In Flight Meals - Do you eat them?

[RAM]

Uggh! For a minute there I was thinking "Soylent Green"!:shock:

No that's reserved for customers who demand a face-to-face customer complaint meeting...

 

[RAM]

I've never met a meal on a plane that I didn't want to eat. I hate to see food wasted even more (remember the documentary when in primary school of children dying of starvation in Ethiopia).

Only twice have I ever had to hurriedly re-cover a dish - once on Thai and once on Q.

Always love the anticipation of "What colour will it be and how creative was their description?"

Unfortunately this can lead to large problems. Travelling with three children who suddenly decide they will only eat the bread roll out of sensational kids meals (best kids meals by far come from China Airlines) - is hazardous to my health.

The meals had chicken nuggets & chips, ham and pork salad with croutons and chocolate mud cake ...and a bread roll, chocolate milk and OJ. The chicken nuggets were not chicken nuggets - there were three good sized breast fillets. Each one larger than a pack of playing cards. The chips were even crisp.

The adult meals were good and I polished mine off. I and my wife tried to encourage our kids to eat - so I took one of the 'nuggets'. Bad move - it was sensational, moist inside with crisp & crunchy batter. Kids - not interested, gave one to my wife (she has won't power) - she was surprised as she'd thought I was hamming it up.

Still they wouldn't eat. Couldn't let it go to waste - so I ended up eating the remaining 7 fillets and all the chips. Ate the ham & pork salads - again great tasting and crisp green veges amongst chunks of ham and pork. Ate 2 of the mud cakes and wife ate one. You get the idea.

Same deal with the breakfast - bacon, sausages, fried egg and jasmine rice (kids). Forced myself not to waste their meals nor fresh fruit salads.

Did not feel hungry for the first 24 hours in Europe. Gained just under 3 kilos (weighed in for ski settings) vs weigh-in before leaving home and booking the gear online.

Now the kids eat a little more and I much less but still hate to see food wasted (except for yoghurt and that should never even make it onto the plane!).

 

[harvyk]

Travelling with three children who suddenly decide they will only eat the bread roll out of sensational kids meals (best kids meals by far come from China Airlines) - is hazardous to my health.

Know the feeling of flying with fussy eaters...
The way we figure it is the kids can eat as much or as little of their meal as they like. We won't force them to eat and we have a good supply of our own snacks which we can give to our kids to keep them happy, whilst in the air keeping everyone calm and happy is the order of the day, both for our sanity and the sanity of the pax around us.

 

[busissi]

You believed Qantas?!

 

[katiebell]

I had the identical experience on a BA flight once. The smell and subsequent anticipation....

I have had this every time I've flown BA citiflyer to/from LCY but not on BA proper

 

[ausfox]

I flew MEL LAX last Tuesday (03 03) in a nice seat in row 80 on a 380. I was pleasantly surprised with the chicken salad served. I have been critical of the QF food for some time but there must have been a change of direction or an accidental success. Anyhow, better work chefs. Keep it up.

 

[PineappleSkip]

My next flight home has four sectors and three lounges with food. I intend to stuff myself silly at every one of them, with refreshments to boot, after starving myself for a day or so before departure. When I get to BNE I will waddle home.

If QF started serving Neil Perry soylent green I'd wolf it down and ask for seconds

Cheers skip

 

[Denali]

I hate when I get a meal/menu and I need google to tell me what it is. I get that as a J pax, apparently Im suppose to be a foodie/have better tastes but really, pork, chicken or beef, rice or potatoes and some icecream/cake and Im happy.

One menu I asked what a particular item was and I was told it was a particular type of pepper seed that was harvested by indigenous people on Arnhem land (on a full moon, by virgins my husband wondered). I hope whoever sold that BS to Chef got a great laugh out of it.

 

[Ausbt]

I get that as a J pax, apparently Im suppose to be a foodie/have better tastes...
One menu I asked what a particular item was and I was told it was a particular type of pepper seed that was harvested by indigenous people on Arnhem land (.

Really? All it takes is the purchase of a J ticket and one becomes a foodie with better tastes?

I don't know much about pepper, but watching last week's episode of Gourmet Farmer Afloat (the Matt Evans show) he visited a part of Tasmania and collected a type of pepper ...yes - harvested by indigenous people ! Maybe your laughing chef was watching that same show?

 

[Steelo]

Native pepper is just one of many australian native foods that have been on the restaurant culinary scene for the last 20 years. Qantas has used them in the past and overseas chefs also clamour for them. Hopefully one day we will get over our cultural cringe.

 

[Denali]

Its not a cultural cringe but its pepper (or other item), just say pepper or give a clue to what it is so Im not sitting there wondering if I can get wifi to find out what it is. My local coles already sells (and I own) a number of food items from Arnhem lands so its not that exotic these days.

