Airplane Food
Cathay Pacific Flight # 831, New York to Hong Kong dinner
In all there were seven different flights that we took during our trip to, in and from Southeast Asia. Translation: there were seven opportunities to savor the airlines' culinary offerings and evaluate. New York to Hong Kong; Hong Kong to Hanoi; Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City; Siem Reap, Cambodia to Hanoi; Hanoi to Hong Kong; Hong Kong to Vancouver; Vancouver to New York City.
chocolate mint mousse cake
Each leg provided at least one full course meal. But aside from the chocolate-mint mouse cake served on the Hong Kong to Vancouver flight and the garlic shrimp served when we flew from Hanoi to Hong Kong, we weren't impressed with the Hong Kong-based airline, Cathay Pacific and its Vietnam based counterpart, Vietnam Airlines.
What? Surprise that airline food is a let down? Yes. I admit, that part of the joy I find in traveling comes from discovering what the airlines can fit into those cute little compartments - the compartments that are the closest thing adults can find to resemble the school lunch tray.
But there were other factors besides the flavors that detracted from my mile-high dining experiences.
Maybe it was the grumbling of my flying partner, a vegetarian whose special meal request wasn't conveyed by the travel agent for the early part of the trip. When The Vegetarian discovered the error, a visit was paid to the Cathay Pacific food specialist who offered to make the change in the system for the return flight. The vegetarian options were endless: lacto vegetarian, Asian vegetarian, vegan, Seventh Day Adventist special meal, pescatarian, Indian vegetarian.
Indian vegetarian sounded intriguing so he selected that choice. Then, three times the duration of the 13 hour flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver and then once on the 5 hour flight from Vancouver to NYC, my traveling companion was offered breakfast, lunch and dinner - all "Indian style." Not Native American Indian. Actually if they had alternated between American Indian & India the country's cuisine it wouldn't have been so bad. But every meal contained the same undercooked bean Masala, dry basmati rice, spinach slop and two round sweetened balls made of corn and coconut. The only edible item was the accompanying beverage: Tiger Beer. Having established that the full-on carnivore menu was equally appalling (the lamb shank was dog-food grade) by the flight to Hanoi, I had switched from selecting the meat options to the choosing the vegetarian meal - the version that required no special requesting (unlike the Indian Vegetarian tray). The generic vegetarian meal - the meal he would have received if no special request was made - was perfectly fine pasta with creamy pesto.
It took over 36 hours of flying to establish, but I'm sorry to report that the rumors that have been circulating about airline food are true.
Comments
oddly or not at all oddly, one of the worst looking meals i ever had on a plane was bangers and mash on a british airways flight from johannesburg to zimbabwe.
but nothing could ever beat the grayish brown mess i received on iberia air from nyc to barcelona. and then the mofos cut us off the wine.
Posted by: rose | March 29, 2006 07:31 PM
Hey! I have yet to taste a truly awful airline meal. I have been on four flights with Malaysia Airlines, four flights with KLM, four flights with Air Pacific, one flight with Vietnam Airlines, two flights with Ansett Australia, one flight with China Airlines, eight flights with Singapore Airlines, One flight with QANTAS and two flights with BA Cityexpress and I have been able to eat with often enjoyment every last meal served. By the way, all flights were in economy!
Posted by: T.S Jones | October 10, 2007 08:44 AM