I'd like to bring up a topic I have not previously seen addressed on this forum, namely the lack of a standard vegetarian option in business class on Emirates. I'm an Emirates Platinum member and frequent C & F class flyer between Japan and Europe, mostly on the KIX / DUS route. I am mostly very happy with the overall Emirates product, in particular the seats, in flight entertainment, chauffeur service, the F lounges and the good wine options on board. However, as a vegetarian, I have to say that Emirates falls incredibly short of where it should be in terms of catering options.



Emirates is one of the few airlines which do not offer a vegetarian option (e.g. pasta, curry, or similar) as part of the standard menu. While I am not a fanatic vegetarian or even a vegan, I believe that Emirates is way behind the curve here and come across like a very old fashioned (read: 20th century) airline in this respect from a catering point of view. It makes me wonder if Emirates makes any effort at all to catch up with global trends: please wake up EK - one in ten Americans & Europeans already are vegetarians, and this segment is growing very rapidly. In addition, there are hundreds of millions of religious vegetarians across Asia. Offering a standard vegetarian option should be a no brainer, especially considering that almost anyone can eat a vegetarian meal (i.e. it is a flexible menu item) whereas many people have various restrictions in terms of animal protein and may not always be able to eat the food items offered. I also know many non-vegetarian frequent fliers who prefer not to touch the often rather poor meat options on planes, and would prefer a simple pasta main course any time.



Now, don't get me wrong, I obviously understand that various forms of Vegetarian meals can be ordered in advance as a 'Special Meal', so there should be no problem, right? Unfortunately, this assumption is completely wrong for several reasons:



1. Special meals are taken on board at the departure airport, which can be hit or horribly miss depending where you leave. Yes, special meals out of Dubai tend to be class specific and of decent quality, but for instance out of Osaka vegetarian meals are NOT class specific (i.e. first class gets the same meal as Economy or business class...) and, in addition, of extremely poor quality (so much so that I refuse to even eat it, and Emirates' own flight attendants are apologetic and embarrassed to have to offer it). What is even more of a joke is that on one occasion I have been refused in 'F' class the standard vegetarian meal item on the menu, because I had order a 'special meal' in advance and apparently another passenger had already picked the vegetarian option on the standard F class menu (yes, there is always a vegetarian item on F menu, as there should be). After not being able to provide a First Class level 'special' veg meal, the embarrassed crew had to ask the other passenger (who was not vegetarian) to pick another option, which thankfully he/she did.



2. Some travelers may wrongly assume there is a vegetarian option on the menu, as there is with most other leading airlines; this is really quite standard nowadays on airlines like Lufthansa, British Airways, Singapore Airlines,... even UAE's own Etihad; not everyone meticulously looks at menus in advance of flights



3. It treats Vegetarians as a small 'special' minority (i.e. like it was maybe in the 20th century), when it is in fact one of the biggest and fastest growing consumer segments when it comes to global dietary trends... ever heard of the whole Beyond Meat craze? We are talking very much mainstream culture here, not some strange long haired hippy culture fringe group. For health alone, there are millions of people increasingly skipping the meat where possible





I know it may not matter to some people on this board, but I really can't help but feel that if Emirates wants to continue to be a leading edge carrier in the 21st century, this is an area the airline needs to address quite urgently. I feel especially strongly about this as I really cannot see any reasonable downside to Emirates offering such a non-mean/fish option, instead of routinely offering 2 meat options and 1 fish option.



Just my two cents - happy flying all

John