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Airline Food: The good, the bad and the ugly

David Ross

By David Ross
in Food Traditions & Culture

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KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Sure beats a bag of peanuts.

They definitely feed you plenty... and if by some miracle you're still hungry, you can request snacks to be delivered to you, or you can go to the back of the plane where they have set up a station where you can get your own - all sorts of cookies, chips, fresh fruit, nuts, etc.

  • Like 4
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
Just now, KennethT said:

They definitely feed you plenty... and if by some miracle you're still hungry, you can request snacks to be delivered to you, or you can go to the back of the plane where they have set up a station where you can get your own - all sorts of cookies, chips, fresh fruit, nuts, etc.

Funny story - years ago, we were in Bangkok - we were supposed to come home by EVA airlines through Taiwan, but I changed our flights at the last minute as a typhoon was headed to Taiwan just when our plane was supposed to land there.  So I changed us to Singapore Airlines, BKK-Sing-Frankfurt-NY...   I was just getting over some food poisoning and was up all night the night before, so I didn't eat anything and basically slept the whole time from BKK-Sing and Sing-Frankfurt.  At one point on the Sing-Frankfurt leg, the flight attendant, after taking away my mostly full tray of food, asked us with a scared look on her face whether the food was ok on the plane, thinking that was why I didn't eat anything.  She was determined to find me something I would want - but then settled down when I told her the reason why I didn't eat anything.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

Recent Amsterdam flight on AA.

Food out of PHL was vile, even though it was "by a celebrity chef". No photos.

 

Return was actually good. Tenderloin that was a real MR...cheesy potatoes...spinach.

thumbnail1.jpg.cae00c3da93ce457caac1b5c4642716e.jpg

 

585982748_thumbnail(2).jpg.aa57ea7d28c5c7afc26df42b7b154565.jpg

  • Like 12
rotuts

rotuts

Posted
Posted

@gfweb 

 

since you brought it up

 

yes Moderators he did

 

money-mouth.gif.ecf688670d1699637031cd058308ebd9.gif

 

when you get off the plane

 

and go to the local 

 

Stop&Stop

 

or the equivalent

 

in your particular 

 

Culinary Area

 

you ma have noticed the  

 

Roast Beef    possibly from a large leg muscle 

 

vac packed for sure

 

is very uniform in its ' cooking '

 

so  does

 

Big Beef , ConAgra etc

 

do SV for the stuff in the deli ?

 

happy new year

  • Like 2
gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

I'd love to have a person from Gate Gourmet or whoever tell us how stuff is done pre flight. It clearly make a difference who does it . The kitchen in PHL is careless and serves mostly crap. Others are much better.

KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, gfweb said:

I'd love to have a person from Gate Gourmet or whoever tell us how stuff is done pre flight. It clearly make a difference who does it . The kitchen in PHL is careless and serves mostly crap. Others are much better.

I imagine that there are a few different caterers in some markets... or at least 1 that has lots of different levels.  Leaving out of JFK, I've had a variety of different quality, depending on the Airline.  The same with Newark....  United's food is horrible compared to Singapore Airlines....

heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted

I simply find the level of food amazing. I had a friend who did the LAX - Sydney run mostly for

ever (United) and sadly never discussed the challenges.  I've experienced Cathay Pacific. This is a whole craft level. And the labor cost! Thanks for sharing - very interesting. 

  • Like 1
KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted

I remember Cathay's food being really good - but we only flew it once, NY to HK direct... I enjoyed several of their ramen cup of noodles on demand service.

heidih

heidih

Posted
Posted

Yes  that was hilarious - they feed you to overflow and people are scarfing up the cup of noodles! 

liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, KennethT said:

I remember Cathay's food being really good - but we only flew it once, NY to HK direct... I enjoyed several of their ramen cup of noodles on demand service.

 

I've flown Cathay many times and never had any cause for complaint about the catering. Still prefer Thai air, though. Worst ever was Bangladesh Air! The same insipid vegetable curry for every meal during a very long flight from Bangkok to London with a stopover in Dhaka, the world's most miserable airport!

