First-class fare 'aboard' IPFW's 'Titanic'

By Jayne Spencer

IPFW students Molly Ferber (left) and Marilyn Carunchia bring on the first course.

It was a "doomed dinner" in name only. Actually, the event was quite a success. When the "crew" of John Knight, director of the Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management Program at IPFW, cooked up the last sumptuous meal served aboard the erstwhile RMS Titanic Nov. 12 at Fort Wayne's Summit Club, the 40 guests had no need to ask for directions to the lifeboats.

A table befitting the White Star Line or the IPFW Dinner Series.

The fare? Oh, just the stuff of the above-deck passengers. Smoked salmon mousseline, cream of barley soup, tournedos with a morel demi-glace on a bed of braised cabbage. A little bit of champaign, a nice malvedos with the Edwardian Waldorf pudding. Nothing out of the ordinary if you were used to the accommodations akin to those on the doomed ship that went down in the north Atlantic April 15, 1912.

Program secretary Louise Pruse (left) is served by Ferber

David Johnston (right) developed and implemented the Titanic feast with other students and staff from the Summit Club.

Each semester, Knight's students implement a dinner series. It's a rite of passage toward becoming more familiar with the dining public and the industry that serves it. Student manager for the "doomed dinner" was David Johnston, and the recipes were taken from historic records. (Home Pages has them on line; just click on this week's issue and follow the menu.)

And keep a look out on the Web site below for this semester's dinner series line-up:

Check out these "Titanic" recipes:

Return to Table of Contents