Cooking & EatingMeals taste different at high altitudes, and the tiny galley (the kitchen) isn’t equipped for large dishes. But airplane food largely determines our experience of the flight. Seven useful facts in a row.
1 Noise makes you taste less
Three factors that influence your taste in the air are air pressure, dry air and, surprisingly enough, the noise you hear. The latter was already shown in a 2014 study by Oxford University. You don’t taste as good, especially sweet, when the sound of the engines buzzes in your ears. “It makes a difference of about 10 to 20 percent,” says Wilbert de Louw of Foodcase, which develops meals for thirty airlines. “Only food with umami flavour, also called the fifth taste, remains intact.”
For that reason, the airline often offers pasta with tomato sauce and passengers in the air drink tomato juice much more often than on the ground. Airlines regularly test new products on board. Singapore Airlines is the only airline to have a special simulator for this. As a result, testing can also be done on the ground.
2 Bubbles in your belly
When you fly, it is not surprising if you suffer from gas formation. This is due to the differences in air pressure. If you then eat products that enhance this, such as beans, it can get worse,” says Ira van der Plas, dietician at Marfo. The company provides meals for aviation, healthcare, defense and detention centers, among others.
It is wise to eat slowly if you want to avoid flatulence. ,,If you eat quickly – also on the floor – you take in a lot of air and you can get more trouble with your stomach.” Drinking carbonated soft drinks is also less convenient for that reason. “Sugar and carbon dioxide cause more gas.”
3 Savory snacks are a favorite
Anything savory does well in the air. ,,Think of noodles”, says De Louw. “That is in the top 5 best-selling products of almost all airlines.”
In 2019, 4.9 billion meals and snacks were served on airplanes worldwide. “You see more and more tapas,” says De Louw, showing a flat pack with Spanish olives and pieces of cheese and sausage. “They are very popular. They are in the top of all airlines. People like to eat that.”
4 Eating healthy on an airplane is a challenge
“We know from data from various airlines that products that are healthy are sold the least,” says De Louw. “The fact that people are often on their way to a holiday seems to have something to do with it. That partly determines the choice of your food. And in the air, people also have a sense of timelessness. You wouldn’t normally eat fries at 10 a.m., but you might in the air.
“We do our best to make food healthier, without compromising the taste. This is possible, for example, by not using salt in everything, but by working with herbs and spices. It is precisely these spices that make Asian meals, often with chicken, very popular.”
Chicken is in many meals because the lion’s share of the world’s population likes to eat it.
5 Preventing jet lag, is that possible?
Avoiding gaining weight completely is difficult, but you can do a lot yourself to feel as fit as possible when you land. ,,It is important to drink a lot on the road, especially water”, says Van der Plas. Coffee or tea are also fine. Taking a nap can also help. Preferably no alcohol, because it affects the quality of your sleep.”
Continue as normal as possible, advises the dietitian. “Try to get into the rhythm of the destination in terms of food. If it’s breakfast time there, you’ll have breakfast too.” It is also good not to eat too much while on the road. ,,The meals on the plane are smaller than at home, about 200-250 grams. That already helps.”
Also, don’t sniff the entire flight, Van der Plas advises. ,,But that’s a rule of thumb, for some people sniffing does work. Above all, listen to your body.”
6 Airline companies are also trying to prevent waste
The space on board is limited, throwing food away is a shame, as is too much packaging. ,,We are quite proud that we have developed meals with a longer shelf life, without loss of quality”, says De Louw. “Our meal of pasta with tomato sauce, for example, contains no preservatives and can be stored outside the refrigerator up to 25 degrees Celsius. If the meal is not served on one flight, it can easily be taken on the next flight.”
The image of aviation is somewhat conservative, but that is not so bad. “Sustainability is high on the agenda. Also when it comes to the packaging. For example, we use packaging made from recycled plastic. That is more sustainable than cardboard.”
7 You pre-order your own food (and pay for it yourself)
The sale of food on board will increase and there will be less free food, predicts De Louw. “You had a tight division between three types of airlines: with figureheads such as KLM and British Airways, meals are included, with low-cost carriers such as Ryan Air and Transavia you pay for everything you consume yourself and in between are the charter companies. The boundaries between them are blurring. It also has to do with wastage. Pre-ordering is already quite normal with Scandinavian companies and more companies will do that. Transavia recently started with Thuisbezorgd. Passengers can order (and pay for) a meal from them up to two hours before their flight to be delivered to the aircraft.
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