Food, Wine and History

[bohaiboy]

In 2013 we sailed from Lisbon to Porstmouth on the Explorer as it was making its way from the Antarctica season northward to the Arctic season.  All I can say is wow.  We had a sommelier from Italy onboard, a cheesemonger from London, Doamine Chandon CEO, a lady that had worked side x side with Julia Child, two historians (a WWII expert, and a Renaissance Religious expert) as well as two renowned chefs, the current culinary expert with Silversea (David ???) and Rudy (???) from Relais and Chateau, as well as David's wife joining mid cruise (she was a professor at Le Cordon Bleu in London).  Oh my God.  The two chefs were definitively having a testosterones battle and we the passengers were much better off for it.  We could go with the chefs every morning to market and it was pretty much anything you wanted.  Same with the cheesemonger, he usually selected 12-15 cheeses that we would try after our afternoon return from tours.

 

I am just wondering if SS will ever do a cruise like this again?  It sounds like SALT may be a start but still not quite the same.  

Edited June 17, 2021 by bohaiboy

[jpalbny]

We had an experience close to this in 2017 on a food & wine cruise from Guayaquil to Valparaiso, also on Explorer. I did a blog about it on these boards at the time.

David and Rudi were there, as well as three local chefs (one at a time) from Ecuador, Peru, and Chile to cook local specialties. We had a sommelier from Chile as well as a cheese monger (can't remember where she was from) Tons of local recipes were incorporated into the cooking demos and menus. Lots of local wine too. Wine tastings with the sommelier. And the itinerary was spectacular.

 

David and Rudi were great together. They often cooked special dishes in the dining room and it was a competition to see who could put more garlic and butter in their pot. We had dinner with them one night (and Rudi's parents too) which was a blast. We only did one market tour and that was one we arranged on our own with David.

 

So yes, they have done something similar after your cruise. I too hope that they continue to offer this type of cruise as I'd definitely be interested in doing a similar cruise along the route that you took.

 

But Rudi (last I heard) no longer works for Silversea.

[jillyf]

We did 2 market tours with David. One was to the Bergen market and the other to the market in Copenhagen. My husband blogged about them. 
http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/Norway_Baltic_Cruise_2013/Entries/2013/6/21_Bergen.html

http://www.thefletchers.com.au/The_Fletchers/Norway_Baltic_Cruise_2013/Entries/2013/7/7_Copenhagen_Market.html

It was fun in the market with David seeing him negotiate with the different stall holders. 
My husband made a faux pas with Rudi. He told him his Thai food wasn’t spicy enough, perhaps made bland for the majority of passengers!  Rudi told him his wife was Thai!

The cooking demonstrations after a day at the market in the lounge were wonderful as well as the demonstrations in the theatre on sea days. 

 

[bohaiboy]

Glad to see Rudi is alive and kicking even if he is no longer with SS.  He had to leave the ship afew nights before our voyage ended due to health issues.

[Gourmet Gal]

  I think that kind of itinerary is more likely on the expedition ships as I had been booked last year on the Cloud, similar itin. and it was a culinary focused cruise.  There is usually a little symbol on the cruise lists indicating a culinary cruise.  Sadly had to cancel due to covid. Rebooked same itin. for Sept. 2022 on the Moon but the cruise is not really a culinary focused one even though there is S.A.L.T.  There are some extra fee excursions being offered. On my own I’m planning a private food and wine excursion in Bordeaux as well as spending time post cruise in Lisbon and booking a tour with Culinary Backstreets. That’s a fabulous food town.

[brimary]

Assume the David referred to is David Bilsand who we have been lucky enough to have on board on many of our cruises.His fish market trips were always a highlight and usually followed by a wonderful dinner request from us at the market for two lobster Thermidor for our main course that evening.He always obliged and the happy memories will be retained for ever.

[Rocchi]

Hi, JP.

 

The lady cheese monger was Australian and we also had a Great lady chef from Germany on that cruise.

[FauxNom]

On 6/20/2021 at 2:16 AM, Rocchi said:

Hi, JP.

 

The lady cheese monger was Australian and we also had a Great lady chef from Germany on that cruise.

Actually, our cheese expert is from New Zealand--Juliet Harbutt. I'm proud to say I won her book for being a star student (i.e. great suck-up) in her cheese lessons! She runs a sort of farm to table tourism operation near Hawkes Bay NZ if anyone ever wants to get in touch with her.  

 

And the chef was the famous Pia. Amazing meals on that wonderful cruise!

[jpalbny]

We love Chef Pia!

 

She was also with us again, on Silver Cloud in January 2020. She taught me a shortcut for how to make an authentic Kaiserschmarrm. We think of her fondly every time we cook one.

[Rocchi]

Oops. Sorry FauxNom. New Zealand. Had a fantastic driving holiday from Queenstown to Auckland with 6 stops overs in 2006.

[caradara]

And Fauxnom didn't you get investigated by the dog at security in Valparaiso because of the cheese book!  

[jpalbny]

The port agents went nuts on me. Wasn't exactly a warm welcome! 

 

I had filled my customs form out incorrectly so they were insistent that I had to do a new one. Meanwhile Chris went through with her bags, no problem. 

 

I declared the bag of spice that we'd bought in the market the day before. They wanted to see it of course. Guess it was in Chris's bag, and they had missed it, because we couldn't find it in mine and she was long gone.

 

That made them even crazier. I was convinced they were not going to let me in. But they finally did. So then of course we went wine tasting and all was better.

[FauxNom]

1 hour ago, caradara said:

And Fauxnom didn't you get investigated by the dog at security in Valparaiso because of the cheese book!  

I can't believe you remember that! LOL! It was really bizarre how strongly the dogs reacted, so the cheese book was the only thing we could think of. I promise there were no samples in there, but I'm sure it had been handled by many cheese-lovers.

 

JP, I didn't know you had problems there too. You deserved an extra glass of wine for that!