Air Canada Special Meals Thread (2015-2020)
 

Regular meals get swapped out every so often (please let's not debate that on this thread), and it's also very apparent as menus are given out. SPML's (special meals) though...not quite the same. There is no menu and there's no way to figure out what you're getting until you get it. Until now.

So let this be the master thread of tracking SPML's on Air Canada
(already approved by a mod).

Air Canada special meals information can be located here: http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...cialmeals.html

These are the available items:

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Asian vegetarian meal
Baby meal
Bland meal
Children's meal
Diabetic meal
Fruit plate meal
Gluten intolerant meal
Hindu meal
Kosher meal
Low-calorie meal
Low fat meal
Low lactose meal
Low salt meal
Muslim meal
Vegetarian meal (non-dairy)
Vegetarian meal (lacto-ovo)
Vegetarian oriental meal
-----------------------------------------------

Please list:

A) What meal you ordered
B) Date of meal (roughly is fine too)
C) Originating airport
D) Domestic/Transcon/Intl
E) Picture or description of the meal

--
This was split off from the original two meal threads as it contains information about SPML's that may not be relevant to all.

I'll start off.

A) NLML non lactose meal
B) June
C) YYZ or YVR
D) Dom
E) Chicken with tomato sauce and roasted potatoes. Fruit patter as dessert

--
A) VOML vegetarian oriental meal
B) July
C) YYZ or YYC
D) Dom
E) Chickpea curry with rice

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Side comment: Did you know that VOML's and NLML's both do not contain dairy? One can have some meal variety by knowing this and ordering either of them.*

* = with all the legalese attached to that....

It might help to mention what NLML/VOML actually are, for those of us less informed.

VOML is oriental vegetarian meal. NLML I'm assuming is non-lactose meal.

SAP

Might also be useful to include the list of special meals Air Canada provides as per

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...cialmeals.html


Details:

Special Meals

Flights within North America

Special meals are available:
- on flights to Bogota and Caracas
- in Business Class within North America
Special meals may not be ordered for flights offering Air Canada Café service.

International Flights

Special meals are available in all classes of service on all flights where a meal service is offered (except on flights offering Air Canada Café service).

How and when to order

Special meals must be ordered at least 18 hours before the first flight in your itinerary. Here's how:

At time of online booking:
On the Who is travelling page, simply select the special meal you require from the Meal Preference drop-down menu when entering passenger information

If you have already completed your online booking:
Contact Air Canada Reservations to request your special meal

If your itinerary includes a codeshare flight or a flight operated by another airline:
Please note that you may not request your special meal online. Please contact Air Canada Reservations so that we may advise the other airline of your special dietary needs.


Our choice of special meals

Here's a list of the special meals available on our flights*:

Asian vegetarian meal
Baby meal
Bland meal
Children's meal
Diabetic meal
Fruit plate meal
Gluten intolerant meal
Hindu meal
Kosher meal
Low-calorie meal
Low fat meal
Low lactose meal
Low salt meal
Muslim meal
Vegetarian meal (non-dairy)
Vegetarian meal (lacto-ovo)
Vegetarian oriental meal
* Certain restrictions may apply.


Other things we'd like you to know

- Only the special meals listed above are offered.

- Kosher meals must be ordered 24 hours in advance.

- Air Canada cannot provide meals which are guaranteed to be free of nuts, seafood or other food products.

- MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and other self-heating meal and beverage kits with portable heating systems/ration heaters are not permitted on board our aircraft at any time. Nor are they permitted in checked or carry-on baggage.

- You may bring your own snacks and food on board, or purchase meals and beverages at the airport before your flight - just make sure to purchase beverages after you've passed through security.

- Alcoholic beverages purchased at the duty-free shop or in bottles of no more than 100 ml are allowed on board; however, you may not consume these products while you are on the plane.

I meant in general, not for those specific two. I don't want to have to post the same question every time someone says "I ordered the XYML"

Thanks for the inputs from everyone. I've modified the posts accordingly. :)

What about PCML?

?

AC 63 YVR-ICN
July 20, 2015
Kosher Meal
International

http://gallery.flyertalk.com/gallery...1525.sized.jpg
The appetizer consisted of 2 rock hard rolls which were inedible; a cold pasta dish in tomato sauce; inedibly salty smoked salmon; and a terribly dry piece of cake.

http://gallery.flyertalk.com/gallery...1526.sized.jpg
The main course was a chicken with rice smothered in an onion, celery and bell pepper sauce. Chicken was a little dry. Really sucks when one is allergic to bell peppers.

http://gallery.flyertalk.com/gallery...1525.sized.jpg
And for the 2nd meal service, the cold plate again.

I chose this meal as I had to ensure no pork due to an allergy. It was not a great choice on this occasion.

That's a special meal? I thought that was every meal they served...

I LOLd so hard :D The trick is to cover it in salt and pepper and then there's at least a taste :p I'll let you know when I die, it'll be probably be by 30 :D

At luxury, what an awesome post. Thank you!! :) ^^

Forgive me for going off on a tangent, but here's the problem I have with the special meals, and I will illustrate by using the typical middle aged person who is at risk of heart disease. Reduce the fat and salt intake they are told. Where is the option for low fat, low sodium? It is one or the other, and that does not make any sense. This is probably the most common meal requirement, more so than diabetic or religious, and yet it is not easily obtained. 50% of the population over the age of 50 fall into this class and the number flying in J that meets that requirement is probably 75 %.

Airlines are notorious for high sodium/ high fat content and one of the biggest problems with low fat prepared foods is that the sodium content is often significantly higher than with regular foods. What special meals do you FFs take when trying to keep both sodium and fat intake down?

Fruit plate.


P.S. I have tried many of the "special meals" over the years. Vegetarian was great until someone decided I should have curry which I did not order. Ova-lacto was a great option for a few years and the food was interesting and tasty.

We also tried Kosher. But we discovered that Kosher is only great when departing certain cities.

The challenge for AC and perhaps other airlines is that they offer these meals to those with dietary or religious (or age) requirements. They do not promise these meals to be tasty, hot or filling.

The other challenge is that different airlines use different catering companies and some are better than others (I think this came up in the international food thread a while back).

Please pardon my ignorance, but what is purpose of the styrofoam bowl?

I was about to suggest the fruit plate too, but all that fructose in fruits ... I wonder if there is any truly healthy option -- not excessive in fats, sodium, or sugars ....

http://www.aircanada.com/en/travelin...cialmeals.html

.....

the bland meal :confused: :confused: :confused:

On a different tangent, can someone take one (or two) for the team and order the kids meal and the low calorie meal? I'm curious what those are :D