The Titanic’s logometer—a scale for measuring the ship’s daily distance traveled—still shows the reading from that fateful night in 1912. This haunting artifact, now on display in Jersey City at Liberty Science Center alongside champagne bottles and chandeliers recovered from 2.5 miles below the Atlantic, inspired an exclusive dinner, held yesterday night, recreating the first-class passengers’ final meal.
The Aft First Class staircase leading to the a la carte restaurant on the RMS Titanic, the world’s most luxurious ocean liner at the time of its launching in April of 1912
To celebrate the February 15 opening of «Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition,» cookbook author and food-television personality Gail Simmons modernized the menu of that fated ten-course affair for an invitation-only event. «We made the portions smaller,» Simmons told The New York Times—a practical concession to modern appetites and perhaps an unintentional metaphor for how we’ve condensed history into consumable experiences. The original ten-course extravaganza was trimmed to a more digestible seven courses, and Simmons incorporated healthier ingredients with more vegetables and vegetable purées, «so we’re not rushing you to the cardiologist right after the meal,» as Hoffman put it.
«I think a lot of us are romantically invested in the Titanic as the greatest legend of the sea,» said Simmons, who collaborated with Aramark Sports & Entertainment for the event. «The Titanic was a great feat of engineering and imagination, and they were celebrating their wealth and class.» The original menu «tells us about who they were and the idea of luxury» in 1912.
The historical Titanic kitchen operations were as impressive as the ship itself. The main galley featured a bakery, butcher shop, and storage for wine, beer, and oysters, plus coal bins for the ovens. Over 100 cooks staffed the galleys, alongside a dozen pastry chefs and five butches.
A 2nd Class dinner menu from RMS Titanic dated April 14, 1912.
While the menu survived, the actual recipes have been lost to time. «Historians have not been able to find them,» explained Hoffman, who gave Simmons creative freedom to reimagine the feast for contemporary palates. «They don’t need to hire me if they want to recreate it exactly as it was,» Simmons said. «Tastes change, evolve, and things are served a certain way at a certain time because that was the style of cooking.»
As guests sipped their themed cocktails and savored Simmons’ reimagined historical cuisine, they were transported not just to 1912, but to that liminal space between reverence and recreation. Bon appetit?
Julia Cancilla is the engagement editor (and resident witch) at ELLE Decor, where she manages the brand’s social media presence and covers trends, lifestyle, and culture in the design world. Julia built her background at Inked magazine, where she grew their social media audiences by two million, conducted interviews with A-list celebrities, and penned feature articles focusing on pop culture, art and lifestyle. Over her five years of digital media experience, Julia has written about numerous topics, from fashion to astrology.
