Here's a preview of next week's Masters of Social Gastronomy lecture on the food of the high seas, from Sarah Lohman, author of the blog Four Pounds Flour. 

I've never been on a cruise--and that's why I'm sickly fascinated by them. The gluttony, the sloth, the lust--all the best sins in seven days at sea! When I was devising my talk for next week's MSG, I really got to thinking about how steam ships went from transportation to "fun ships" for the middle class. The transition began with airline travel. Planes were faster, and soon to be cheaper, than steamship travel. In order to survive, the shipping companies had to re-brand themselves. And the identity of a "cruise ship" really took off with the TV series The Love Boat.

The Love Boat was actually produced in part with Princess Cruises; scenes that weren't shot on a sound stage were filmed on the Princess Pacific cruise ship. The show made cruising seem glamorous, yet wholesome, and fully attainable by the average Joe.

The show was inspired by the memoirs of cruise director Jeraldine Saunders. Her book, The Love Boats, propagated the idea of cruises as romantic and liberating. She wrote in 1975:

Something beautiful happens on a ship that doesn't occur at a resort, on an airplane, or at a hotel. Perhaps is has something to do with the movement of the ship. People let down their protective walls and become playful. They smile and talk to strangers. It is as though you are at a private party and it’s proper to introduce one’s self. A cruise ship also works its magic on married couples who 'fall in love all over again.'

Saunders says in her book that the midnight buffets were not for her: she stayed thin on cruises by not eating dessert, and didn't drink because she's hypoglycemic. She did run palm reading seminars and numerology classes as part of her cruise ship entertainment schedule. More recently, she was featured on TLC's Extreme Cougar Wives. Enjoy the clip below.    

On Tuesday, I'll reveal what the lowest class passenger would have eaten on the Titanic, and what happens in cruise ship kitchens today. See you then!