Food fight at 35,000 feet

[Rebel Rose]

Food fight at 35,000 feet

Many premium-class fliers paid five or more times what you did for the same international flight.

At those prices, Bennett said, exceptional dining "peppers the overall experience and helps justify the high cost."

It also provides entertainment on journeys that can last more than 18 hours. To that end, premium meal service can stretch well over two hours.

I generally prefer business to first class, mainly because of $$, but also because the passengers on first are just way too weird for me. Not all of them, but you always get one or two loud, attention-hungry, rude, neurotic passengers who force the entire section to rearrange their seats and storage, then proceed to disturb everyone throughout the flight. In an ideal world, I'd say just give me some champagne and the peaceful tapping of laptop keyboards in business class, and I'll bring a hamper of my own culinary delights from the eG Recipe Gullet. But in the real world, I don't know how I'd keep a hamper of fine food alive during the five hour drive to the nearest major airport, two-to-five hour wait for the flight, and get it under the damn seat. So, when are they going to offer this kind of food in business class?

[FistFullaRoux]

Hey, you bring a big enough bag of stuff with you, you might make a few bucks.

Now that I mention that, is that even allowed? Could you bring gourmet sandwich stuff on board with you and sell them for 10 bucks a pop? It's conceivable to break even or even make money with the right fare...

[therese]

Hey, you bring a big enough bag of stuff with you, you might make a few bucks.

Now that I mention that, is that even allowed? Could you bring gourmet sandwich stuff on board with you and sell them for 10 bucks a pop? It's conceivable to break even or even make money with the right fare...

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I've been offered money for food that I'd brought with me on long haul flights. I just shared, no money changed hands.

[Rebel Rose]

Roux, you've got a whole new concept going there! Why not? People used to take hampers of food on long train trips. What think you to a thread in General Foods on 'Airline Hampers'? What foods travel well, don't stink out the neighbors, can be eaten with limited elbow space. Oh yeah, and what might get confiscated as a potential weapon. Do pineapple spears count?

[Kent Wang]

Both the idea of selling sandwiches and starting a thread about the matter are excellent.

[Grub]

Sharing food is one thing, but I seriously doubt you could get away with SELLING it... I'd love to see someone try it though. In Manchester, England, they had a nutty woman who'd hawk her snacks out of a big basket, going from pub to pub in the evening, screaming at the top of her lungs: "PRAWNS, CRABS AND SEAFOOD!!" and scare the Bejeesus out of non-locals. I'd like to see her humping down the aisles doing that... These days, she'd probably get shot by the Airmarshalls, though.

I've flowned a bit, and while the food in first and business is vastly better, I've never had a meal on a plane that I'd consider memorable. I mean, it's just not a good atmosphere, or location for a good meal. It's noicier than hell. Dry air. You got this little dingbat tray to balance all your crap on, rather than a proper table. And these days, you're eating with plastic utensils like you're Special Ed or something.

Bad airline food might be a cliche, but gourmet airline food makes no more sense than gourmet food to eat in your car.

[mrsadm]

Hey, you bring a big enough bag of stuff with you, you might make a few bucks.

Now that I mention that, is that even allowed? Could you bring gourmet sandwich stuff on board with you and sell them for 10 bucks a pop? It's conceivable to break even or even make money with the right fare...

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I would think you'd need some sort of food selling license, safety inspection, etc.

Not to mention the airline's opinion of having just anyone providing food and potentially making the entire plane sick!

[elfin]

Leo Buscaglia wrote about his family taking his elderly and frightened mother on a flight whereat they bought hampers of their own food:-garlic perfumed the entire flight from the back of coach and they ended up sharing the contents with fellow passengers and staff.

[MarketStEl]

I generally prefer business to first class, mainly because of $$, but also because the passengers on first are just way too weird for me. Not all of them, but you always get one or two loud, attention-hungry, rude, neurotic passengers who force the entire section to rearrange their seats and storage, then proceed to disturb everyone throughout the flight. In an ideal world, I'd say just give me some champagne and the peaceful tapping of laptop keyboards in business class, and I'll bring a hamper of my own culinary delights from the eG Recipe Gullet.  But in the real world, I don't know how I'd keep a hamper of fine food alive during the five hour drive to the nearest major airport, two-to-five hour wait for the flight, and get it under the damn seat.  So, when are they going to offer this kind of food in business class? 

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Pray your local airport has upgraded its food concessions within the past year or so.

Some larger airports (for instance, most of those managed by BAA plc--the former British Airports Authority, now a for-profit concern managing airports in several countries worldwide, including the United States--and those in Philadelphia and Los Angeles [the latter IIRC]) now boast mini-shopping malls within their security confines. Some of these malls include purveyors of fine foods along with the usual food-court suspects and chain casual eateries. You might even be able to pick up a better-than-normal sandwich or snack to go from one of these.

(Should your travels take you to PHL, the purveyor in question is Caviar Assouline, found in the shopping concourse between Terminals B and C, almost directly opposite the food court.)

[racheld]

I remember well the little toy food and dishes provided by airlines in the 70's---the dessert-plate-sized dinner plate, most often a rectangular, lip-sided tray, with real silverware and glass, and the only bow to assembly-line food perhaps the sugar packet or the little cup of butter or salad dressing (yes, salad, with a separate china dish and a fork of its own). And it did take major contortion (woe to the middle-seater) to eat, drink, maintain a bit of decorum, and leave a blot on neither manners nor blouse.

I've been collecting airline silver for a while now, and served Thanksgiving parfait with tiny round-bowled, still-gleaming TWA spoons. Several small Braniff forks graced pickle dishes, and a couple of the big silver serving spoons from TWA stood proudly with Grandma's own passed-down stuff. (Did the stewardesses walk down the aisle dipping up vegetables to order, or did they stand respectfully proffering the bowl like butlers at dinner parties?)

After most airlines ceased meal service for a lot of flights, I always made my Dad a "go-home" box which he looked forward to carrying on the plane. In one of those pie-plate sized Tupperwares with the triangular divisions, I included several cubed cheeses, cubes of smoked turkey and nice juicy ham, the meats homemade and the cheeses chosen with care. Two colors of grapes, washed and dried and taken off the stems, filled another section, and put-back-together-and-wrapped-in-Saran wedged apples were in another. Several dozen nice crackers or a few bread-and-butter finger sandwiches in another little box served as a nice foil to all the rich fare.

A baggie of handwipes, a couple of folded paper towels, a container of those ornate little fake "ivory" plastic picks would serve to invite traveling companions, and he always did. He'd strike up conversations with people from all over, finding common subjects, sometimes common acquaintances or friends (we always said he could parachute out over Borneo and land next to the beach chair of an old Army buddy).

He'd call after he got home---telling about who he'd met and how they shared his lunch and how they wished their children took care of them that way, etc. It was nice to hear, very easy to do, and it gave him a good feeling to share. And I imagine he stood a round or two of drinks for the group, as well.

He's been gone from us for two years now, and it's a nice remembrance of his good heart and friendly personality, those lunches-on-a-pick that he shared with people he passed a bit of time with, learning about them, and passing on something of himself in turn. We're all richer for it.

[Toasted]

What a sweet post. Your Dad was a lucky man to have a daughter who loved him so much. Thanks for sharing that.