Lounge food in Europe resembles what you might find in a company canteen in that country, and that's probably down to who takes the contract. Dutch canteen food is probably the major reason why so many employees bring from home those whole grain bread sandwiches with a single slice of something to enjoy during their half-hour lunch break.
From what I've seen, French canteen food is more extensive, and generally, I've seen more French employees take advantage of it during their ninety-minute lunch breaks. It's not designed to be exceptional cuisine. After all, the rule of the canteen is that it's not better than going to a restaurant.
In the AF salons in Paris, if you were dedicated, you could assemble a full meal, apéro-entrée-plate-salad-cheese-dessert-coffee-digestive-orange juice. Now, I don't know why you'd want to do that, but the raw materials are there, and the wine is usually decent.

​​​​​ Business class dining, however, is supposed to be something attractive in itself. Some European carriers like to associate their meals with their local dining traditions. Even those KLM salad boxes blame some Dutch chef. But, there's still the unique conditions of preparation, serving, and dining that make them a challenge.
As for AF, at least they used to experiment on lounge guests for their short-haul menus. I wouldn't call the menus as they end up on board purely "experimental". Rather, they tend to combine something "traditional" (such as foie gras or smoked salmon) with something "trendy". And sometimes it works; sometimes not. The beef I had recently was rather dry, but the parsnip puree with artichoke, mushrooms, and walnuts was delicious.

There are good restaurants in the Netherlands. They're harder to find than in France. I remember one meal after an international meeting that was so bad, my French colleagues would remind me about it years later -- and they weren't even there!