Luxury line Silversea Cruises is dramatically upgrading its culinary experiences on its ships and in destinations with the new S.A.L.T. program, an acronym of Sea and Land Taste.
The program will officially launch in August 2020 when the Silver Moon enters service, but excursions, cooking demonstrations and more are now in the planning stages.
TravelPulse.com is onboard the Silver Muse this week to try out the new culinary activities in the works, and I must say they're impressive. We're cruising from Bali to Manila, Philippines, with stops in Borneo and the island of Romblon.
To give an example of the activities, on March 9 we enjoyed an assortment of Balinese breakfast foods-including rice, pork belly, mushrooms and more-at Nusantara Restaurant by Locavore, considered one of the finest restaurants in Asia.
The chefs/owners Eelke Plasmeijer and Ray Adriansyah actually have a research lab where they can experiment with local foods and spices, creating their own miso and kombucha, for instance.
Then they took us on a hike in the Balinese countryside so we could see where they get many of their ingredients, including palm sap, honey and various wild herbs. We walked along rice paddies, past cows and pens of ducks and ended up with an outdoor luncheon feast from Locavore restaurant, including a whole roasted pig.
The next day we met Maya Kerthyasa, a Balinese cooking expert and journalist. She talked about traditional Balinese food and also led the group in making spice paste and other dishes, including the traditional lawar salad.
Needless to say, foodie travelers will appreciate the intensive experiences, which will be offered on a menu so cruisers can choose which excursions and demonstrations they'd like to attend.
The culinary program will also include the S.A.L.T. Lab that will host interactive demonstrations and the S.A.L.T. Bar and S.A.L.T. restaurant which will serve foods reflecting the area in which the ship is sailing.
The S.A.L.T. program is being overseen by Adam Sachs, the former editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine and a three-time winner of the prestigious James Beard Journalism Award. He has served as a contributing editor for Bon Appétit and Travel + Leisure.
"My mission in this new role is simply an extension of the approach I've always taken as a food and travel writer: to apply an endless curiosity and adventurous appetite to deep-dive explorations of the ingredients, cuisine and rituals of the countries and communities we visit," Sachs said.
"There's no better-or more enjoyable-way to engage and understand the world than through the flavors and stories of its food and wine culture and the people and personalities behind it. With our new initiative, the S.A.L.T. project, there will be no better place to explore it all than with Silversea."
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