Tag Archives: cruise culinary trends

Food, Culture & Visual Representation

Food can be a study in culture. Every dish, method of preparation, and even flavour preference can be indicative of the region it comes from or the people who make it. Cruise ship chefs can use this knowledge to tap into the subconscious associations guests have with their own cultures – comfort flavours of sorts.

The mixing of cultures is far more frequent now than it has ever been before. Migration is very common and the fusion of foods is often a trend. But that certainly does not take away the roots of the culture they were born from.

For example, many Italians migrated to the US in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, bringing with them the Neapolitan and Sicilian food cultures, such as risotto, white sauce and polenta from the north, and pasta, tomato sauce and olive oil from the south. Today, spaghetti and meatballs, and pasta alla carbonara are associated with Italian food but these were in fact created from ingredients more readily available in the US.

Still, visually, just an image of plump red tomatoes, vibrant green basil and stark white cheese will immediately stimulate an association with Italian food rather than any other cuisine. This could possibly have come about because of the deep connections between visual stimuli and the perception of taste, smell and flavour.

One culture where the appearance of dishes is given a lot of importance is Japan. Influences from Chinese and Korean cultures over more than 2000 years helped develop the Japanese cuisine we are familiar with today. In addition, Buddhist and Shinto religious practices modified it too, by looking down on meat consumption. With fish as the most easily available substitute, fermentation was widely used for preservation before the focus was shifted to fresh fish that we now enjoy in sushi and sashimi.

With the arrival of the Portuguese and Dutch came the notion of frying food as a way of cooking and the Japanese developed methods like tempura. But what truly sets Japanese cuisine apart from its neighbours is its focus on appearance since they believe that food is to be looked at, as well as eaten.

A lot of ritual goes into cooking, plating and service. For example, they never arrange four elements on a plate since the homonym for four in Japanese is death. We are also well aware of their famous tea ceremony, a cultural activity with precise ways of preparing and presenting matcha tea.

Around the world, certain food items and dishes have become cultural icons. Foie gras, a specialty product made of duck or goose liver, is associated with France. So is the croissant, even though this flaky, buttery pastry actually originated in Austria in the early 1800s which later inspired the French.

In other places in Europe, we are familiar with fish and chips, and a full English breakfast in England; Gouda cheese in the Netherlands; haggis in Scotland; and paella and sangria in Spain. In a similar way, Australia is popular for vegemite on toast, Mexico for tacos, Greece for gyros, South Africa for peri-peri and bunny chow, and the Middle East for mezze.

Indian food culture is extremely varied, but its cultural icon is curry, even though this is a blanket term for what is in fact a very diverse range of gravies with multiple methods of preparation, flavours and origins.

Aromas and visual cues can jog people’s memories of their favourite food from their childhoods, without them even tasting it. Cruise ship chefs can use this knowledge to stimulate interest in passengers, particularly with daily specials or when creating exclusive meals for occasions or even for fussy children.

Decoding Michelin Stars

The Michelin Guides are considered the Academy Awards of the culinary world. Each year, Michelin publishes its Red Guide and Green Guides, that list the best eating establishments around the world. Restaurants receive between one and three Michelin stars based on anonymous reviews from ‘inspectors’, who can visit multiple times a year to ensure an accurate rating. The stars are difficult to obtain, and therefore an absolute honour for restaurant owners and chefs. They offer great prestige, exposure and an increase in business, and the opposite when they lose stars.

The history of the Michelin Guide and its stars is interesting. The most coveted restaurant reviews in the world were introduced by the eponymous Paris-based tyre company as a way to drive business. In the 1900s, when there were fewer than 3000 cars in France, Michelin published a travel guide to Europe to encourage people to drive to local attractions, which included restaurants and places of interest, as well as information for motorists such as mechanics listings, petrol stations, tyre repair and replacement instructions, and the like.

The restaurant review section became increasingly popular and a team was recruited to anonymously visit restaurants. In 1926, it started awarding a single star, which increased to the now well-recognised hierarchy of three stars.

The original 1936 rating explanations suggested that a single star indicates ‘a very good restaurant in its category’. Two stars indicate ‘excellent cooking, worth a detour’, while three stars meant the restaurant served ‘exceptional cuisine’ and was ‘worth a special journey’.

The ratings and reviews focus solely on the food, and in no way indicate anything other than that, including quality of service, interiors, table setting, etc. Any rating is considered praise, but with a one-star rating, Michelin inspectors typically mean that the restaurant offers quality menu and consistently good food, but largely lacks something singular that will command visits time and again.

