Last Dinner on the Titanic by Rick Archbold with Dana McCauly

The year of the Titanic.

1997.

We saw the movie THREE times at the theater. Film lovers that we are... even still, this was excessive for us. And when the video came out... bam... we bought it. I can not tell you how many times we have watched that ship sink.

What is the fixation?

We were living in the world before September 11th.

The story of the Titanic asks that great question...

How would you behave if you knew you only had moments left to live?

Would you panic?

Would you fight tooth and nail to survive?

Would you be the villian or the hero?

And the love story brought to life in James Cameron's magnificent film reignited that wonderful spark that my husband and I share. We were Jack and Rose. I was in a suffocatingly rigid life that was killing me inside. My husband was, and continues to be, the scamp who rescued me from that world and opened the door of a life of adventure to this day.

So the passion for the Titanic lives in our home.

Wanting to please my husband I bought him this book for the Christmas of 1997.

He is a gourmand, and the thought of preparing a meal worthy of the first class of many decades ago was irresistable.

He prepared the lobster thermadore from the recipes, and the vegetables... exotic to our modern tastes with an unusual combination of flavors that were the common fare of the wealthy in the turn of the last centruy.

That feast was our New Year's meal for the dawning of 1998.

We never ate one more recipe from that book.

I don't know... if you really think about the whole... it is rather morbid to be feasting on something that was literally the last meal on Earth for a bunch of folks.

I am not the first one to mention that in regards to this book.

The plight of the 1500 hundred passengers has been dimmed by post September 11th.

The Twin Towers, the Titanic of the modern era, came tumbling down on that firey day. Along with the symbol of this nation's military power at the Pentagon. And those trapped in Flight 93... I mean wouldpeople be writing recipe books about their last airline meal?

No.

But, I still recommend this book.

And, yes, do try some of the meals.

Reading about an era gone by is one thing, but to actually experience the sensations of that time through the power of taste and smell is an indescribable experience.


LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TITANIC: Titanic [Article] - World Book Online Reference Center (American English)


THE AUTHORS:


RICK ARCHBOLD: Powell's Books - Search Results
DANA McCAULY: Dana McCauley and Associates - food trends, cookbooks, concept architecture


MORE BOOKS ABOUT THE TITANIC:
Amazon.com Books: titanic
Titanic [Article] - World Book Online Reference Center (American English)


FILMS:


Titanic (1943)
Titanic (1953)
Titanic (1997)
Ghosts of the Abyss (2003)


VIDEO:


Titanic (1993) (V)


TELEVISION:


Titanic (1996) (TV)
Beyond Titanic (1998) (TV) : Details the culture of Titanicana and the films


POSTSCRIPT.... OOPSIE.


After I published this entry, much to my embarassment, my husband informed me that we have eaten SEVERAL meals from the Last Dinner on the Titanic!
Firthermore, the lobster thermadore did happen, but not the year I thought I recalled the occurence.
Such is the spongy memory of a drifty reader.
:)