Army of Cooks Feeding Cruise Ship Passengers

Showing off some cool knife skills

We ate all our meals on the Ruby Princess this past week and I can attest as a cruiser that the novelty fades quickly; the breakfast buffet looks pretty much the same everyday, and in the fine dining restaurant, ingredients are used in different ways. It's best to eat something fresh on the menu -- and asking your waiter for tips on what's good that day.

Nevertheless we have to say running the food outlets on a cruise ship is no easy task. Executive chef Russell Clarke explained that half the staff are related to food and beverage, either cooks or waiters from some 50 different countries.

Pastry chefs busy making cakes for the day

During a culinary presentation in the theatre, Clarke quipped that he spoke Australian, not English, while all the other cooks and waiters spoke at least two or three different languages.

On stage, Clarke quickly made three dishes for the audience of passengers: shrimp cocktail with mango salsa, lamb chops, and pavlova with berries and coulis.

However, we weren't invited to try the dishes -- the pavlova looked rock hard and dense -- but to go to the galley kitchens to take a look. Apparently this is a popular tour and some people raced to the kitchens! In the end there wasn't much to see, except lots of empty work spaces, stainless steel everywhere and only a handful of chefs working at 11am.

Perhaps the cooks were shy, or Clarke wanted the area cleared out, we could only look at a distance though some areas were decorated with creative carvings of vegetables and fruits. Some were constructed to look like mice and birds, but the flowers carved out of the side of a watermelon were most impressive.

A hearty slice of prime rib with potato, beans

We were given a fact sheet on how much food is produced on the ship, and it involves ordering 110-115 tons of food delivered on a single cruise.

Three butchers clean and cut 1,700 fish into portions daily, while five butchers, three assistants and helpers prepare beef and poultry. On a cruise, 1,400lbs of poultry, 1,700lbs of beef, 1,400lbs of pork and pork products (like sausages); 300lbs of veal, and 200lbs of lamb are cooked daily.

While I had a large slice of prime rib that was pretty good on the last night, the lamb rack I had was overcooked. Interestingly the cream of whatever vegetable soup like cauliflower, or lentil, and the Alaska seafood soup were really good. These are made by 13 staff, preparing 550 gallons per day.

Some 1,600lbs of salad are served daily along with 400lbs of shrimp, 13 gallons of mayonnaise, and 1,500 sandwiches. The Caesar salad was consistently good and what I ate the most.

The bread served on board is made fresh daily by 10 bakers, including the bread rolls we ate everyday that had a light crunchy exterior and fluffy interior along with whipped butter. I did not try the pizza nor the croissants. The bakers use some 1,500lbs of flour daily! I saw some dough being proofed when we went through the kitchens.

Breads are made daily on the ship

And there are 13 people working in pastry making desserts, ice creams, cakes and pies. Around 6,000 pieces of pastries are made everyday, along with 100 gallons of ice cream, and 300 cakes and pies. The blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream was a favourite at our table. The souffle on the first day was more like a steamed cake, but there was baked Alaska (a giant one sliced up, to individual ones that were sloppy). The safest bet was peach melba or ice cream with fresh fruit sauce like pineapple or strawberry.

Every morning I ate fruits -- honeydew, cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. Sometimes there was papaya. Towards the end of the trip there was more canned fruit like apricot, peach and pineapple. I ate those anyway, and once had canned figs. Around 6,000lbs of fresh fruit is served daily, while 400lbs of butter are used everyday!

For those who drink coffee, 470 gallons are consumed, 62 gallons of coffee cream, and 400lbs of sugar for the coffee.

After consuming all that food, someone has to clean the dishes. Fifty-seven people wash china, glasses, silver, and pots and pans. Everyday 70,000 dishes are washed, while 21,500 glasses are washed. 

And that's just the passengers. There are also 1,1000 crew who need to eat too!