4 ms·

Not all airline food is bad. It is the worst in the States in my experience, but many of the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines serve food I'd gladly pay for at

Not all airline food is bad. It is the worst in the States in my experience, but many of the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines serve food I'd gladly pay for at a restaurant.

chrisseaton 10y ago
I once got the western option on Japan Airlines. It was described as spaghetti with ketchup, a beef burger and a sausage. I assumed it was just a bad translation and it would be some kind of pasta con carne dish in a tomato sauce, but no it was literally as described.
- madaxe_again 10y ago
  Sounds like you had spaghetti napolitan. Japan has a few dishes which are hyperreal versions of American dishes.
- kalleboo 10y ago
  My experience with asian airlines is that picking the western option is always doing yourself a disservice. I had possibly the best Laksa in my life on a Cathay Pacific flight, a decent Bibimbap on Asiana, and Singapore Airline's Chinese food is always spicy and tasty. Meanwhile I've never in my life had a airline omelette that I wouldn't have thrown out if I had made it at home.
david-given 10y ago
One of the best airline meals I've had was with Korean Air: what you got was a bowl of plain steamed white rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, and a variety of cold pickles and sauces which you added to the rice (including a tube of really nice mild chili sauce which I've never been able to track down). All of which, of course, worked fine on a plane --- there wasn't anything which could go... weird and crusty... the way a lot of airline food does. And it tasted good, too. The worst meal I had was with Air 2000 in probably about 1990. It was a intra-European charter flight, from Glasgow to Cyprus, and the meal was hilarious. Everything that should have been dry was soggy, everything that should have been moist was dry. Teenage me was particularly impressed by the croissant, which was completely limp (and moist, and greasy). It did come with a little pot of pink, though. I have a bit of a soft spot for airline pink, even though I have no idea what it was. You don't get it any more. BTW, if you want to be able to eat on a plane without elbowing your neighbour in the ribs, take chopsticks.
- wmkn 10y ago
  >what you got was a bowl of plain steamed white rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, and a variety of cold pickles and sauces which you added to the rice (including a tube of really nice mild chili sauce which I've never been able to track down). You most likely got Bibimbap, with Gochujang sauce (the chili sauce). Bibimbap is one of the Korean signature dishes, and Gochujang a staple ingredient of Korean food. On flights to Korea with Korean Air, and other airlines, Bibimbap is pretty much guaranteed. I agree that it works very well.
  - david-given 10y ago
    That sounds plausible. I'll need to try and find Gochujang in my local asian supermarket. I miss Korean food [sad face]...
- cjslep 10y ago
  I had a similar experience with Asiana airlines, except they offered one authentic Korean and one American style dish as the entree. My girlfriend got one and I got the other to share and compare. Both were awesome. Minus discovering the tiny pink squares are not watermelon. They were a form of beet, I think.
  - cm2012 10y ago
    Often Radish
- throwaway1892 10y ago
  What's pink?
  - madaxe_again 10y ago
    Blamange. I'm trying desperately to remember the bit, it was Doug Adams or someone, the gist was: He glared balefully down at his pressed aluminium tray. Upon it sat a cube of pink. He didn't know what it was called, but it was coloured pink, it tasted pink (if indeed pink could be ascribed a behaviour), and it was, therefore, simply, pink. I paraphrase grotesquely but I can't recall the source and google fails me.
Stauche 10y ago
This must be the most ridiculous comment I've ever read. May God have mercy on your soul.
ainiriand 10y ago
It is only in the States, exactly. Asian plane food rocks. French and german airlines are also quite good.
- seanmcdirmid 10y ago
  Chinese airlines can be a mixed bag, especially on domestic flights, but even international ones. Surprisingly, or not, Aeroflot is actually ok.

Not all airline food is bad. It is the worst in the States in my experience, but many of the Asian and Middle Eastern airlines serve food I'd gladly pay for at a restaurant.

chrisseaton 10y ago

I once got the western option on Japan Airlines. It was described as spaghetti with ketchup, a beef burger and a sausage. I assumed it was just a bad translation and it would be some kind of pasta con carne dish in a tomato sauce, but no it was literally as described.

madaxe_again 10y ago
Sounds like you had spaghetti napolitan. Japan has a few dishes which are hyperreal versions of American dishes.
kalleboo 10y ago
My experience with asian airlines is that picking the western option is always doing yourself a disservice. I had possibly the best Laksa in my life on a Cathay Pacific flight, a decent Bibimbap on Asiana, and Singapore Airline's Chinese food is always spicy and tasty. Meanwhile I've never in my life had a airline omelette that I wouldn't have thrown out if I had made it at home.

david-given 10y ago

One of the best airline meals I've had was with Korean Air: what you got was a bowl of plain steamed white rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, and a variety of cold pickles and sauces which you added to the rice (including a tube of really nice mild chili sauce which I've never been able to track down). All of which, of course, worked fine on a plane --- there wasn't anything which could go... weird and crusty... the way a lot of airline food does. And it tasted good, too. The worst meal I had was with Air 2000 in probably about 1990. It was a intra-European charter flight, from Glasgow to Cyprus, and the meal was hilarious. Everything that should have been dry was soggy, everything that should have been moist was dry. Teenage me was particularly impressed by the croissant, which was completely limp (and moist, and greasy). It did come with a little pot of pink, though. I have a bit of a soft spot for airline pink, even though I have no idea what it was. You don't get it any more. BTW, if you want to be able to eat on a plane without elbowing your neighbour in the ribs, take chopsticks.

wmkn 10y ago
>what you got was a bowl of plain steamed white rice, a bowl of vegetable soup, and a variety of cold pickles and sauces which you added to the rice (including a tube of really nice mild chili sauce which I've never been able to track down). You most likely got Bibimbap, with Gochujang sauce (the chili sauce). Bibimbap is one of the Korean signature dishes, and Gochujang a staple ingredient of Korean food. On flights to Korea with Korean Air, and other airlines, Bibimbap is pretty much guaranteed. I agree that it works very well.
- david-given 10y ago
  That sounds plausible. I'll need to try and find Gochujang in my local asian supermarket. I miss Korean food [sad face]...
cjslep 10y ago
I had a similar experience with Asiana airlines, except they offered one authentic Korean and one American style dish as the entree. My girlfriend got one and I got the other to share and compare. Both were awesome. Minus discovering the tiny pink squares are not watermelon. They were a form of beet, I think.
- cm2012 10y ago
  Often Radish
throwaway1892 10y ago
What's pink?
- madaxe_again 10y ago
  Blamange. I'm trying desperately to remember the bit, it was Doug Adams or someone, the gist was: He glared balefully down at his pressed aluminium tray. Upon it sat a cube of pink. He didn't know what it was called, but it was coloured pink, it tasted pink (if indeed pink could be ascribed a behaviour), and it was, therefore, simply, pink. I paraphrase grotesquely but I can't recall the source and google fails me.

Stauche 10y ago

This must be the most ridiculous comment I've ever read. May God have mercy on your soul.

ainiriand 10y ago

It is only in the States, exactly. Asian plane food rocks. French and german airlines are also quite good.

seanmcdirmid 10y ago
Chinese airlines can be a mixed bag, especially on domestic flights, but even international ones. Surprisingly, or not, Aeroflot is actually ok.