Damn I love aeroplane food.
I always have.
Admittedly, the taste isn’t always the best and the offering isn’t always what I’d choose. But somehow, just the fact that I’m going to have a small tray of goods delivered, each in their own separate compartments, direct to my chair, is too good to be true. Not only that, usually there’s a choice of two different mains, and there’s drinks, often alcoholic, to go with it. Now, I know I’ve paid through the nose for the flight, but somehow it still feels like free food and drink, and it gets me every time!
I’ve had good experiences with aeroplane food, and I’ve had bad. Let’s not forget the guy who had some kind of allergic reaction to his meal and had a fit next to us on the way to India. He was ok, by the way, but it didn’t make for a great dining experience.
I once had an epic meal – everything was superb from the entrée to the dessert – this is not an easy feat to deliver. Whether a certain part of it is tasteless or over-salted, or I simply don’t like something, usually something remains basically untouched on the tray. But not this time. I was on a long haul flight to Australia and they served the quadruple whammy – salad with a creamy dressing, lamb with mash and carrots, soft bread roll and accompanying salty butter, and to finish… a raspberry cheesecake. Naturally I saved the mandatory cheese and biccies till last, to be enjoyed with a red wine… or three.
On the way back from India there was another incident at meal time – the flight attendant actually dropped an extra tray on me. It landed butter side up on my tray. This may not sound like a good thing to you, but to me, it was an opportunity to get more aeroplane food. And my wine barely spilt The flight attendant was desperately sorry and I’m sure a little embarrassed, but my overwhelming excitement quickly changed her tune to presume I was mad. She told me to ‘take what I wanted’ and oh yes, I grabbed the cheese and biccies and the piece de resistance… an additional apple cake – winning!
Unlike Australia, on short flights within the EU, they usually feed you. Which must be hell for the flight attendants, and to be fair, is mostly unnecessary. The Lufthansa sandwiches aren’t great, but are fine if you need a meal, and they’re at least better than the Swiss ones. My favourite is the sweet or savory option, where you generally choose between chocolate or a packet of biccies/nuts. Gets me every time… and there’s often free wine. So your long weekend starts right there, on the plane.
Flying back from New Zealand with a group many year ago, I had been sick the day previous (just a general, not feeling well kind of thing). I awoke after we’d taken off, in a groggy state, being asked what I wanted for breakfast – blueberry pancakes or scrambled eggs? Now I don’t know about you, but eggs are the last thing I want to smell let alone eat when I don’t feel well. But my foggy head wouldn’t cooperate. Even though my mind was screaming BLUEBERRY PANCAKES, my mouth spat out: scrambled eggs. And then I died a little bit inside, but was too weak to take it back. And lo and behold – the Gods of Aeroplane Food shone down on me that very moment. The flight attendant informed me that she was very sorry but there were only pancakes left. I thankfully accepted them, and got better very quickly after that.
I have a memory of the aeroplane food that was served to me when I was 4 on the way to New Zealand, my first overseas flight. I have no idea if that memory is true, because you generally can’t trust a 4 year old’s memory, but I feel like my love of aeroplane food stemmed from there, and still it persists – through the good and the bad. The food on our last trip back to Australia wasn’t my favourite, but I’m still hanging out for the next trip. And wait! Tomorrow I’m flying to London – so bring on the dodgy sandwich and hopefully a chocolate to go with my wine.
an aussie in austria 