When the cook of the Kalmar Nyckel unexpectedly quit, the captain surveyed the motley crew in desperation and asked, "Who is willing to take up the task?" In a mistake I will never regret, I raised my hand and began the adventure of my life. Join me as I describe my years of feasts and foibles as the novice chef of the tall ship Kalmar Nyckel. I invite you as well to sample the crew's favorite recipes.

Greg Brown served for twenty-five years in the United Methodist Church as a pastor and ultimately a pastoral counselor. As he transitioned to counseling, he discovered the Kalmar Nyckel and initially volunteered as part of the crew. But his love of cooking earned him a new role as chef. Since 2015, he has served in this capacity. He currently lives with his wife, Anne, and dog, Boots, in Old New Castle, Delaware. He is the author of Island Year: Finding Nova Scotia (East Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia: Pottersfield Press, 2010).

Elizabeth Berke is an artist, mother, and food scientist who enjoys drawing a variety of subjects in graphite, pen and ink, marker, and paint. Her love of tall ships led her to hop on a Philadelphia-bound flight to attend crew training on the Kalmar Nyckel in the fall of 2015. In the years since, she has continued to volunteer on the Nyckel as well as the Lady Washington out of Gray's Harbor, Washington (where she learned she gets disastrously seasick). She currently resides in Utah, and as much as she misses large bodies of water, Utah's sagebrush mountains are pretty great too.