Can you think of a better way to learn than through food? The SS Great Britain has stepped up its immersive experience on board and is offering a new exhibition exploring foods of the world during the summer holidays.
The historic ship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel is known as the smelliest museum in Britain in modern times, and this summer, they are adding taste to the sensory experience. 'Dishes of Discovery' is a new exhibition that explores some of the flavours the SS Great Britain would have encountered during its voyages between 1845 to 1886.
Until September 4, visitors who climb aboard will taste historic 19th-century recipes from Mumbai, Cape Town and Crimea - discovering how the SS Great Britain connected people and places around the world. The dishes created include a coriander and coconut chutney, a melon jam and a traditional borsch - flavours characteristic of those that passengers from Britain would have tried for the very first time.
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Speaking to BristolLive, active interpretation manager Simon Strain said: "Food is a universal topic, it's something we all have to have every day, but it's so much more than sustenance. Food connects us to our national identity, and to our family stories, it can be really emotive and powerful. We thought it was an interesting way of accessing some of our lesser known stories of the ship."
Both the jam and the chutney are the exact recipes straight from books written in the 19th century while the borsch dish is made with a combination of several different recipes. Visitors will be able to taste these dishes and read about their roots on board the ship and even have a chat with Brunel himself.
Simon added how having an immersive experience allows the museum to connect to as many people as possible. "We all have different preferences for the way we learn some of us are very visual, we might like to read, might like to see things.
"Some of us prefer more tactile experiences. By creating an immersive experience where visitors can see, hear, smell and in this case, taste aspects of history, you've got a way to connect with almost anyone."
The dishes have been created by Bristol-based social enterprise, Travelling Kitchen, whose team worked with the ship’s archivists to explore historic recipes from around the globe. During her life, the SS Great Britain journeyed to six continents, 24 countries and journeyed around the world 32 times.
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SS Great Britain’s interpretation team studied diaries and documents to create these authentic recipes. As Joanna Mathers, Head of Collections, at SS Great Britain explained: “We have made some fascinating discoveries as part of this project. One of the dishes - the green coriander and coconut chutney - was inspired by Samuel Archer, the ship’s surgeon on a voyage to Mumbai in 1857."
The ship is also offering experiences to 'Go Aloft' this summer - for those who are daring enough - to climb the rigging of the ship to over 25 metres above ground level. For more information and to book tickets, head to their website.
Tickets to the culinary experience are available on the SS Great Britain website at www.ssgreatbritain.org. 'Dishes of Discovery' comes to the SS Great Britain from July 23 to September 4
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