First / Busines Class Meals To Europe

Old Sep 24, 2016, 7:22 pm
  #16  
 
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AA is varying their menus a bit more these days. For many years it was:

Beef steak (with unsurprising side dishes)
Mildly spiced chicken (with other unsurprising side dishes)
White fish (haddock, cod, tilapia) with extra boring side dishes
Pasta in tomato or cream sauce

So now you've still got the beef, chicken, fish, and vegetarian options but they're more varied these days.

I tend to find that AA food is usually fairly tasty, if not very exciting, and does the job well. The crews can usually cook it OK too, unlike some airlines that deliver very variable cooking quality.

I wouldn't worry too much, though you won't get some very inventive modern cuisine. However then you won't get some very inventive modern cuisine that makes you wonder what is this crap and how do I eat it? - with no alternatives in the metal can in the sky
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Old Sep 25, 2016, 9:24 am
  #17  
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Your sense of taste (and smell) works very differently at the very low air pressure that planes have to have at 35000 feet, and so dishes which taste great on the ground may taste not so good at 35000 feet. So airlines (to varying degrees) put some thought into designing in-flight meals which will taste reasonable in-flight (not caring how they taste on the ground).

This hunt for things that taste better at 35000 feet (rather than how they taste on the ground) is part of what leads to what some people find to be "strange" dishes.
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Old Sep 25, 2016, 8:28 pm
  #18  
 
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To be honest, this whole Business/First menu thing that bloggers like to obsess about and post pictures always seemed pretty silly to me... you're eating airplane food regardless of what ticket class you fly. I don't care what airline you're traveling with, you're getting a plate of microwaved slop and it's going to be disgusting. I'm flying Business with UA in 3 weeks and frankly, I don't care if they roll out a porterhouse steak... I'm not touching anything they serve me on an airplane. If you want a good meal, eat before your flight or pack it yourself. Even a mediocre and overpriced meal in an airport will more often than not, be better than what you're getting served on the airplane, regardless of what class you choose to fly.

Originally Posted by sdsearch
Your sense of taste (and smell) works very differently at the very low air pressure that planes have to have at 35000 feet, and so dishes which taste great on the ground may taste not so good at 35000 feet. So airlines (to varying degrees) put some thought into designing in-flight meals which will taste reasonable in-flight (not caring how they taste on the ground).

This hunt for things that taste better at 35000 feet (rather than how they taste on the ground) is part of what leads to what some people find to be "strange" dishes.
Good food will taste good 35,000 feet in the sky or 20,000 leagues under the sea. What leads to "strange" dishes is 100% about cost and bottom-line for the carriers. They're outsourcing meals to catering companies that provide similar meals for all the airlines based on cost efficiency; simple as that.

Last edited by beckoa; Sep 28, 2016 at 12:28 am Reason: merged consecutive posts
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Old Sep 25, 2016, 9:00 pm
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by OliverB
Good food will taste good 35,000 feet in the sky or 20,000 leagues under the sea. What leads to "strange" dishes is 100% about cost and bottom-line for the carriers. They're outsourcing meals to catering companies that provide similar meals for all the airlines based on cost efficiency; simple as that.
That's just not true, of course. http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/airplane-food-tastes-different
(That's just one example, but feel free to google the other research that does indeed show we 'taste' differently in the sky.)

For those of us who have flown multiple carriers in business, there is a complete difference between carriers; their food is not all the same.

Moreover, what is served on a plane by definition has to be largely pre-prepared and heated in sub-par equipment. So what might make for a delicious dish on the ground may not be possible to prepare deliciously for the sky.

Finally, this is all irrelevant to the OPS question which was about whether he could have beef, and he has now realized there is indeed a beef option. Gripes about airline food more generally can go elsewhere.
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