menu card for my perusal and I ordered an entree and a main course.

The steward said: "You want a shandy?" I'd heard that Australian seafarers were spoiled rotten, and toyed with the idea of a beer and lemonade but decided against it. "No, thanks, I'll just have tea, please," I replied.

The steward gave a querilous look and left, the others at the table were giving me odd looks too. Soon afterwards the steward returned with the tea and nothing else!

Back to the drawing board! It turned out that "Shandy" is Australian seaspeak for 'everything on the menu on one plate'. Just one of several breakdowns in communications which were to come - and I thought we spoke the same language!

Why anyone who didn't have to do the washing up would chose to eat like that I still can't fathom, but they did and over the years I saw some pretty horrendous mixtures.

John T.


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## KIWI

I joined P&O's Stratheden just after she had been chartered to Cunard.Back on the Aussie run among the left overs from the Cunard menu was quite an amount of Escargot.Put on the menu very few Aussies were interested.They appeared later at lunch as Chicken Curry.I probably ate the curry but only learned about it thru the 2nd Chef who was a Kiwi.Not a galley picture but thought the story might interest you. KIWI


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## R58484956

Always thought the north sea was rough, but not according to the eggs perched on top of the frig. lol


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## fredkinghorn

Changed days indeed. On the " Cairndhu " 1959 we had four oil burning galley fires ,two to each stove. they had two bulkhead mounted compressors which of course ran all the time the fires were lit. Long wooden benches which were scrubbed beforeand after every meal preparation. You can imagine the noise in the galley!
Memories,memories.


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## redgreggie

*ship's food*

I was at sea around 1964-1970, I worked as a galley boy for most of my time, it was always called a galley during my time.
The food on every ship I was on was the best you could get, the cooks and the bakers were as good as a cook could be.
Not all ships had bakers, the ones that did would do fresh bread and rolls every
day and lovely sweets, steamed puddings to die for.
The cooks would make their own soup and meals as good as any top hotel, variety and choice was never a problem, if you didn't fancy one choice on the menu there would usually be something that would suit.
I think British seamen were very well fed and could have no complaints.


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## cavey

*Reina del pacifico*



mick Wright said:


> Hi Bob
> 
> I have memories of keeping the precious teaspoons in my pocket as a waiter on the QE1 keeping them away from other wingers but more to the point the passengers.
> I remember signing off the Reina del Pacifico with silver in my pocket,accidentantly of course.
> 
> Mick Wright


Hi Mick, If you had have signed off in Valpo you could have got quite a few jugs of joy for thoes teaspoons. Cavey.


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## freebird875

hey folks,ships,galley's or mess decks dont seem to interest anybody anymore,what a pity,so many good stories to tell...everything from the falklands to the world cruises on the qe2...keep the merchant navy living...its another world;-))))


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## tunatownshipwreck

buevik said:


> here are a few pictures of the galley and messroom on the North Sea rescue vessel Viking Provider.
> The ship carries a crew of 15 and normally spends afull month at sea.
> Although meals are usually quite good, fresh veg,fruit and salad are exhausted after three weeks so the last week is dependant on frozen.
> Ed.


Stainless steel! I thought I was seeing a US galley for a bit.


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## mcotting

Sailed as Chief Mate on the same vessel that my brother-in-law was cook on for several years. Asked him once why rice was on the menu so often, why not more potaotoes? He said "You don't have to peel rice."


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## notnila

cavey said:


> Hi Mick, If you had have signed off in Valpo you could have got quite a few jugs of joy for thoes teaspoons. Cavey.


There must have been a few tons of Union Castle cutlery"unloaded" in Las Palmas!


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