Club World Kosher meals
Sep 14, 2022, 6:19 pm
#16
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: new york, ny
Posts: 1,373
Pretty much correct. I'm not going to delve into the exact laws but three things to point out:
1) fruit and veg is kosher HOWEVER must be prepared with a clean uncontaminated knife.
2) most drinks are kosher, at least the mainstream cokes and Pepsi's and everything those giants make.
3) lard. Lard from a pig is not kosher, however, kosher versions of lard from kosher animals eg a cow are available.
I wouldn't be able to say whether it's cost effective for airlines. On the one hand it definitely costs them more than regular meals. How much more? I don't think anyone can accurately price that as it depends on too many factors. However, if BA stopped offering kosher I would without a doubt switch to another airline.
1) fruit and veg is kosher HOWEVER must be prepared with a clean uncontaminated knife.
2) most drinks are kosher, at least the mainstream cokes and Pepsi's and everything those giants make.
3) lard. Lard from a pig is not kosher, however, kosher versions of lard from kosher animals eg a cow are available.
I wouldn't be able to say whether it's cost effective for airlines. On the one hand it definitely costs them more than regular meals. How much more? I don't think anyone can accurately price that as it depends on too many factors. However, if BA stopped offering kosher I would without a doubt switch to another airline.
Sep 16, 2022, 2:26 am
#17
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: London
Programs: BAEC, AA, Emirates, Hilton, Hyatt, Taj Hotels
Posts: 2,343
Here's what we got for the meals to/from IAD.
Outbound 31/8 (so may have changed if menus are rotated monthly)
All one tray service as per the rest of the cabin. As noted above, lots of wrapping as everything is double wrapped in plastic. With your permission, crew will unwrap the main in the galley so that you don't have to wrestle with hot tin foil etc.
Main meal catered by Hermolis:
Hummus and melba toasts, Avocado salad, Bone-in Lamb shank with potatoes and Mediterranean veg, fruit salad, some sort of chocolate pudding. Three small bread rolls.
On balance, a better meal overall than the standard J offering. The main was good. The pudding was inedible and the rest of the salads served in the diddy little CE dishes.
Second meal - hot beef (? Pastrami) sandwich, fruit salad, bag of crisps. Again an arguable win.
Return ex IAD catered by Borenstein:
Main meal;
Small Couscous salad, Beef ribs (basically meat and 3 veg - no bones), bread roll and some sort of 'chocolate' brownie (also inedible). Oh, and a water cuplet frozen solid (redeployed as ice for a cocktail).
A bit mean compared to the outbound and very reminiscent of an economy meal in the 70/80's
Breakfast - Hot omelette, fruit salad. No bakery items.
For my money, I'd probably take the KSML again ex London only. I think the SOP for eastbound TATL would still be to eat in the Lounge/Airport and not bother with the meals on board. The only major potential downside is that if the main was not to your taste you've obviously got no fall-back as I believe BA now cater to exact numbers so there's not much chance of getting an alternative.
Disclosure - I'm not Jewish so this is written from my aspect as someone looking to avoid the current dross J offering.
Outbound 31/8 (so may have changed if menus are rotated monthly)
All one tray service as per the rest of the cabin. As noted above, lots of wrapping as everything is double wrapped in plastic. With your permission, crew will unwrap the main in the galley so that you don't have to wrestle with hot tin foil etc.
Main meal catered by Hermolis:
Hummus and melba toasts, Avocado salad, Bone-in Lamb shank with potatoes and Mediterranean veg, fruit salad, some sort of chocolate pudding. Three small bread rolls.
On balance, a better meal overall than the standard J offering. The main was good. The pudding was inedible and the rest of the salads served in the diddy little CE dishes.
Second meal - hot beef (? Pastrami) sandwich, fruit salad, bag of crisps. Again an arguable win.
Return ex IAD catered by Borenstein:
Main meal;
Small Couscous salad, Beef ribs (basically meat and 3 veg - no bones), bread roll and some sort of 'chocolate' brownie (also inedible). Oh, and a water cuplet frozen solid (redeployed as ice for a cocktail).
A bit mean compared to the outbound and very reminiscent of an economy meal in the 70/80's
Breakfast - Hot omelette, fruit salad. No bakery items.
