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.