MILLIONAIRE DIET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20736, 2 December 1930, Page 12

MILLIONAIRE DIET.

EXPENSIVE FOOD ON MALOLO.

FROGS' LECiS AND CRABS.

TIT-BITS FOR THE GOURMET. What do American millionaires eat for dinner? Tlib answer may be found, as well as anywhere, on tho menus in the dining saloon of the liner Malolo, which arrived from Wellington yesterday in continuation of her Pacific cruise. No hotel in New Zetdand can show such a catalogue of expensive delicacies. Boiled crabs, fried frogs' legs, reindeer meat, eels, wild boar and quails' eggs aro among tho toothsome tit-bits that tho passengers eat for dinner. Supplies of tinned crabs went exhausted during tho voyage, and fresh crabs were bought when the liner was at Kobe, Japan. Japanese prawns, much larger than the New Zealand variety, were much in favour, and 2001b. of eels (a New Zealand delicacy, by the way) were consumed on the voyage. Russian caviare, costnig £1 8s a lb., appears on many of the menus. About 1501b. was placed in tho ship's larder at San Francisco before the cruise began and another 501b. was taken in at Kobe, making £2BO worth for the voyage. Approximately 95001b. of turkey was used on the cruise and 27,0001b. of poultry. Snipe, reed birds, woodcock and quail are served as entrees. Thirty thousand pounds of fish has been consumed, and the meat ussd runs into 60,0001b. "There is no delicacy so exclusive and so prized by the connoisseur as frogs' legs," said an officer attached to tho slap's commissariat. "Fried in butter they are delicious. The average person would eat half a dozen for dinner, and a plat© costs about 4s. Wo took 1200 pairs of logs on board beforo wo left San Francisco. Wo also had 4000 clams,-which aro sometimes eaten raw and sometimes used in soup, and one of tho best soups is made from quails' eggs, of which wo had a largo quantity." Considerable quantities of wild boar meat, obtained from Manchuria, as well as. venison and roubuck, wcro taken on at Kobe, and helped to improve the dinner fare during tho voyage to Now Zealand Owing to the frequent calls at ports on tho Australian anil New Zealand coasts, a comparatively small quantity of supplies will bo loaded at Auckland. Fresh cream, which is fre-ely used on many dishes, will bo required to the extent of 250 gallons, and a similar quantity of milk will be taken. The ship's larder also requires from Auckland 3001b. of crayfish, 3001b. of hapuku, 2001b. of schnapper, 2501b. of terakihi fillet, 5001b. of spring lamb, 5001b. of veal, 6001b. cf tomatoes, 72001b. of carrots, and 10001b. of spinach, and if the commissariat had realised how cheap butter could bo bought in New Zealand heiavy supplies of that commodity would not have been purchased in Australia.

FEATURES OF THE LINER. LIVE-SAVING EQUIPMENT. The Malolo, whiich is making lier secondvisit to Auckland, is on a three months' pleasure cruise in the Pacific, and when she returns to San Francisco she will have steamed. 24,203 miles and visited 20 ports in 13 different countries. The .tonnage of the Malolo is 17,232 gross and her dimensions are:—Length, 554 ft.; breadth, 83.2 ft.; depth, 30.7 ft. Her passenger accommodation is on five decks. She is licensed to carry 654 passengers and the accommodation includes 268 _ staterooms. The dining saloon has seating accommodation foi all passengers ftt one sitting. The vessel's life-saving equipment includes 18 lifeboats and two large motorlaunches, capable of accommodating 1100 piiople. Each lifeboat, is certified to carry 60 people and 20 members of tho crew are detailed to work tho launches, which would be used to tow the lifeboats. Fuel is carried on the launches for a cruising range of 500 miles and they are also fitted with wireless equipment, which can send and receive up to 500 miles. The crew of the Malolo totals 350. Captain C. A. Berndtson is in command and his staff officers are:—Captain G. B. Wait, executive officer; H. T. Abbott, chief en gineer;.J. C. Fbchbeck, purser; E. O. Fickendey, chief steward; H. P. Hamilton, surgeon. Mr. Louis D. Stone is cruise director and Messrs. W. A. Shedd and W. R. McPhail aro assistant cruise directors, with a staff of seven.