I saw that in F and was immediate turned off by it. Walked down to E where they at least had the teriyaki chicken. F had the wicked thai chicken soup though, while E had the Broccoli soup. The other soup did not look appetizing as well, like the Saag Paneer.

I feel like this dish was created because someone complained about not having any vegetarian dishes, considering they only used to have beef/lamb skewers.

Too little too late. I think bad in-flight catering is one of the reasons US carriers (and their EU JV partners) lost Eastern ULH market. From what I read, you cannot expect a strict vegan(some with medical conditions) to survive on lettuce and dinner roll for 16-18 hrs. Apparently on some flights there weren't any vegetarian options. Basically FA says "Eat meat or starve".

If you need vegetarian food, you should order a special meal.

I really doubt that a vegan special meal would consist only of lettuce and a dinner roll.

Regardless of whether this particular dish was good or not, I like the fact that there seems to be a lot more variety in the Sky Clubs. I can always find something halfway to my liking these days. If you travel a good deal, having any type of variety is really nice.
It is very surprising to me how some people seem to think that there is some "American food" preferred by most people. Have they been in some sort of bubble since 1950?
Also anyone who has been to airline lounges in other countries, especially in international hubs, would know that the variety is extensive. The lounges in Dubai hardly serve only Middle Eastern cuisine.

I am just wondering if french fries would be acceptable to the patriots on this board. Or would they have to be labeled freedom fries? :)

lol. Yes, let's serve french fries and buffalo wings in the SC. Then we can all smell like fried food and hot sauce.

However, I would characterize the lounge food at CDG's AF lounges as primarily French while that in AMS would be Dutch (lots of cheeses, little cold sandwiches on hearty bread, etc.), although IIRC both offer small bags of potato chips. NRT offers sushi, but now also chicken skewers.

I would welcome a make your own sandwich type setup in the clubs. Have an offering of good quality meats, cheeses, vegetables, and several types of good bread. Add a bowl of lettuce and you can use those same ingredients to make a nice salad.

Sounds good to me. Classic soup and sandwich plus some salad for a quick but filling meal.

Yikes!

It's really no surprise that TK and the ME3 are gaining popularity when US carriers have to pander to a captive audience with attitudes shown like in this thread.

Well, my parents live in a smallish city in Minnesota. Certainly, in towns like that, options are more limited and exposure to "foreign" foods may be less. Certainly, you'd expect that a group as seemingly well-traveled as FT would have more diversity of experience than the general population, not everyone is as comfortable breaking free from habit. Of course, while there is no real shame in preferring things one is familiar with, that doesn't excuse making ignorant, judgmental comments about other food cultures.

The bigger issue with defining "American food", though, is the diversity of food cultures in the US. The traditional dishes one might find in Minnesota are significantly different from the traditional dishes one might find in Texas. Even within regions, there are significant differences in food cultures. Cajun cuisine is not the same as Creole cuisine, for example. Trying to find some cuisine that is preferred across the geographic, ethnic, and cultural diversity that is the US is a tall order.

Regarding the Dutch... rijsttafel is as Dutch at this point as a herring sandwich.

Even the French, as hidebound as the restaurant industry there has historically been, are not immune to outside influence. Indeed, France is McDonald's second biggest market and you can find all manner of "foreign" cuisines in France. And, as with the US, there is pretty significant diversity among the regions in France.

And you are aware that Japanese food is far more than sushi, right?

Actually in the AF CDG lounges that have been updated to serve a much wider variety of food (at least M, can't recall if K and L have been updated), each time I have been in there, there has been at least one decidedly non-"French" offering. Of course, there's usually quite a spread so there's lots from which to choose.

The way special meal request and delivery is organized, I wouldn't rely on it. There are lot of reports on internet about missing (confirmed) special meals.

When your special vegan meal is MIA, FAs will try to assemble vegan meal with what they have going by the ingredients. Guess what that meal consists of, lettuce and dinner roll.

Then it's a catering mistake and not evidence of DL offering terrible vegetarian special meals.

If you need a vegan meal that badly then dont travel on an airplane take a boat or a car instead