Too Many Cooks?

With the recent news that Mary Berry has joined Britannia’s ‘Food Heroes’, currently consisting of  James Martin, Marco Pierre White, Eric Lanyard, Olly Smith, Atul Kochhar, it got me thinking, are the cruise companies taking the nations current love affair with cooking a bit too far?   Its bad enough that every TV channel has a cookery programme headed up by a Celebrity Chef.  Now I’ve got to cruise with one!

P&O are promoting the fact that they now have a Cookery School on board Britannia!  Over 10 chefs will join the 5 ‘Food Heroes’ hosting cookery classes on a number of sailings throughout the year, which will include exclusive chef’s table dinners, question and answer sessions, and book signings. – Really?  My idea of hell! and a teeny bit pretentious if you ask me.

Just a cunning marketing ploy to extract more money out of gullible star struck passengers maybe? Well, a 2 hour lesson will cost £100 per person in the Cookery Club or £200 per person if hosted by two chefs. Spaces are limited and Britannia are anticipating that these cookery sessions will be a sell-out. Therefore you need to  book up to 4 months before your departure date. 

The food is important of course – after all I’ve seen enough reviews commenting on the poor quality, and how it had ruined passengers holidays… Again, Really?  With the huge amount of choice from the Buffet Restaurants, Main Dining and Speciality Dining, how can anyone’s cruise be ruined by food?  (Food poisoning excepted of course!)

I don’t pay to go on a cruise to spend time in yet another kitchen, albeit ‘decked out’ with all mod-cons,  to cook my own food!                                       And its not the be all and end all of why I choose to cruise.

P&O aren’t the only ones to jump on this particular bandwagon by the way.  Remember Jamie Oliver on board Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas?

Celebrity have Oz Clark the Wine expert?  The list goes on…. but you get  the gist.

I suppose it will appeal to the food and wine ‘connoisseurs’ amongst us, but quite frankly this whole idea of rubbing shoulders with chefs in the galley leaves me cold..

I’m spending a night on board Britannia on 8th March, but you’ll find me nowhere near the galley – I’ll be in the bar, waiting for my food to be cooked and served to me in the Restaurant!

There!  Rant over!

What do you think?

Here’s the line up, in case you’re interested: http://www.cruise.co.uk/cruise-guides/eblast-poc-16feb15

Mary Berry is travelling on B513, a 12-night cruise across the British Isles that will depart on July 6th 2015. She will be accompanied by top chefs Theo Randall and James Martin.

Nathan Outlaw, holder of four Michelin stars, will be sailing on B503 from March 28th, where he will head to Portugal, Spain and Morocco.

Theo Randall will be cooking up a storm with Mary Berry and James Martin on B513’s 12-night British Isles cruise from July 6th.

Pierre Koffmann’s culinary offerings will be available on B510’s 14-night Spain, Monaco and Italy cruise departing June 13th. He will be joined by James Martin and Charlie Turnbull.

James Tanner, chef and television personality, is travelling on B516 from August 8th, where he will sail to France, Spain and Guernsey for seven nights.

Lawrence Keogh will join the B514 on a seven-night Norwegian Fjords voyage departing July 18th.

Daniel Galmiche, modern French cuisine pioneer and television chef, will be cooking onboard B519 during a seven-night France, Spain and Guernsey cruise from September 5th.

Vivek Singh will depart on August 15th on B517’s 14-night Spain, Monaco and Italy sailing.

Paul Rankin, the first Northern Irish chef to receive a Michelin star, is travelling on B524 for a 14-night Portugal and Caribbean cruise departing October 23rd. He will be accompanied by Eric Lanlard.

Antonio Carluccio, deemed the ‘godfather of Italian gastronomy’, will be joined by James Martin and Charlie Turnbull onboard B523 for a 14-night Spain, Monaco and Italy voyage on October 9th.

No offence to all the ‘foodies’ out there, this is just my opinion, so please dont shout at me! 🙂