Your next airline meal is made by a Michelin starred chef
Remember when airplane meals were once the butt of jokes?
As more airline companies sprout to answer the demand of a highly itinerant population with increasing disposable incomes, the entire industry has upped the ante in dining up in the air.
Emirates, which calls itself the “world’s largest flying restaurant,” serves 100 million meals a year, with 1,200 chefs in its hub in Dubai whipping up 12,450 recipes to suit the discerning tastes of its travelers. Plus, there’s a new spirits menu on board, which include handcrafted brands as well as popular choices like Hennessy cognacs, served in all classes. First Class passengers get to try, among others, the extremely rare Hennessy Paradis Imperial.
Delta works with Asian rockstar chefs to bring local, seasonal flavors to the tray table. The airline has partnered with talent like James Beard honoree Linton Hopkins, select chefs from Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, and most recently L.A.-based chef duo Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo. The goal: Regionally authentic food served to its customers. Recently, Delta tapped Jerome Leung, Norie Ueno, and Woo-Joong Kwon to service its Asia routes.
But not only are some of your meals prepared by Michelin chefs, your meals are now reflective of your lifestyle.
Vegan and vegetarian? You can be sure you’re not going to get a bland bouquet of random greens on your plate.
Eco-conscious about your carbon footprint? There’s something on the menu for you.
In October last year, Singapore Airlines (SIA) ushered in a new initiative called “From Farm to Plane,” which promotes environmental sustainability and supports the communities of local farmers.
SIA’s menu has included fish from fisheries certified by the Marine Stewardship Council. The company’s International Culinary Panel of eight of the world’s most renowned chefs, have committed to using only sustainable ingredients sourced from the farmers where the airline has routes to. “While we continue to deliver a quality inflight experience, we would like our customers to know that we are playing our part in ensuring sustainability,” says Marvin Tan, SIA’s senior vice president for products and services.
While much of the push for great airplane food comes from international airlines, it was Philippine Airlines which won an award for its inflight cuisine, the very first given to an airline, by Les Chains des Rotisseurs, back in 1979. Since the early 2000s, when the airline, the only four-star airline in the Philippines, decided to partner with chefs for “Filipino Food Festival in the Sky,” PAL has since brought on Fernando Aracama, Jessie Sincioco, Glenda Barretto, Myrna Segismundo, and Miko Aspiras—who’s who of the local culinary scene—to create dishes for the company
Even local, budget airlines have felt the need to come up with even tastier selections. Just last August, Cebu Pacific launched a new selection of inflight meals that was a major step up for the company. Cooked in partnership with the world renowned MIASCOR-Gate Gourmet Philippines, the company now has delicious hot plates—including beef kare-kare, sisig, and fish escabeche—which will remind passengers with a “taste of home.” They’re all halal-certified, and cooked only upon order, which means passengers need to order at least 24 hours in advance.
“The new Cebu Pacific inflight menu celebrates Filipino classics and showcases diverse flavors found in the destinations we travel to. Passengers choose to fly with Cebu Pacific for year-round low fares and extensive route and frequencies, and we hope our new food options will help give passengers a more pleasant experience aboard our flights,” said Cebu Pacific’s director for Inflight Catering JB Bueno.