Airline Food Delighting Taste Buds

Flying high in the sky, your sense of taste will be reduced by 30%, which poses a great challenge for the reheated airline meals. How to offer creative, fresh, nourishing, tasty, and refreshing seasonal delicacies, especially in the hot summer, is a crucial test of an airline's service level. To this end, the major airlines are willing to spend more efforts on their department of airline food with full engagement.

LOT Polish Airlines: "sky kitchen", freshly cooking

This year, LOT Polish Airlines has their food service improved a lot. Economy class passengers can enjoy fresh meals and drinks well combined with season and nutrition. Business class passengers in direct flights to America and China will also experience an extraordinary service as if sitting in a sky dining hall: a welcome drink accompanied by a fine pastry before takeoff and a portion of nutritious soup plus ice cream for dessert after takeoff. In particular, every main dish will be cooked freshly on the plane and served by professionally trained flight attendants. Passengers may freely choose traditional appetizers and biscuits, while business class passengers in flights from America or China returning to Poland have a one-of-three option for healthy breakfast: European styled, low caloric, or warm breakfast. Furthermore, in cooperation with the vice president of Poland Sommelier Association, LOT Polish Airlines introduce a list of feature wines as well as a new kind— cider.

Dragonair: "Eating fit & in", special design of Chinese and western dishes

"Eating fit & in" has always been an important consideration for their recipe design and choice of Dragonair. On May 16 of this year, Dragonair launched brand-new Chinese and Western-style recipes. Designed by Summer Palace Restaurant of China World Hotel, Dragonair’s new Chinese meals include Cantonese and Huaiyang cuisines customized by the restaurant’s two chefs personally. Among the recipes, foie gras tomato jelly tastes fine and smooth in texture with perfect balance of sweet and sour. The classic Huaiyang cuisine—Summer Palace Tenderfillet tastes soft, crisp, and tender in meat, fatty but not greasy. Moreover, eggs braised with streaky pork for hours are another highlight with gravy’s aroma fully blending into eggs hence a pleasant lingering aftertaste. In the second time cooperation with Sureño Restaurant of The Opposite House Beijing, the western cuisine menu is seeking to create the most authentic Mediterranean cuisine. They offer a selection of very special dishes from Spain, Greece, south France, and Italy. The special recommendation goes to stewed tender chicken with caterpillar fungus and Fino: chicken breasts are fried till golden-looking, slow stewed, and combined with onion, garlic, olive oil, and mushroom in chicken broth, lastly sourced with special prepared demi-glace.

Scandinavian Airlines Systems (SAS): Vintages go with organic vegetable salad

From March 1 this year, dining experience for Scandinavian Airlines Systems’ intercontinental flights— SAS Go, SAS Plus as well as SAS Business is updated in an all-round way. All food served is upgraded or improved. A brand-new visual design is applied to food placement and table cloth to offer a pleasant dining experience for passengers. Starting from March 31, business class passengers in flights from Beijing or Shanghai to Copenhagen can enjoy the exclusive SAS Henriot champagne before takeoff. The SAS Henriot champagne tastes smooth and mellow as honey texture. In spite of a high cost, SAS still continues to offer salad made of organic ingredients. Another clear service concept is introduced for flights within Europe: one menu for flights within northern Europe, another for flights shuttling in European areas. SAS Plus’s fare covers a helping of new style dinner and a drink served by classic Orrefors crystal glass. Hot bread is offered with a variety of fresh food, such as salad sandwiches and hot rolls. The menu is in a continuous update to add new seasonal products. SAS GO’s fare also covers mineral water and a soft drink before takeoff in addition to the standard free meal.

(Words/WTCF Magazine Pics/Major Airline Companies)