Maneet Chauhan to Develop New Meals for AA Premium Passengers

Maneet Chauhan, renowned Indian chef, has joined forces with American Airlines to develop a new menu for business and first classes. Thanks to a long-standing relationship with the airline, Chauhan signed a partnership to launch a new meal plan. The Tennessean reports that premium passengers flying will have the opportunity to taste onboard meals designed by the celebrity chef.

“I worked with them about seven or eight years ago. There was a direct flight from Chicago to New Delhi and I helped with one or two dishes for business class. They know I understand the limitations of airline food,” said Chauhan Monday night after landing in New York for a taping session of the show “Chopped,” where she appears as a judge.

The chef says her deadline to deliver the new menus is very tight, as the airline hopes to launch the new meals in September, so a tremendous amount of work still needs to be done. Chauhan says that dish specifics are still under development, but that the meals will have a global flavor and not just her native Indian cuisine influence.

She will be working with a team of three other chefs, including Michelin-starred chef Mark Sargeant, who will be responsible for the Europe-America legs, as well as Hawaiian chef Sam Choy, whom she has previously worked with on another American Airlines project; and the fourth chef is Dallas-based Julian Barsotti.

“Yes, I’m worried how it will be translated,” Chauhan admits, referring to the scope and scale. “It’s why we are working so hard right now. First class will have the choice of an appetizer, a soup, choice of four salads and four entrees,” she says.

She says it will be an intense challenge to develop meals for four different monthly rotations, with food that has to be consistently prepared in nine different kitchens using different vendors in each city. That said, she is very excited to take on this new project, proud that she will be cooking for the world.

[Photo: Food Network]