“Floating Restaurants”: A Global History of Dining Aboard Mediterranean Transatlantic Liners in the Early Twentieth Century

While research on European transatlantic migration has largely focused on departure and arrival points, this study gives prominence to the journey, situating shipboard life and food service at the epicenter. It argues that shipboard dining during mass migration from the Mediterranean was not a marginal moment but a key aspect of the journey, in which class hierarchies, national identities, and transnational encounters were produced and negotiated. The article demonstrates that food functioned as a mediator of global connections and disconnections, and dining spaces served as contact zones where diverse ethnic, linguistic, religious, and social backgrounds interacted. Shipboard food and dining arrangements structured social hierarchies, mediated transnational interactions, and became advertising mechanisms for shipping companies to attract passengers. The article explores the conditions, quality disparities, and social dynamics of dining, particularly through the cases of the Moraitis and Austro-Americana. By focusing on the transit experience, the article establishes shipboard dining as a lens through which to understand the interplay between food, migration, and global mobility in the early twentieth century.