I was looking at a menu for our next flight and already had to google part of the entrée to find out what it was and was left wondering if I can swap with a PE meal.

 

[boomy]

Can't make everyone happy, especially when it comes to food. Some complain it's too simple and others complain it's too sophisticated. Even when the airline is adding something new to the menu there are still some who manage to complain about it (see the recent Caviar thread).
Personally, I don't mind eating some dishes that I don't fully understand all the ingredients in them as long as they taste good.

 

[Denali]

Can't make everyone happy, especially when it comes to food. Some complain it's too simple and others complain it's too sophisticated. Even when the airline is adding something new to the menu there are still some who manage to complain about it (see the recent Caviar thread).
Personally, I don't mind eating some dishes that I don't fully understand all the ingredients in them as long as they taste good.

And the champagne threads. Ive said a few times that J is wasted on me, I don't even drink booze or coffee to enjoy whats on offer let alone some of the foods.

 

[boomy]

And the champagne threads. Ive said a few times that J is wasted on me, I don't even drink booze or coffee to enjoy whats on offer let alone some of the foods.

It's ok, there are other pax (like myself) who will be happy to consume more then their fair share to keep things balanced

 

[katiebell]

it is not unreasonable to give a plain English explanation of a dish, especially on the large bits of paper used for the premium menus. This helps everyone, including those who do may not be fluent in English and those who may have allergies. By all means use the fancy terms for hte names of hte dishes

 

[anat0l]

it is not unreasonable to give a plain English explanation of a dish, especially on the large bits of paper used for the premium menus. This helps everyone, including those who do may not be fluent in English and those who may have allergies. By all means use the fancy terms for hte names of hte dishes

Cabin crew should be able to demystify any items that you aren't aware of. People with allergies always have to be careful, even if they think they understand what a menu item is offering them (for example, a curry may be offered on the menu, but it may contain nuts).

That said, it's been very rare that I haven't seen something on the menu that I'm not able to guess or have no idea. A lot of flowery language crowding up the item is quite often where the product comes from and adds very little to understanding the item you are getting. The other kind of thing that may not be understood is a particular kind of general item, e.g. some people may not know that halibut is a fish.

Reminds me of going to non-English speaking countries and translating some menu items, then finding that the literal translation is just a name and gives no idea of what the dish is.

 

[katiebell]

what is, perhaps, of more concern is food hygiene. This is especially important now that QF premium meals are cooked and plated on board (see last month's QF mag). As the galley is now more like a commercial kitchen why is it that food handling and hygeine and hand washing posters are not displayed as they would be in a commercial kitchen? I would have thought that these were even more important at 30 000 ft over an ocean

 

[anat0l]

what is, perhaps, of more concern is food hygiene. This is especially important now that QF premium meals are cooked and plated on board (see last month's QF mag). As the galley is now more like a commercial kitchen why is it that food handling and hygeine and hand washing posters are not displayed as they would be in a commercial kitchen? I would have thought that these were even more important at 30 000 ft over an ocean

Does an aircraft galley qualify in the regulations as a commercial kitchen that would require all of what you suggest, plus more? I don't know, just saying. Just as like you need to be storing a certain amount of dangerous goods (fuel, other stuff) in a garden shed before you would actually need to do things like put DG triangles and a manifest, etc.

I haven't read the latest QF mag, but I don't see what was being said about meal prep was any different to previous.

 

[milehighclub]

what is, perhaps, of more concern is food hygiene. This is especially important now that QF premium meals are cooked and plated on board (see last month's QF mag). As the galley is now more like a commercial kitchen why is it that food handling and hygeine and hand washing posters are not displayed as they would be in a commercial kitchen? I would have thought that these were even more important at 30 000 ft over an ocean

Meals in first and business have been plated in the galley for over 10 years. Unlike a restaurant though crew always use gloves to handle food.

 

[TheBOSman]

Cabin crew should be able to demystify any items that you aren't aware of. People with allergies always have to be careful, even if they think they understand what a menu item is offering them (for example, a curry may be offered on the menu, but it may contain nuts).

That said, it's been very rare that I haven't seen something on the menu that I'm not able to guess or have no idea. A lot of flowery language crowding up the item is quite often where the product comes from and adds very little to understanding the item you are getting. The other kind of thing that may not be understood is a particular kind of general item, e.g. some people may not know that halibut is a fish.

Reminds me of going to non-English speaking countries and translating some menu items, then finding that the literal translation is just a name and gives no idea of what the dish is.

Have a look at a Lufthansa F class menu ex-FRA sometime if you want linguistic marvels. I've seen a few doozies...

I do run into the fish issue when down here in Australia (in ADL right now), since I'm not familiar with all of the fish names and am (relatively mildly) allergic to crustaceans, so on a more complex menu description, if I don't recognize something then I either ask for clarification or skip it. A bit frustrating to need a dictionary just for a menu sometimes!