The Titanic sank in 1912 but its memory lives on in more ways than one, mainly so in pop culture as one the most enduringly beloved romantic films in the history of film, starring two of the most beautiful people in the world—Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet (don’t even debate me on this, you will lose).
The catastrophic story of the Titanic also continues to fascinate people through exhibitions and ridiculously high priced memorabilia. One piece—the menu of the last lunch served on the ship—was sold at auction for the low price of $125,000.
Photo courtesy of titanic.wikia.com
If you don’t however have 100K to drop on an authentic Titanic trinket, why not scratch your history itch with culinary facts of the notorious ship’s story. Not much to anyone’s surprise, the first, second and third classes ate totally different meals—with a few notable gross options. The real question is how would these meals match up against airplane food of today?
First Class
Photo courtesy of bustle.com provided by Lion Heart Autographs
The aristocrats or first class included the (fictional) Rose Dawson and the real famous peeps John Jacob Astor IV, Benjamin Guggenheim and Isidor Straus (co-owner of Macy’s). What were they chowing down on? The grill served some mean mutton chops—before they became a facial hairstyle—with taters.
The buffet included everything from corned ox tongue to soused herrings. Shout out to the one thing I would eat in this section: roast beef. There was also a cheese and luncheon section.
And for dranks? These fancy peeps were sipping on Munich lager.
Second Class
Photo courtesy of @GaryDuff on Twitter.com
I have to be totally honest, the second class food sounds way more appetizing than the first class does. The second class passengers spanned a wide range of professional areas, from musicians to cab drivers. Their dinners included options like spring lamb, curried chicken, roasted turkey and green peas. Noteworthy choices include wine jelly, American ice cream and cocoanut sandwiches.
Third Class
Photo courtesy of reddit.com
The third class food array seems pretty basic, but far from bizarre. Breakfast options ranged from ham, eggs, and oatmeal to potatoes and bread. Where things get interesting is dinner and supper, which were two separate meals.
I’m all about multiple meals per day but I don’t get the distinction here. For dinner, you’re looking at rice soup, roast beef, and corn among other options. Supper evokes memories of Mean Girls with something called “gruel,” which happens to be a thin version of porridge/oatmeal.
Unlike your typical booze cruise, the meals on this infamous passenger liner had mixed options. While we have come a long way from gruel I’m happy human have never strayed from our love of caffeine.