Vasco de Gama at the table

On board a Portuguese nau during the Age of Discovery, meals were divided into two levels. The crew received the ration: hardtack, water or watered wine, salted fish, dried legumes—food designed to last months without spoiling. The *mesa do capitão*, the officers' and captain-major's table, added cheese from Portugal, quality wine, rice, preserved fruits, and, upon return from the Indies, the fabulous spices of Calicut. Daily cooking remained that of Gama's native Alentejo: bread, garlic, olive oil, coriander. Feasts and holy days called for Madeira sugar and cinnamon. There was no "starter-main-dessert": there was what could keep at sea, and what was served when God and the king had been thanked.