Think you have a small kitchen? Try cooking on a riverboat

Cooking on a ship has its challenges, from tight spaces to the occasional loss of water. Photo: Viking River Cruises

Cooks have long been travellers, moving from royal court to papal conclave, and Austrian-born Max Beyer is a great example of this restless spirit. Although still in his 20s, he has been executive chef of the Viking River Cruises ship Heimdal for two years now: a seven-day-a week, 12-hour-a-day job. He heads the kitchen of a boat that sails the Rhône River from Lyon, the gastronomic capital of France, down to Avignon, capital of medieval popes.

Max began in the family restaurant in Linz in the valley of the river Danube. "It was simple cooking, schnitzel, roast pork, that kind of thing. Grandma baked plum cake and strudel at the weekend, and I always helped. In Austria, we all know the basic pastries; they form part of so many of our dishes."