  • Like 1

...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

KennethT

KennethT

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I've flown Cathay many times and never had any cause for complaint about the catering. Still prefer Thai air, though. Worst ever was Bangladesh Air! The same insipid vegetable curry for every meal during a very long flight from Bangkok to London with a stopover in Dhaka, the world's most miserable airport!

We've flown Thai air a couple times - all of those times were very nice.  I remember flying from BKK to Chiang Mai (about an hour) and they served a full meal!  It's too bad they've stopped flying to the US...

  • 2 weeks later...
chefmd

chefmd

Posted
Posted

Surprisingly tasty paneer cheese over rice and raspberry (I think it was raspberry) cheesecake on United.

E3029DDB-6B54-49F6-BFCC-AA8BF593B5D3.thumb.jpeg.5bd43b9f15e4e24f9fccb6ca8c4b96f6.jpeg

BDB33E17-B03C-4531-B0A1-2BD4F6989C59.thumb.jpeg.760987ab8b51079098ff5607cd115f0d.jpeg

  • Like 6
  • 7 months later...
Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

Here's a nice array of pictures from Patrick Smith, of Ask the Pilot fame.

 

Quote

Pardon such a vapid diversion, but there’s little else to talk about these days that isn’t crushingly depressing. If nothing else, these photos take us back in time — to the days when an airplane ride didn’t feel like a medical evacuation. Back before flight attendants began dressing like astronauts and planes became flying hospitals. Already it seems so long ago. Plus, I’m hungry.

 

  • Like 2
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"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted

Is it only me or do others feel a bit bizarre enjoying their mai tai in the comfort of home with nuts labeled "Property of American Airlines"?

 

  • Like 2
  • Haha 3

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Alex

Alex

Posted
Posted

Airline meals for sale: The Guardian (Australia) taste tests for us.

 

Quote

The first dish I try is the Hong Kong style chicken curry, a tricolour of beige, white rice and khaki beans. Frozen solid, it wobbles around in its container, like a piece of Lego. After six minutes in the microwave, it’s ready. It smells faintly edible. I take my first trepidatious bite of chicken and spit it out in horror. It’s soft, wet and yielding, turning to mash in my mouth. I realise it was actually a potato. The real chicken is fine.

 

  • Haha 5

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food."  -George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman, Act 1

 

"Imagine all the food you have eaten in your life and consider that you are simply some of that food, rearranged."  -Max Tegmark, physicist

 

Gene Weingarten, writing in the Washington Post about online news stories and the accompanying readers' comments: "I basically like 'comments,' though they can seem a little jarring: spit-flecked rants that are appended to a product that at least tries for a measure of objectivity and dignity. It's as though when you order a sirloin steak, it comes with a side of maggots."

 

A king can stand people's fighting, but he can't last long if people start thinking. -Will Rogers, humorist

blue_dolphin

blue_dolphin

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Alex said:

Airline meals for sale: The Guardian (Australia) taste tests for us.

 

 

 

This comment is pretty good, too:

Quote

I got my wife to repeatedly kick the back of my chair whilst eating it and bring me a very small can of warm lager to wash it down with.

 

  • Haha 6
  • 1 month later...
Toliver

Toliver

Posted
Posted
On 9/4/2020 at 6:42 AM, Alex said:

Airline meals for sale: The Guardian (Australia) taste tests for us.

 

The Finns are selling their meals locally at a much higher price:

'Finnair is selling its airplane food in grocery stores"

Quote

...Assuming that would-be-fliers might be missing fine dining at 30,000 feet, Finnair is bringing a taste of air travel to the ground.
In a new business venture, the Finnish airline has started selling ready-made meals inspired by its Business Class offerings in a grocery store in the city of Vantaa, Finland.
Head to K-Citymarket in Vantaa's Tammisto neighborhood over the coming weeks and you can purchase pre-packaged reindeer meatballs, smoked char and chanterelle risotto and other Finnair meals.

 

  • Like 2

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

  • 1 year later...
  • 2 months later...
DesertTinker

DesertTinker

Posted
Posted
30 minutes ago, heidih said:

The old Western Airlines adds came to mind today - the pizza one. 

 

Well that was a blast from the past! I’d forgotten about Western Airlines.

  • Like 2
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