With two-star ratings, restaurants can be rest assured that inspectors are suggesting they are worth a detour from a road trip to visit, offering something exceptional and unique. With three stars, the guide indicates that the restaurant is the destination itself and is worth a trip solely to visit, with dishes that are distinct and executed perfectly.

Michelin guides currently cover only specific areas – 25 countries, with the first Asia guide recognising Japanese cuisine only in 2007. India is not covered by the guides, but there are Indian chefs who have earned Michelin stars at their restaurants in other countries. These include Vineet Bhatia for his restaurant Zaika in London (2001), Alfred Prasad for Tamarind of Mayfair in London (2002), Atul Kocchar for Tamarind (2001) and Benares (2007) both in London, Karunesh Khanna for Amaya in London (2006), Sriram Aylur for Quilon in London (2008), Vikas Khanna for Junoon in New York for three consecutive years (2012) and Manjunath Mural for The Song of India in Singapore (2016). Gaggan Anand was the first Indian to win two Michelin stars with his eponymous restaurant in Thailand in 2018, the year Garima Arora became the first Indian woman to receive a Michelin star for Gaa in Thailand.

Of these, Atul Kocchar has teamed up with P & O Cruises for his restaurant Sindhu where he serves scrumptious Indian food on board, and also went to Antarctica in 2017 on a private charter cruise organised by luxury travel company The Q Experiences.

It’s important to note that Michelin stars are not only awarded to swanky, posh restaurants. Sushi Saito is a three-starred restaurant in Tokyo considered the holy grail of sushi but features a small wooden counter in a multi-storey car park.

Why Adulterated Food is Bad News For Cruise Ships

Food adulteration involves the addition of chemicals to food which degrades its quality. It is typically carried out to make food seem more fresh, enhance flavour or increase the quantity of food production at a cheaper rate.

According to the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act – followed by most cruise ship chefs – adulterated food includes any edible substance that has additives that are injurious to health, has additives that have not yet been deemed safe for consumption, has been packed or stored in unsanitary conditions and has had a valuable ingredient omitted or replaced (completely or partly).

On board, cruise ships chefs jobs require in-depth knowledge of food safety and skills to identify adulterated products. If found, they are kept aside for inspection and a report submitted to higher ups. This keeps the fraudulent adulteration industry in check and helps the cruise ship maintain its quality status.

Adulterants can cause immediate health effects such as diarrhea, nausea and poisoning, but can also have long-term effects (especially if ingested over a prolonged period of time) such as glaucoma, lung and heart disorders.

Bacterial adulterants such as salmonella and bacillus cercus can cause severe abdominal issues. These kinds of adulterants are most easily spread on cruise ships and must be avoided at all costs.

A majority of cruise ships make stops in US ports and therefore, come under US food safety laws. Non-compliance can cause hefty fines, sickness and repercussions for the whole company.

In 2017, the Center for Disease Control Prevention noted 17 instances in which cruise ships failed inspections, according to a MarketWatch analysis. These included a range of issues including minor ones where a mop was stored incorrectly to major ones where crew continued to work despite displaying symptoms of gastrointestinal illnesses.

In situations where cruise ships fail inspections, the vessels are required to submit a Corrective Action Report indicating exactly how they plan to rectify the issue. They must also pay a fee for re-inspection. This fee can go up to almost US$18,000 for the latest large-scale commercial liners.

Vessels that continue to fail on major issues where the health of passengers and crew is at stake maybe given a ‘no sail’ recommendation. During this time, they are expected to stop plying while issues are being fixed. If they continue to sail without fixing the issue, the recommendation turns into an order.

But all food establishments, not just cruise ships, can suffer other consequences of food adulteration if a guest gets affected. If they have enough evidence, guests can sue the company. If many are affected, they could take to social media and the internet to vent their feelings.

Many establishments have felt the backlash of poor reviews online. A study by Checkit in the UK in 2016 suggested that as much as 61 per cent of people would not eat at a restaurant that received poor food hygiene ratings.

The implications can also reach employees who might not take too keenly to working in an unsanitary environment or who might have a grudge against the company and make mention of it on social media.

There are many ways in which adulteration of food can harm the cruise ship industry, so vessels take great precaution to avoid safety hazards as far as possible.

Cruise Chefs: How to Make Your Dish Exciting

Passion and creativity go hand-in-hand for chefs jobs. But with thousands in the fray, it becomes increasingly important to stand out at work. Knowing the basics may not be enough as you grow in the industry; you will need to up your game by making your dish exciting and appealing.

One of the main ways to create a new dish or make an existing dish exciting is to eat. Eat the dish you’re looking at changing and also other food, particularly those you are unfamiliar with. This will help you understand flavour profiles and expand your range. It will also give you the chance to pick up on tiny details of the dish and give you ideas for elements to change. You will be able to create interesting new pairings, or even swap a small element in an existing dish to completely change the flavours.

