This blog post is special edition of RBSC’s new series spotlighting items in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection and the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection.
Happy New Year from the Chung Lind Gallery and the whole UBC Rare Books and Special Collections team!
Canadian Pacific Railway Company, and Lawrence Crawford. 1932. “Empress of Britain World Cruise New Year Dinner 1932.” M. Chung Textual Materials. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0373316.
As we glide into 2025, may we all have a chance to experience some of the finer things in life, as these passengers aboard the 1932 Empress of Britain world cruise certainly did for this New Year’s Day feast. With a ten-course meal plus dessert, there was ample opportunity to ring in the New Year with a cornucopia of plentiful food.
The cover of this advertising pamphlet for the 1931-1932 World Cruise features an Indonesia Shadow Puppet.
Canadian Pacific Steamships. 1931. “Empress of Britain World Cruise 9th Annual.” Advertisements. Chung Textual Materials. USA : Unz & Co. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0362227.
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The Empress of Britain was the largest ship in the Canadian Pacific Steamship Co and considered the most luxurious. On Dec the 3rd 1931, she departed New York to begin her 128-day world cruise. During the Depression, this was a luxurious journey only very few could afford, with tickets starting at around $2000 USD per person at the lowest fare ($66,700 CAD in Jan 2025.) Posters and pamphlets advertised the “exotic locales” and opulent Jazz-Age interiors of the vessel, hoping to nab elite leisure visitors from the Anglo-American upper-crust. Servants like valets and maids could travel for lower rates, in cabins deeper in the ship. There were many shore excursions if you chose to leave “the floating palace.” On this voyage, the passengers spent ate their New Years dinner ashore on the banks of the Nile River near Cairo and the Pyramids, having spent Christmas in Mandatory Palestine.
Canadian Pacific Steamships. 1931. “Empress of Britain World Cruise 9th Annual.” Advertisements. Chung Textual Materials. USA : Unz & Co. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0362227.
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The menus of CP Empresses leaned strongly towards continental cuisine, especially French, with an emphasis on meat, seafood, and rich sauces. Between you and me, for this meal I’d skip the chicken in braised celery and clear sauce and go for the Tournedos Rossini (filet mignon pan fried in butter with a topping of pate, black truffle, and Madeira wine sauce.) On Pacific voyages, the Chinese chefs would prepare Chinese cuisine for the majority-Asian steerage passengers.
Canadian Pacific Steamships. 1931. “Empress of Britain World Cruise Fares.” Advertisements. Chung Textual Materials. United States : Canadian Pacific Railway Company. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0372252.
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Keep an eye out for new stories from the Chung and Lind Collections throughout 2025, and for new programming to come!
Let us know if you would like more blogs about food and the Chung collection!
Further Reading
Turner, Gordon. (1992). Empress of Britain