For my money, I'd probably take the KSML again ex London only. I think the SOP for eastbound TATL would still be to eat in the Lounge/Airport and not bother with the meals on board. The only major potential downside is that if the main was not to your taste you've obviously got no fall-back as I believe BA now cater to exact numbers so there's not much chance of getting an alternative.
Disclosure - I'm not Jewish so this is written from my aspect as someone looking to avoid the current dross J offering.
Last edited by Betteronacamel; Sep 16, 2022 at 3:10 am Reason: Typo
Sep 16, 2022, 12:23 pm
#18
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Middle Earth, and often worse
Programs: BAEC Silver, A3 Gold
Posts: 2,217
The Kosher meal shown in contribution #7 is wonderful as compared to the pitiful Kosher meal I had on United flight several years ago. I repeat, a pitiful boxed (from NYC) Kosher meal.
I am not Jewish, but I like exploring airline food offerings. FWIW, the Jain and Muslim Halal meals are consistently quite nice - in presentation and taste.
I am not Jewish, but I like exploring airline food offerings. FWIW, the Jain and Muslim Halal meals are consistently quite nice - in presentation and taste.
Sep 16, 2022, 1:00 pm
#19
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Posts: 30,520
Sep 16, 2022, 1:26 pm
#20
Moderator: Qatar Airways
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Programs: BAEC GfL & GGL, SQ Gold, Amex Centurion, Mucci des Chevaliers des Bons Mots et Qui Savent Moucher
Posts: 8,948
Pretty much correct. I'm not going to delve into the exact laws but three things to point out:
1) fruit and veg is kosher HOWEVER must be prepared with a clean uncontaminated knife.
2) most drinks are kosher, at least the mainstream cokes and Pepsi's and everything those giants make.
3) lard. Lard from a pig is not kosher, however, kosher versions of lard from kosher animals eg a cow are available.
I wouldn't be able to say whether it's cost effective for airlines. On the one hand it definitely costs them more than regular meals. How much more? I don't think anyone can accurately price that as it depends on too many factors. However, if BA stopped offering kosher I would without a doubt switch to another airline.
1) fruit and veg is kosher HOWEVER must be prepared with a clean uncontaminated knife.
2) most drinks are kosher, at least the mainstream cokes and Pepsi's and everything those giants make.
3) lard. Lard from a pig is not kosher, however, kosher versions of lard from kosher animals eg a cow are available.
I wouldn't be able to say whether it's cost effective for airlines. On the one hand it definitely costs them more than regular meals. How much more? I don't think anyone can accurately price that as it depends on too many factors. However, if BA stopped offering kosher I would without a doubt switch to another airline.
M
Sep 16, 2022, 2:20 pm
#21
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold for Life
Posts: 469
[QUOTE=Betteronacamel;34604681]Here's what we got for the meals to/from IAD.
Outbound 31/8 (so may have changed if menus are rotated monthly)
All one tray service as per the rest of the cabin. As noted above, lots of wrapping as everything is double wrapped in plastic. With your permission, crew will unwrap the main in the galley so that you don't have to wrestle with hot tin foil etc.
Main meal catered by Hermolis:
Hummus and melba toasts, Avocado salad, Bone-in Lamb shank with potatoes and Mediterranean veg, fruit salad, some sort of chocolate pudding. Three small bread rolls.
On balance, a better meal overall than the standard J offering. The main was good. The pudding was inedible and the rest of the salads served in the diddy little CE dishes.
Second meal - hot beef (? Pastrami) sandwich, fruit salad, bag of crisps. Again an arguable win.
Return ex IAD catered by Borenstein:
The outbound from LHR is broadly what I had to Vancouver a couple of months ago. For my money its hard to beat Hermolis ex LHR.....tends to be fresh/chilled from their kitchens in Wembley. In bound is uniformly dreadful - frozen and when de-frosted pretty poor from Borenstein or Stogel
Outbound 31/8 (so may have changed if menus are rotated monthly)
All one tray service as per the rest of the cabin. As noted above, lots of wrapping as everything is double wrapped in plastic. With your permission, crew will unwrap the main in the galley so that you don't have to wrestle with hot tin foil etc.
Main meal catered by Hermolis:
Hummus and melba toasts, Avocado salad, Bone-in Lamb shank with potatoes and Mediterranean veg, fruit salad, some sort of chocolate pudding. Three small bread rolls.
