Airline meal
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An airline meal is a meal served to passengers on a commercial airliner. These meals are prepared specifically for this purpose by special airline catering services. The first kitchens for serving meals in flight were established by United Airlines in 1936.
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The average airline dinner typically includes meat (most commonly chicken or beef), a salad or vegetable, a small roll, and a dessert. Caterers usually produce alternative meals, e.g. kosher and vegetarian. These must usually be ordered in advance, sometimes when buying the ticket. Some airlines are missing a specific meal for ovo-lacto vegetarians; instead, they are given a vegan meal.
[edit] Cutlery
Before the September 11th attacks in 2001, first-class passengers were often provided with full sets of metal cutlery. Afterwards, common household items were evaluated more closely for their potential use as weapons on board aircraft, and both first class and coach class passengers were restricted to plastic knives. This restriction has now been relaxed in many countries.
[edit] Other non-food items
Condiments (typically salt, pepper and sugar) are supplied in small sachets. For sanitation, most meals include a napkin and a wet wipe (also called a moist towellete), often moistened with scented water.
[edit] Dinner
On Air France Economy, or Tempo as it is called, a flight across the Atlantic consisted of beef with mushrooms, a French baguette, an Asian style salad, yogurt, French cheese, and pastry for dessert.
[edit] Breakfast
During morning flights, a smaller, continental-style or 'hot' breakfast may be served instead. For the continental-style breakfast, this may include a miniature box of breakfast cereal, cut fruits, a muffin or pastry, or a bagel. Some airlines offer the choice of 'hot' breakfast meals to the passengers (usually on long haul flights, or short/medium haul flights within Asia), which includes an entrée of pancakes or eggs, and there are muffins or pastry, fruits and breakfast cereal on the side. Coffee and tea are offered as well, and sometimes hot chocolate.
[edit] Quality
Though often disparaged for their poor taste, the quality of airline meals actually varies considerably from one airline to another. Prices charged to the passengers for food on board the flight ranges in price from free (many airlines, especially those in Asia and all airlines on long haul flights offer complimentary meals) to as much as ten dollars (Midwest Airlines). Quality may also fluctuate due to shifts in the economics of the airline industry. On the longest flights in first class and business class, most Asian and European airlines serve multicourse gourmet meals, while airlines based in the US tend to serve large, hearty, high quality meals including a large salad, steak or chicken, potatoes, and ice cream. Meals have generally declined in quality since the 1980s, with many seasoned travellers commenting that today's first class meals are reminiscent of coach class meals of the 1980s. During that time, first class sometimes involved ice sculptures and seatside carvings and flambeaus. The cost and availability of meals on US airlines has changed considerably in recent years, as financial pressures have inspired some airlines to either begin charging for meals or abandon them altogether in favor of small snacks.
[edit] Blandness
The perceived blandness of airline food can be attributed largely to a consequence of the limited space available on aircraft, and the pressure on airlines to keep costs low. Meals must generally be frozen and heated on the ground before takeoff, rather than prepared fresh. It has also been suggested that the taste buds are less sensitive at higher altitudes, making everything taste bland.
However, most airline meals are bland because they are designed to be that way. They are so designed because of two factors: food safety and passenger comfort.
Food safety is paramount in the airline catering industry. A case of mass food poisoning amongst the passengers on an airliner could have disastrous consequences. For example, on a long-haul overseas flight, two meals and one snack will typically be served during the flight, giving enough time for symptoms to appear on all the passengers during the flight itself. Such an event would have very bad consequences, considering the small space and hygienic conditions available inside an airplane, and the low number of available diversion airfields at many oceans.
Further to the safety considerations, there are the issues of passenger comfort. When designing a meal service for a passenger flight it must be kept in mind that the passengers have no other sources of food except what the airline is offering - they cannot buy a meal elsewhere when stuck in the air. Accordingly, the food must be palatable to almost everyone on board. Any particular strong spice is likely to be disliked by some percentage of the passengers, who will make their dislike well known if there is no other option available. Chili, mustard and coriander (cilantro) are all herbs and spices that airlines avoid for this very reason. Vegetables such as onions can lead to bad breath, and in the confines of economy class this would not be welcomed by the people close by. Fibrous vegetables lead to flatulence - again very unpleasant in the small aluminum tube of an airplane. This is why most western airline meals consist of a large serve of protein (chicken, steak or fish), a small green salad (usually without onions and more tomato and cucumber than lettuce), some potatoes, and a dessert (cake or pudding).
[edit] Technical crew meals
Food safety with technical crew meals (pilots and flight engineers) is sometimes even stricter than for passengers. Many foodstuffs are banned completely from tech crew meals, including all egg products and often any dairy that has not been ultra heat treated. The meals supplied are on some (but not all) airlines labelled in advance with the position of the crew member for who they are intended and no technical crew member will eat any of the same products as his colleague - this is to ensure that each pilot eats a completely different meal to the other so as to minimize the risk of all pilots on board taking ill.
[edit] Innovations
Some innovative entrepreneurs have been offering alternative culinary services to compete with in-flight meals. One Los Angeles-based company, SkyMeals, has been providing freshly-prepared, gourmet meals for busy airline travelers since 2002. Customers can pick from over 70 upscale food items and have their order delivered directly to home, office or airport drop-off location.
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