Food on the Move by Sharon Hudgins

Author:Sharon Hudgins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Reaktion Books

Travellers on the Canadian Pacific Railway may have noticed that whether they are creeping across the western plains, descending the Pacific slope of the Rockies, circling the pretty curves of Ontario lakes, or skimming along the coast of the Atlantic, in that company’s dining cars, a steak is a steak, chicken Maryland is chicken Maryland, and hodge-podge is hodge-podge [one-pot vegetable stew], the same amount, the same price, and the same way served.14

The kitchen staff was also trained to strictly comply with the railway’s standard portions for serving: ‘eight olives and eight radishes per person, one full eight-ounce slice of ham with two fried eggs, marmalade or jam served in individual bottles – cream, if desired’.15 (This strict quality-control philosophy has continued to the present time, where a rack of lamb prepared on the Toronto–Winnipeg run will be cooked in the same way as the rack of lamb on the Winnipeg–Vancouver route.) Standard table service aboard the trains included the railway’s famous water bottles with silver flip-tops (a hygienic improvement on the cork), developed before the First World War; silver fluted flower vases with weighted bottoms to prevent spillage; silver crumb trays and crumb scrapers; and bespoke ironstone or porcelain tableware with various railway patterns that changed throughout the years. Today there are still flowers on the table, white linen tablecloths and napkins, and pure white, elegant Noritake china settings (with no logo); but the silver and silver plate is gone, replaced with less expensive, more serviceable stainless steel.

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