Dining in Transit

Take a trip through the history of travel and the innovative ways ocean liners, trains, and airplanes catered to passengers’ appetites and expectations during the first half of the 20th century. French chefs were hired, signature meals introduced, and multi-course holiday meals served high in the sky. An array of distinctive objects—from souvenir menus to promotional recipe books, employee handbooks, and collectible tableware—illustrate how transportation companies focused on memorable culinary experiences to attract and retain customers. 

The exhibition also explores the racialized hiring practices of the Pullman Company that recruited formerly enslaved Black men to be railroad cooks and waiters and the exacting physical requirements used by airlines in their hiring of women.​​

Among the highlights of the exhibition are dozens of beautifully designed menus from the Patricia D. Klingenstein Library’s vast collection, recipe books published by railroads and airlines, and a look at food trends that influenced meals served onboard. 

For a fun and historic treat, stop by the new restaurant, Clara, for a specially created, Dining in Transit-inspired dessert menu—including fresh strawberry Bavarois from a 1938 voyage on the SS Normandie—dreamed up by star Chef Alex Guarnaschelli.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website