Aboard a solo racing sailboat in the 1970s, there is no starter or dessert: there is what fits in the lockers, what doesn't rot, and what can be swallowed when the sea allows. Meals are organized by constraint — the hot dish that comforts in heavy weather, the canned food gulped down quickly before a maneuver, the sweet snack that boosts morale, and the hot drink that marks the watches. The 'structure' of the meal is the state of the sea and the gimballed stove.

The soul of this cuisine is not a spice but a survival technique: the stove mounted on a gimbal that stays level when the boat heels, and the tin can, the anti-scurvy heroine of post-war British solo sailors. Everything revolves around rationed water and saved gas.