When you go sailing you get chronically hungry. When out on the ocean, food tastes better than ever. Bad food however, will always taste crap – at sea and everywhere else. An easy rule to minimize conflicts on the boat: Only go sailing with people that know how to appreciate your efforts of putting good food on the table*.

*This rule obviously applies to any romantic relationship too. Actually, considering the very limited space on a sailboat, everything is similar to a romantic relationship.

As always, “good food” does not necessarily mean “expensive.” And, on a sailboat, “good food” is always simple. The greatest effort lies in the planning and buying of good quality ingredients, which can make any simple dish into a feast. I always make sure to bring my best olive oil and vinegar, lemons, dill, fresh onions, garlic, mature cheese, feta cheese, veggies, eggs, Greek yogurt, honey, favorite coffee, milk, crisp bread, and if you like, caviar too! Anything canned is to be considered emergency food only and should not – unless in case of a real emergency – be touched.

When we arrived in Sandvik, on the north side of the island Öland (Roxette video, remember?), I bought 1 kg of salmon at the fish shop in the harbor. I chopped up some parsley and garlic, and mixed it with olive oil, salt and pepper, which soaked into the salmon as we slowly grilled it on the beach.

You can do this at home too! Cook the salmon – covered in the herbs – on low temperature (80 degrees C) in the oven for about 40 min. I did it here for my friend Gonca in 2011, where I free-styled a bit and added some grated Parmesan to the herbs – It was good too.

Let me quote Åke Söderqvist**; “You do not eat to be able to sail – You sail to be get to eat!”

**Classic Swedish TV chef (from the 70’s, I think).