CATERING FOR AN EXPECTANT MOTHER ON BOARD. T
he next in my mini series on catering to specialist diets onboard is one that’s a little bit close to my heart right now: pregnant women! You may think a boat is the last place an expectant mum may choose to have a holiday, but there are not quite as many mums who have a nightmare experience with morning sickness as you think. Life ticks over just the same, with diet and a general healthier living being the only real lifestyle adjustments for the first 6-7 months of pregnancy. Advice on this is seriously different between countryto-country. For example, America and Australia are far more strict than many European countries on
certain foods, and most certainly the occasional glass of wine. Luckily the alcohol drinking minefield can be dealt with by the stewardesses, and your job is just to be very clear about what can and cannot be used in your dishes for the motherto-be. There is a chance that a newly pregnant mum may take you to one side and tell you discretely once they are onboard, but fear not, there is no need to provision that differently with this diet from what produce you should already have on board for a standard trip. Compared to many other specialist diets, you generally just need to use produce with more caution.
PROTEIN Aim to offer three servings of protein daily (which adds up to about 75 grams), and try to spread it out during the day. This will be easy as pie...Examples include: a cheese omelette for breakfast, a salmon salad for lunch and a chicken breast with dinner. And remember additional protein counts, such as whole-grain breads and cereals, and calcium-rich foods like milk and yogurt. So make sure you have additional bread options with meals, full fat yogurts and there is vitamin D milk available everywhere if you’re in the States. NOTE... Eggs must be cooked ‘’well done’’ for pregnant mums. Obviously this applies to any kind of breakfast egg or omelette, but do not forget about desserts too. Mousses, sabayons, sorbets, set unbaked cheesecakes...anything where the egg is only just cooked or raw are off the menu, and it is down to you to highlight these high risk desserts to the guest (and if I am anything to go by, offer an alternative as they will really not want to be watching everyone else smashing that pot au chocolate!!). Something I am sure you will never even be offered as a yacht chef to buy unless you are somewhere really crazy is unpasterised milk, but just to note obviously that is off the menu too.
P
regnant woman are not exactly ‘’eating for two’’ and portion sizes should be pretty much normal, although as a rough guide they will be aiming to eat for the first three months around 300 extras calories a day, for the second three months around 350 extra calories a day, and in the last 3 months an extra 500 calories a day. If the mum to be has flown in to join the boat then the chances are they will not be in the third category. On top of extra calories, you need protein, calcium, vitamin C foods, green leafy and yellow vegetables and fruits, other fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes, ironrich foods and the right amount of fats and salty foods. There are a million other vitamins and minerals that you may find if you google online, but the reality is all expectant mums will be taking multivitamin pills for these so you only need to focus on the fore mentioned.
So, let’s run through the food groups for some guidelines...
iceberg nutrient wise. ‘’Green and yellow’’ veg recommendations also includes red; as in red pepper, and orange: as in yams, winter squash, carrots, cantaloupe and apricots. WHOLE GRAINS Whole wheat and whole grains should feature heavily on the menu— breads, cereals, and pastas — you can also find whole grain equivalents in whole corn, rice, oats, rye, barley, quinoa, and more, as well as in dried peas and beans. These food groups combat nausea (thanks to their starchiness), and the high fiber content add much needed roughage. IRON Goes without saying. Spinach, red meat, but you can also add soy products, dried fruit and blackstrap molasses to the list of iron rich foods. Liver products should NOT be offered (eg pate, sausage etc), as they contain vitamin A and it harms the baba. Cured meats are off the menu too; parma, serrano, pate negra, and care must be taken to cook all meats - no blood traces, as listeria bacteria is a big worry for mothers-to-be. All types of pate are also considered a risk, not just liver pate - this includes foie gras.
VITAMIN C Vitamin C is a nutrient your body can’t store, so the mama will need a fresh supply each day to help boost her baby’s growth and development. Certainly, morning OJ for a serving of C (make that two servings in an 8-ounce glass), but also many other C-rich fruits and vegetables should be on hand (such as kiwi, mango, strawberries, melon, bell peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, and more). C foods need to mainly be eaten raw each day, since it is one vitamin that doesn’t hold up as well under any form of cooking. VITAMIN D Obviously all dairy is great, from cheeses and eggs to yogurt, butter, milk and (a dash of) cream. The exception to the rule dairy-wise though is UNPASTERISED CHEESES. The bacteria in these untreated cheeses is potentially deadly to unborn babies, so you must know each and every cheese you are offering to the guest (Check back with your provisioner if you are not sure). Burratas and true buffalo mozzarella are most definitely off the menu, and as a general rule, so are very smelly orange or yellow rinded cheeses, blue cheese and soft rinded cheeses such as brie or camembert. Goat cheeses seem to be harder to tell, so again, double check. A brilliant vitamin D option is fish with bones - pichards or salmon in a tin, which many woman eat, but its not exactly what you would normally offer on a boat – what you could offer though is whitebait and served with a garlic or curried mayonnaise may just tempt the other guests too! GREEN AND YELLOW VEGGIES Vegetables such as spinach and broccoli, and fruits such as mango and cantaloupe pack far more essential vitamins and minerals than most of their comradesin-produce. They are always highly recommended on websites for mums, so make sure you have a good supply on board. Romaine lettuce is way better than
A LITTLE CAUTION... Toxoplasmosis is a bacteria found on fruit, vegetables and salads, and can be really dangerous to an unborn baby. So, if you do have a pregnant mum onboard who keeps checking that the chef washes all their fruit, veg and lettuce, this is the reason why. A BIT FISHY... All raw shell fish is completely out. Some women will still eat smoked fish, some will not. All fish should be well cooked, and fish that is generally off the menu is tuna, swordfish or marlin. These types of fish contain high levels of mercury. Oily fish should also be limited because it contains pollutants such as dioxins and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Do not offer more than two portions of oily fish on a week long trip. Oily fish includes: fresh tuna (canned tuna doesn’t count as oily fish) salmon trout mackerel herring sardines pilchards Other fish You should also limit how much you offer of some other fish that are not regarded as oily. Don’t offer more than two portions a week of: dogfish (rock salmon) sea bass sea bream turbot halibut crab So there you have it, a crash course in a pregnant guest on board. Too easy!
Written and Tributed to the Expectant mother Emma Rye