WHEN THE Titanicstruck an iceberg and sank off Newfoundland in the early hours of April 15th, 1912, it may have had a shortage of lifeboats but it certainly had an excess of food.
Two menus recovered from the ship testify to extravagance, and such has been the fascination with the “last supper” in the first-class dining saloon that a recreation of same in Galway has sold out within days of its planning.
All 60 tickets for the black-tie dinner on March 21st have been “snapped up” without any effort, according to Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology’s (GMIT) culinary arts lecturer Noel Loughnane.
A self-confessed Titanicbuff, he came up with the idea as a fundraiser for the RNLI Galway lifeboat. He researched details of all 11 courses, with different wines for each, and priced it at €100 a head.
In a slight shifting of the Titanicserving order, guests will be issued with boarding passes and will be served oysters and champagne on arrival. Hors d'oeuvres will be asparagus salad with champagne saffron vinaigrette, followed by duet of consommé Olga and cream of barley soup.
Next will be salmon with mousseline sauce, with an entrée of filet mignon of beef “Lili”.
Sorbet will be punch Romaine, and the “removes” will be Calvados-glazed duckling, lamb with mint jelly and sirloin of beef forestiére, served with a selection of vegetables and potatoes.
The cold dish will be paté de foie gras, the “sweets” will be peaches in Chartreuse jelly, Waldorf pudding, chocolate eclairs, vanilla ice cream, and the “dessert” is assorted fresh fruit and cheeses.
Those still surviving the fare will be offered petits fours and coffee with port, while a string quartet will play throughout the evening.
“There were cigars also on the original menu, but we’ll just have to offer them in goodie bags or something due to the smoking ban,” Loughnane says.
The authorities on such recreations, The Last Dinner on the Titanicauthors Rick Archibald and Dana McAuley, consulted other White Star Line vessels for the probable meal preparation.
Loughrea resident Colman Shaughnessy, a retired Marconi radio officer, says he is attending out of interest as several residents from the east Galway region were among those on board.
Mr Shaughnessy worked in Morse code during his eight years at sea, and intends to bring a set of Morse keys along on the night. The first ever SOS sent by a ship at sea by radio was from the cruise liner.
GMIT event management students in period costumes will “deck out” the college’s Connemara training restaurant on the night, and Loughnane has sourced pink roses and white daisies, which were originally placed on each ship’s saloon table. In memory of those who died, more than 1,500 pebbles will be offered to guests who can then return them to sea, he says.
The diners shouldn’t feel too guilty about arriving home sated and safe. Some 94 per cent of those original first-class travellers survived, while less than 47 per cent in the steerage were saved.