Ever since I got sick in an airplane I can’t stand the smell of airplane food. Something in the air in the plane makes fragrances smell different. Especially with the food. But I can’t say the food taste or smell good. Soft soggy noodles or wet rice with beef. Nope, I really dislike plane food.
Internet: “The lack of humidity dries your nose, and as a plane takes off the change in pressure numbs one-third of your taste buds. “ Aha..
But I heard from friends that some airlines have really nice food. Emirates I believe… I still need to taste the Emirates plane food to prove it taste good. Then I will let you know. There is a nice post about how they prepare the food on Telegraph UK.
I have to say though, I went on a few short trips with KLM and they have some nice snacks and breakfast food now. On the flight to Swiss we got a delicious Dutch cake and a cup of Turkish water.
I also recommend all the cookies and dessert things in the Netherlands, they taste really good.
Why does it suck?
Why does airplane food taste so crappy? Probably because the food is prepared a long time before eating and not all ingredients are tasty after a long time. On FastCoDesign I read about some chefs who are looking for other ingredients to make your food taste good. Like using umami, which can be found in sardines, mushroom, soy sauce and seaweed. Mmm… ingredients which are used quite a lot in Korean food.
A nice video about how airline meals are made. Such an old video though.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alh_2xg5GWo]
From this post on Thrillist I learned some interesting stuff:
- A lot of people drink tomato juice on a plane, because it’s sour and salty and you can taste it more with your numbed taste buds.
- Don’t pick chicken and noodles. Chicken will dry out and noodles will get soggy, just as I experienced before. Best choices are stews, because they can overcook and still taste good.
- Food is prepared 10 hours before it gets eaten. If a flight has a lot of delay, the food will be thrown always, because there a risk of getting sick of the food.
What do you think about airplane food? Do you have any recommendations on airlines which serve good food?