Another way to change a regular dish is to play with existing elements. Often, young students follow the book to the ‘T’, making sure every step of a recipe is followed through thoroughly. At a later stage in one’s career, you can look at taking your favourite dish that you have made beautifully for years, and switching it up. This can be done by playing with elements such as textures, plating and portion sizes.

You could take a curry and carb dish and make it exciting by introducing a crunchy element. You may not need to change the flavour, but just changing the texture can make the dish exciting. For example, instead of regular steamed rice, you could use rice crackers. Or instead of a boiled vegetable, you could use a purée.

Guests are becoming more adventurous with food, even on cruise ships. Watching food shows and reality TV contests can give you ideas of how to hero one ingredient on the plate and complement it with simple additions. Perhaps you could put the focus on beef or mushrooms and use even items like coffee or chocolate unusually in a savoury dish. The flavour changes can be subtle, but even so can make a dish different and interesting.

Talk to other chefs about ideas for your dish. You might find that a little tweak to an original idea could make it even more interesting. You can bounce off ideas for flavour combinations, thematic interpretations, and even presentation.

Finally, plating can be as important as the dish itself. A poorly presented dish will not be appetising to look at, thereby ruining the experience of the diner before he or she even puts a morsel in his or her mouth.

Plating is so important that when chefs are developing new dishes they sketch out several potential designs of presentations before the dish even comes into being. The kind of serving dishes, their size, shape and colour can make a difference too. Placement of the various elements on the plate is important as well, focusing on which ones the diner is likely to eat together.

Remember to pay attention to detail. Contrast colours of vegetables and meat, use long elements to create the illusion of height and create beautiful designs using sauces. Gorgeous and technically difficult garnishes are also a great way to catch your diner’s eyes. Meshes, chocolate shards, edible flowers and other similar elements can add an interesting component to your dish.

Cruise Ship Chefs: Keeping up with Culinary Trends

The world of cruising has come a long way since the early days, particularly in terms of food. Cruise ship chefs were earlier required to simply feed the guests as a matter of course. When luxury took over and the trend caught on, food became an important part of the cruise experience.

Cruising is a multi-billion dollar industry. Trends show that it is increasing in popularity each year and companies much keep innovating to stay ahead of competitors. For cruise ship chefs, this means understanding what’s out there and preparing for what is to come.

READ

This may not sound like something a cruise ship chef might like to do, but it can be fairly helpful. Reading up on the latest trends in the culinary world will keep you abreast of the changing times.

You can subscribe to food and hospitality magazines, follow their pages on social media or opt to get their newsletters. It could be as simple as indicating your interest in this field on various websites or social networking forums, and then reading the articles or watching the videos that can help.

EAT OUT

When in port, take the time to visit restaurants or places where the locals tend to eat. If you have the time and money, you could splurge on a meal at one of the port’s top rated restaurants. This will give you an idea of changing trends in that region.

Eating at local restaurants or visiting local markets can give cruise ship chefs a wholesome idea of the various ingredients in different parts of the world. This can help create your own flavour patterns when the time comes.

ON-BOARD TRAINING

Many cruise lines incorporate training for their staff. Safety plays a big role on board and there will be lots of training in this regard, but for cruise ship chefs, other skills also play a big role.

Opt for in-house training programmes that will help you sharpen your skills or teach you new trends. You may learn about new ingredients, styles of cooking or even new apparatus in the galley.

Sometimes, even just being aware while at work can teach you new things. For example, guests from different countries often tend to eat or choose their food differently. You may also notice a swing towards a particular type of food – perhaps health food, vegan or keto dishes, etc.

Food trends normally do not change overnight, so you may be able to incorporate some of the things you learnt in one contract to the next.

ADD VARIETY

After some experience and depending on company policy, you may get the chance to choose the kind of cuisine or restaurant you would like to work with. Here, it is important to choose different types of cuisines if you have not yet made up your mind about your favoured one, or choose different restaurants serving that same kind of cuisine.

This helps you get a deeper understanding of the latest trends in that particular cuisine style. Ask for the opportunity to work with celebrity chefs on board. Their restaurants will almost always follow some of the latest trends in the industry.

INVEST IN YOURSELF

Using some of your vacation days to update your skills may come in handy. This is not saying that you should spend your entire time off studying, but a weekend course or two in the latest skills could work wonders.

You can bring yourself up-to-date on the latest trends in your own local cuisine or visit restaurants at home that are pushing boundaries.

American College Of Culinary & Language Arts

Cruise Life