Chefs get creative with Cook’s dishes

TWO TV chefs are among those who will recreate the menu on board Captain James Cook’s Endeavour on its first world voyage, 250 years ago, at a summer festival.

A live cookery theatre with an 18th-century flavour will be one of the attractions in Whitby, where Cook learned his trade.

The event, from July 6-8, will see TV chefs Gilli Cliff and Rob Green, Michelinstarred Andrew Pern and sailor and historian Capt Malcolm Nicholson cooking with ingredients inspired by those Cook’s crew loaded on board before he sailed from Portsmouth.

Capt Nicholson, whose replica warship schooner HMS Pickle will be one of the main attractions at the festival, will recreate a Battle of Trafalgar dinner in full period costume.

Mr Pern, a Whitby native, opened an offshoot of his Star Inn in the town last year.

Organiser Irene Myers said: “Cook’s journals reveal how excited and curious he was about the food he encountered on his travels.

“Food wasn’t just about survival, but part of his cultural voyage of discovery.

“He especially enjoyed a South Seas baked pudding of exotic fruits and coconut cream.”

She said the presentday menus would combine exotic fruits with fresh seafood and 18th-century seafaring staples such as salt pork, hard tack and rum.

The event will be staged on Whitby’s Endeavour Wharf, with free admission for spectators.