I received it in an e-mail, from the Euro marketing whatever director person.

I personally prefer the idea of food-for-purchase on short-haul flights, especially seeing as practically no short-haul operation these days provides anything except plastic or at best something even my hamster would sneer at in economy. And quite frankly, in my opinion, the food served in CE (when I fly it and hearing from others) is just short of rubbish and serves only to prevent one from going hungry.

But... not being a regular in CE and so not getting food, I already find myself purchasing sandwiches beforehand anyway. And then I can choose what I want, rather than having stuff thrown at me.

It seems very sensible to offer a wider selection of better quality foods, especially if it means the base fare can go lower without sacrificing service standards.

Maybe some sort of pre-pay scheme could be implemented. At booking, one "pre-orders" the food. Onboard, one can use the money to purchase whatever, thus eliminating the hassle of exchanging currency or fiddling with card transactions onboard. (Handy on the short hops to AMS, CDG etc.)