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.
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.
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. Curated by Nina Nazionale, director of library curatorial affairs and research
Support for Dining in Transit is provided by The Pine Tree Foundation of New York.
For a fun and historic treat, stop by our 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.
Shop the Exhibition
Browse the NYHistory Store now for gifts inspired by the exhibitions, including books, postcards, and vintage-style collectibles like a Pan Am travel bag.
Exhibitions at The New York Historical are made possible by Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang and Oscar Tang, the Saunders Trust for American History, the Evelyn & Seymour Neuman Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. WNET is the media sponsor.
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