On balance, a better meal overall than the standard J offering. The main was good. The pudding was inedible and the rest of the salads served in the diddy little CE dishes.
Second meal - hot beef (? Pastrami) sandwich, fruit salad, bag of crisps. Again an arguable win.
Return ex IAD catered by Borenstein:
The outbound from LHR is broadly what I had to Vancouver a couple of months ago. For my money its hard to beat Hermolis ex LHR.....tends to be fresh/chilled from their kitchens in Wembley. In bound is uniformly dreadful - frozen and when de-frosted pretty poor from Borenstein or Stogel
Sep 16, 2022, 5:23 pm
#22
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: New York
Programs: BAEC Silver, &c.
Posts: 446
Sep 20, 2022, 5:47 pm
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Programs: AA Platinum Pro, Hyatt Globalist, Hilton Diamond, IHG Platinum, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 171
I personally don't find the Hermiolis meals delicious, but I do find them better than regular CW meals currently, and they are systematically a lot more generous (the regular CW starter "cup" is particularly ridiculous to be honest).
Note that the key difference between short and long haul is that CE meals are round catered, so you will get very consistent Hermolis meals regardless of where your flight originates (for the same reason, KSML is not available for nightstop flights breakfast, ie typically very early flights from outstations). By contrast, long haul KSML (all classes) are loaded locally, so whilst Hermolis provides the meals ex-London, the quality on inbound flights can vary a lot and, from my limited experience of trying a few of them and talking to others, can be very poor from many airports/regions.
Note that the key difference between short and long haul is that CE meals are round catered, so you will get very consistent Hermolis meals regardless of where your flight originates (for the same reason, KSML is not available for nightstop flights breakfast, ie typically very early flights from outstations). By contrast, long haul KSML (all classes) are loaded locally, so whilst Hermolis provides the meals ex-London, the quality on inbound flights can vary a lot and, from my limited experience of trying a few of them and talking to others, can be very poor from many airports/regions.
Sep 21, 2022, 2:28 am
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Posts: 30,520
if you could order ksml you’ll get ksml. No idea why this gets it though as it’s not offered on night stop from, say, NCE, BCN etc
Jan 4, 2023, 12:06 pm
#25
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold for Life
Posts: 469
Flights ex LHR are always Hermolis. What about from BA outstations. Traveling from MAA next week back to LHR. will they be Hermolis (ie a chance of being good) or another supplier...probably not that good!!
Thanks
Thanks
Jan 4, 2023, 12:27 pm
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
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Posts: 30,520
No on long haul it will be local suppliers (and KSML is not available from few long haul outstations when they can't be supplied). So you'll get a local Indian caterer preparing Kosher food, not idea what it will be.
Feb 13, 2023, 1:03 am
#27
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: West of Cowtown, TX
Programs: BA Silver,AA,EI&UA
Posts: 85
Anyone have experience of Kosher meals in CW on BA192 DFW-LHR? Thinking of choosing Kosher after disappointing CW meals on my last 2 flights.
Does the Kosher offering vary by cabin?
Only experience of Kosher on BA has been in WT+ on LHR-DFW (twice during 2021) on the the suggestion of cabin crew after some sub-optimal meal "trays" during the times of Covid altered food offerings. Turned out to have been excellent advice.
Tks in advance for comments.
Does the Kosher offering vary by cabin?
Only experience of Kosher on BA has been in WT+ on LHR-DFW (twice during 2021) on the the suggestion of cabin crew after some sub-optimal meal "trays" during the times of Covid altered food offerings. Turned out to have been excellent advice.
Tks in advance for comments.
Feb 13, 2023, 6:21 am
#29
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: London
Programs: BAEC Gold for Life
Posts: 469
Feb 13, 2023, 6:37 am
#30
FlyerTalk Evangelist, Ambassador, British Airways Executive Club
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Somewhere between 0 and 13,000 metres high
Programs: AF/KL Life Plat, BA GGL+GfL, ALL Plat, Hilton Diam, Marriott Gold, blablablah, etc
Posts: 30,520
Forgot to report back on the KSML food offering in WT+ from MAA to LHR. Something clearly wrong as meal 1 (breakfast) was 4 pieces of fruit and meal 2 (lunch) was........4 pieces of fruit. I can't imagine this is what it was supposed to be. The crew were rightfully embarrassed but were not able to provide anything else. Really poor