Meals Aboard!
- Malakai Allen
- 22 hours ago
- 3 min read
One hundred odd years ago, CPR had first class chefs aboard their steam ships. Our Galley display on the first deck shows what the kitchen and food storage would have looked like on board the ship. The kitchen on the port side of the vessel is close to the boiler and engines, so you could imagine the heat and noise for the workers while underway!
The Galley serves the purpose of feeding the guests in restaurant style dining, and also serves the crew working aboard. Cooks would start their prep in early morning hours before the ship was underway, just as you would in a restaurant, toiling over counters to ready the food to be cooked and stored. There were first class dinners served on fine china and sterling silver service that the stewards would deliver, making use of the dumbwaiter found on the lower deck. Plated food would ascend up from the kitchen to the pantry for the chief steward to serve. Coffee, snacks and drinks were also served aboard in the Saloons. The food was paid for at the pursers office.
Although some of the items on the menu may seem unexpected for a small, undeveloped valley, but most of the food was obtained from local farmers and the pristine CPR gardens when possible. Cabbage, onion, celery, potatoes, cantaloupe, along with a wide variety of other vegetables were all grown in abundance in the Valley, as well as many different kinds of fruits, and even nuts. Other items were brought in from the coast. With some added imports such as teas and olive oils, it made for a broad variety of choices on the menu.
The "fresh crab salad", which may seem unexpected, was not unreasonable. Crabs were caught on the coast and shipped alive! They would be transported in salt water tubs specifically made to move crabs across the country by train. Advancement in developing refrigerated trucks and train cars meant that all manner of foods could easily be obtained.
Another surprise may be caviar. Although the menu advertises 'Russian' caviar, the early 1900's brought about the popularity of caviar from Canadian sturgeon (although it was short-lived).
Dessert is a sought after treat. With the abundance of fruits grown in the valley, all that was needed from elsewhere was a little sugar to sweeten the pies! Canada's sugar beet refineries could supply across the country
In the current day and age of modern refrigeration and freezer trucks. Ice cream just arrives already made in the freezer section of your local market. In CPR galleys, the cook would have to hand crank a cream mixture cooled by ice and rock salt. Slowly but surely with enough time and mixing, a smooth ice cream would form. By itself or on pastries and pie, this wonderful dessert was a staple on CPR lake boats - even the crew got treats of left over ice cream at the end of the day.
Ever-growing technological transports and material design has us take for granted the work it used to take to put food on the table, but even in an undeveloped valley, good chefs and co-operative farmers made fine dining on the lakeboats a first class experience.
Our blog for the Chinese workers and their lives aboard the steam ships: https://sssicamousmuseumblog.wixsite.com/ss-sicamous-marine-h/post/life-in-the-galley-employment-of-chinese-cooks-on-cpr-ships
100 Years of Canadian Railway Recipes:
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