Reporting back. The website says AVML is spicy Indian flavor, vegetarian, some dairy. I figured AF, so take some cholesterol medication and expect a bunch of cheese as my backup, but, man... On boarding, an FA noted I had AVML and gave me the regular menu and said I might want things from there. As you all advised, the starters etc. were not veg even though there was a veg pasta item, so I probably did best by going AVML When I saw my first meal it looked ok and I wanted to avoid a bunch of cheese so I just stuck w it vs the veg pasta.

On what planet is most of this Indian? I guess bok choy and rice cakes are Asian, but...? This thread warned me, so I had Kind bars at the ready, lots of cheese+bread, and plenty of drinks.

Dinner LAX-CDG:

• Kind of Indian spice, spicy mixed vegetable thing w rice (that was decent, actually, I had no complaints about it, even had good flavor)
• Steamed bok choi
• Fruit plate
• French roll
• Rice cake w looked like dried fruit

Breakfast:

• Apple sauce (literally, a bowl of it)
• Steamed spinach, asparagus, mushrooms w fresh thyme
• Diced fruit (same as dinner but chopped up)
• I took my wife's yoghurt and cereal from the regular meal, she took my veggies and added to her omelet which already included some of the veggies)

Lounge:

• Paris: Not much, but they did have a mushroom quiche that was tasty, decent bagged potato chips, and bread and cheese, pumpkin soup. I didn't feel like what looked like pancakes at 3pm. There was a rice pilaf kind of thing that was ok. The salad bar just looked limp and reminded me of elementary school cafeteria
• LAX: One World lounge wasn't great but did have some salads and popcorn. Interesting how the alliances differ, the Star Alliance lounge has good Asian options, none in One World -- my wife actually asked if we could go to *A given status, but I had to say no given no *A flight that day unless we wanted to buy our way in.

CDG-LIS

• On connection, no veg or special meal offered that I could book. Was surprised to get full meal service (one tray, cheese, main, dessert). It was a fish thing my wife said was ok, she noted it looked like the same salad underneath that I had snacked on in the CDG lounge., Outstanding FA apologized a million times (despite my telling her it was not her fault AF doesn't offer a special meal and it wasn't like I hadn't eaten for 24 hours). She found a tomato cheese sandwich from economy, served me the cheese, bread, dessert from the real meal plus my cheese sandwich. She's a star.

Overall, I guess I wasn't "surprised" by the poor food on AF, but, then again, I kind of was given how much they hype their food. My wife said he normal meals were "ok" not great and not as good as our usual *A carriers. I As an aside, we both liked the hard product/seats, both found the service mixed (no water for whole flight, very difficult to get FA attention but once we found them good service). The flights worked, the seat let me sleep, AF is not on my NO list but AF isn't on my preferred list. YMMV, of course.

Should I try regular veg next round, I wonder, or is catering ex-CDG better about special meals?