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Singapore Airlines is known for their cabin experience, so I'm guessing the vegetables taste pretty good? I've heard the opposite of greenhouse produce from th

by wenc 7y ago

Singapore Airlines is known for their cabin experience, so I'm guessing the vegetables taste pretty good? I've heard the opposite of greenhouse produce from the Netherlands (Europeans complain that the tomatoes from greenhouses don't taste very tomatoey). Now the Dutch are extremely advanced at the greenhouse game (probably best in the world), so I wonder why the difference? Is it merely a perception issue? (would love to hear thoughts from Europeans)

chopin 7y ago
Dutch tomatoes are said to be a fourth aggregate state of water. This however applies to any vegetable that can be purchased in Germany. Almost independent of price.
- brnt 7y ago
  > Dutch tomatoes are said to be a fourth aggregate state of water. Actually... 'Dutch tomatoes' are the perfect example of an industrialized variety: looks and handles well, dirt cheap. There are delicious tomatoes produced in the Netherlands, but your friendly local grocer (Aldi, Lidl sounds like) doesn't actually want to sell them because they are not what the market wants, nor worth the extra handling costs. See a local farm for tasty produce, not your local Aldi or Lidl. The Netherlands in particular exports all it's best in class agricultural products in certain markets abroad that care and pay for quality, but most of roughly northern Europe does not. As a Dutchman this frustrates me to no end, because I can't get the good stuff produced next-door unless I go there and find a friendly farmer who is interested in selling small quantities to individuals (and due to the level of industrialization they often don't!)
  - chopin 7y ago
    Sourcing high quality vegetables is very difficult in Germany. Even with local farmers it is very hard to come by. It is quite easy to find sources for organic food but most of it tastes equally bad compared to non-organic, sometimes even worse.
ValentineC 7y ago
> Singapore Airlines is known for their cabin experience, so I'm guessing the vegetables taste pretty good? Their chefs love asparagus. But it really depends on the catering company that the airline contracts with. I just had overly-salted asparagus on a flight ex-Sydney in November. (I really like the National Geographic documentary called Mega Food [1], which showed the executive chef tasting the dishes in a low-pressure environment.) [1] https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-airplane-food-is-made-for-singapore-airlines-2018-4 https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-airplane-food-is-made...
sithadmin 7y ago
>Europeans complain that the tomatoes from greenhouses don't taste very tomatoey This has more to do with the varietal of tomato than the growing location. The most commercially viable tomatoes - the sort that grow fast, ripen quickly, can stand a bit of rough treatment and are hardy enough to last for a while on store shelves just generally don't taste that great. Heirloom tomatoes and other varieties that aren't optimized for industrialized food supply chains taste just fine, even grown in a greenhouse.
magduf 7y ago
>Singapore Airlines is known for their cabin experience, so I'm guessing the vegetables taste pretty good? I've flown on Singapore Airlines twice (one round-trip), in economy class, and it was easily the best flight experience I've ever had. The food was utterly fantastic for airplane food. A disclaimer, however: I haven't had the opportunity to fly yet on other Asian airlines like ANA, JAL, Cathay, etc. so I can't compare to those. But compared to any American-operated airline, or even Lufthansa, it's light-years better in my experience.
rini17 7y ago
In most supermarkets you can pick better tasting "branded" tomatoes, but they usually cost several times as much, and mostly only "cherry" or "cocktail" variety. Larger, tasty and ripe tomatoes are soft, perishable and incompatible with supermarket supply chain. Just go to street market.

by wenc 7y ago

chopin 7y ago

Dutch tomatoes are said to be a fourth aggregate state of water. This however applies to any vegetable that can be purchased in Germany. Almost independent of price.

brnt 7y ago
> Dutch tomatoes are said to be a fourth aggregate state of water. Actually... 'Dutch tomatoes' are the perfect example of an industrialized variety: looks and handles well, dirt cheap. There are delicious tomatoes produced in the Netherlands, but your friendly local grocer (Aldi, Lidl sounds like) doesn't actually want to sell them because they are not what the market wants, nor worth the extra handling costs. See a local farm for tasty produce, not your local Aldi or Lidl. The Netherlands in particular exports all it's best in class agricultural products in certain markets abroad that care and pay for quality, but most of roughly northern Europe does not. As a Dutchman this frustrates me to no end, because I can't get the good stuff produced next-door unless I go there and find a friendly farmer who is interested in selling small quantities to individuals (and due to the level of industrialization they often don't!)
- chopin 7y ago
  Sourcing high quality vegetables is very difficult in Germany. Even with local farmers it is very hard to come by. It is quite easy to find sources for organic food but most of it tastes equally bad compared to non-organic, sometimes even worse.

ValentineC 7y ago

> Singapore Airlines is known for their cabin experience, so I'm guessing the vegetables taste pretty good? Their chefs love asparagus. But it really depends on the catering company that the airline contracts with. I just had overly-salted asparagus on a flight ex-Sydney in November. (I really like the National Geographic documentary called Mega Food [1], which showed the executive chef tasting the dishes in a low-pressure environment.) [1] https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-airplane-food-is-made-for-singapore-airlines-2018-4 https://www.businessinsider.com.au/how-airplane-food-is-made...

sithadmin 7y ago

>Europeans complain that the tomatoes from greenhouses don't taste very tomatoey This has more to do with the varietal of tomato than the growing location. The most commercially viable tomatoes - the sort that grow fast, ripen quickly, can stand a bit of rough treatment and are hardy enough to last for a while on store shelves just generally don't taste that great. Heirloom tomatoes and other varieties that aren't optimized for industrialized food supply chains taste just fine, even grown in a greenhouse.

magduf 7y ago

>Singapore Airlines is known for their cabin experience, so I'm guessing the vegetables taste pretty good? I've flown on Singapore Airlines twice (one round-trip), in economy class, and it was easily the best flight experience I've ever had. The food was utterly fantastic for airplane food. A disclaimer, however: I haven't had the opportunity to fly yet on other Asian airlines like ANA, JAL, Cathay, etc. so I can't compare to those. But compared to any American-operated airline, or even Lufthansa, it's light-years better in my experience.

rini17 7y ago

In most supermarkets you can pick better tasting "branded" tomatoes, but they usually cost several times as much, and mostly only "cherry" or "cocktail" variety. Larger, tasty and ripe tomatoes are soft, perishable and incompatible with supermarket supply chain. Just go to street market.