Can airline food be tasty?

[Foreigner]

From The NY Times:


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/b...ight-meals.html?_r=1&src=rechp&pagewanted=all

 

[JohnK]

I find airline food very tasty sometimes and bland at other times. Tonights meal in economy was not too bad. Depends on the meal and the people preparing it on board.

As usual YMMV.

 

[Isochronous]

Best J meal I've had was QF SYD-HKG, the fish with eggplant, gai lan and some sort of soy glaze.

 

[munitalP]

I have had eye in J a few times now (MEL/SIN and SYD/SIN)

I think I have posted previously how good it was. I don't believe I have ever had a Y meal worthy of comment except once on VN.

 

[The Rok]

No.

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[Foreigner]

I find airline food very tasty sometimes and bland at other times. Tonights meal in economy was not too bad. Depends on the meal and the people preparing it on board.

As usual YMMV.

Sadly most, if not all, meals are prepared on the ground for re-heating. Gulf, I think, did have chefs on board but to cook meals for pax at the pointy end.

 

[elbarto]

On You Tube look up Hestons Mission Impossible British Airways. It looks at inflight catering and how altitude effects your taste buds and how caterers could change their recipes to off set the effects of altitude on taste.

 

[JohnK]

Sadly most, if not all, meals are prepared on the ground for re-heating. Gulf, I think, did have chefs on board but to cook meals for pax at the pointy end.

Re-heating is not the issue if done properly. If the meal was not quite up to standard before freezing then re-heating is not going to do much for it. Almost any pasta meal is is going to fail and fish is hit and miss and probably best avoided unless no other choice.

From memory some of Finnair's meals were really nice and some CX meals are also more than acceptable. I prefer my meat cooked, not pink with blood still flowing inside, and that is the problem with most airline prepared beef, lamb, pork and to a lesser extent chicken meals.

In my experience some meals actually taste better after being frozen and re-heated later and that is not limited to airline food only.

 

[Oneworldplus2]

All J sectors on QF have been above satisfactory for me.

 

[anat0l]

Can airline food be tasty? Yes it can. What kind of question is that?

Airlines were doing well with taste years and years ago in the romantic ages; to relive that degree (or as close as possible) of pleasure one must proffer a lot of money (i.e. fly Business or First), but that doesn't invalidate the fact that airline food can be tasty.

The pressurised, dehumidified cabin creates a much different environment than on the ground. Eating food which is designed for the air on the ground will not be guaranteed to be pleasant, and vice versa.


As much as people may hate it, I think Qantas have pretty much hit cuisine in the air on the head. Meal choices usually have taste (first step) and then they taste good (second step). Of course YMMV all the time, though IMO if an airline can't make the first step work then that's already a serious loss in my books.

As far as meals on QF go, all J and F meals I've had are excellent, and Y meals - yeah they've been a few ordinary ones - but all of them bar two perhaps have had taste. (In one of the latter cases, some nut obviously let too much frost / condensation build up in the meals).

Some other airlines could learn a thing or two about cuisine selection let alone preparation of food so that it can be eaten up in the air. Oddly enough, Virgin Australia was a bit deficient in this regard IMO - meals had a bit too subtle flavours in them, and a bit dry. I'd assume things are getting much better now, though.

SQ probably make some of the tastiest Y food in the world. Granted, it's never anything too risky (usually meat, gravy and veg or Asian meat and veg with rice), but at least they are tasty (save for, perhaps, some of their bread rolls).

 

[tuapekastar]

Plane food certainly can be tasty. Mortified to realise I cannot remember exactly what the meal was in Y on QF MEL-AKL last December (maybe a Thai Red Chicken curry or similar) but it was pretty damn good for a Y meal, whatever it was.

And the soup I had on DJ in J SYD-PER a couple of weeks ago (zucchini, basil and parmesan) was simply the nicest soup I can recall having in a very long time, terrestrially or aerially. Ironically, when I googled for a recipe for it, the first recipe returned was ...a Neil Perry one! :shock:

There are certainly some shocker airline meals out there, but if you keep your expectations realistic, then they can often be met, and occasionally wildly exceeded (refer above).

 

[nlagalle]

J meals aside I have had a few very nice Y meals.

Standout was on QF which was rissoles and veg and mash. That was an ADL-MEL leg.

Sq wasn't too bad, even though when they got to me I had to have the backup meal of beef cheek.

 

[Berlin]

Standout was on QF which was rissoles and veg and mash.

That's an absolute winner in QF Why though it seems to be one of those meals that some people love and others hate. I personally totally agree- one of the best Why meals out there

For me, the food is probably the bit of a flight I am looking forward to the most. I therefore time domestic flights on QF to get the full meal service and make the food options one of my key selection criteria, especially in J.

Qantas has been pretty good with their meals I think though some of those NP creations have been a bit weird. I personally even like the stuff AA serves on their domestic F flights or BA on inner-European J. But then again, I like a greasy ranch dressing on my salad and pale sausages on some sort of egg cake for breakfast :shock:

 

[amaroo]

Had some very good meals in all classes on a few airlines.......CX & QF are my favourites.

 

[simongr]

The Heston show really showed both the mistake the airlines are making (the umami stoked shepherds pie looked great) and the challenges that they face - no knives in the galley to slice things or a start. The key things for me are first for chefs to recognise that their food might not be great when eaten when flying. Secondly the chefs and the airlines must taste the food in the air (or at worst in a pressure chamber).

I really do not enjoy airline food - even in J - it is the part of the journey that I least look forward to and one of the reasons the SYD F lounge and transiting HKG is such an important thing to me.

 

[Tooner]

I read the NYT piece and felt it made the problem pretty clear, but as others have noted, it was short on assurances that the chefs involved had experimented with flavours in the air.

Personally, as a SPML consumer, I'm tending to Simongr's approach of eating before flights where possible. In QF whY there is only so much Coriander chicken / lamb chermoula and white fish with tomato sauce I can take. I can't comment on VA much, but thought the Flexi meals were OK (but no more).

SQ are excellent at catering IMO, especially for SPML in J.

I will get to experience my first AA F "snack" in a couple of weeks, and my expectations (despite the article) are very low.:shock:

 

[ozmille]

I've had some good meals (QF) and some not so good ones (AM) but I think plane food can be tasty yes, especially paired with some nice wines (in J that is, I never drink wine in whY)

 

[Berlin]

I will get to experience my first AA F "snack" in a couple of weeks, and my expectations (despite the article) are very low.:shock:

If the flight is over two hours, you might be in for a very pleasant surprise! Hot nuts, followed by a nice greasy American meal and freshly baked cookies. I keep saying it- the food on AA domestic first is lovely!

 

[Tooner]

If the flight is over two hours, you might be in for a very pleasant surprise! Hot nuts, followed by a nice greasy American meal and freshly baked cookies. I keep saying it- the food on AA domestic first is lovely!

It is a mid-afternoon flight, but 3h35m. I'll be sure to let you know if I agree!

 

[Cruiser Elite]

I keep saying it- the food on AA domestic first is lovely!

Flew in the pointy end on AA last Sept POP-MIA-LAX and was really surprised at quality of food - very impressed.