Appetite on a New High

Airline food has painstakingly earned its reputation or lack of it. But competition in the skies is resulting in the introduction of inflight menus that are exotic, varied and yes, even quite tasty

There couldn8217;t have been a better parallel. When Hannibal8217;s Dr Lecter, who8217;s flying to freedom in the final moments of the film, starts to dine on board, he stealthily takes out his pack of figs and fried human brain. A little boy watching him confesses he too hadn8217;t eaten the airline food, to which Lecter replies: 8216;8216;Nor should you have. It8217;s not even food from what I understand the definition. That8217;s why I always travel with my own.8217;8217;

It8217;s a rather harsh way to put it, but airline food has painstakingly earned its reputation or rather, lack of it. However, with competition in the industry, the days of Lecter8217;s dreading those 8216;8216;freezing cold slippery sandwiches8217;8217; are seemingly over.

Airline menus are becoming snazzier and elaborate by the day, with concepts of fine dining8212;complete with a la carte menus, bone china crockery and silver cutlery8212;being replicated on board. Celeb chefs are being hired on food panels of the airlines to sex up the menus. 8216;8216;Airlines are now working on cuisines ranging from Thai and Indonesian to Italian, Mexican, Middle Eastern and even African,8217;8217; says Soumya Goswami, chef de cuisine, Oberoi Flight services OFS. Goswami8217;s recent innovations are smoked salmon and cream cheese terrine, Morocco chicken, oven baked French toast, coconut and banana cheese cake and charmould grilled chicken.

While global trends have long been pointing towards the cutting edge services on board, domestic carriers have only begun to catch up. Chilled caviar and Norwegian smoked salmon is making its appearance on Kingfisher8217;s First dining, with the espresso or cappuccino being freshly brewed on board.

In fact, a visit to airlinemeals.net8212;a website dedicated to airline meals, complete with photographs of actual portions and comments posted by passengers8212;will tell you how passengers take their meals on board seriously. 8216;8216;Certainly, there8217;s a higher demand for quality. Airlines are also looking to enhance the preparation techniques,8217;8217; says food consultant Marut Sikka, who conducted the Jashn-e-Hyderabad festival on board Jet Airways, about a year-and-a-half back. 8216;8216;Even things like fresh eggs are being done on board these days, which was unheard of earlier,8217;8217; adds Hemant Oberoi, consultant chef for Lufthansa airlines.

Even foreign airlines are now looking at revamping and adding a desi flavour to their menus on Indian routes. Recently, Singapore Airli-nes8212;which already has Britian8217;s topmost chef and restaurateur Gordon Ramsay on its international culinary panel8212;roped in celeb chef Sanjeev Kapoor of Khana Khazana fame for designing their Indian platter.

The result: The Shahi thali8212;consisting a starter, two types of chutneys, up to four entrees, rice, rotis and dessert for first class passengers.

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Meanwhile, British Airways has had celeb chef Vineet Bhatia, of London8217;s Rasoi fame for its Indian routes. So, you have his Punjabi-style lamb with parda biryani, and the fresh mango mousse with lemon jelly.

Special preferences also need to be taken into consideration: many like Malaysian airlines will offer you a range of special meals like high fibre, low-protein, diabetic, non-lactose, low sodium, Hindu, Moslem, etc.

All this makes an airline menu a challenge for the caterer. The OFS, with its three branches in India, dishes out about 18,000 meals everyday. Also, while the meal is served almost eight to twelve hours after it is prepared, at that height, low pressure changes the taste perception. 8216;8216;It8217;s even more difficult than serving on ships. There at least you

can cook and serve fresh,8217;8217; moans Oberoi, who joined the board of Star chefs for Lufthansa last year.

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8217;8217;The trick lies in trying not to overcook. I cook only 60 per cent of it, and then it can be heated on board.8217;8217; nbsp; So, his masala scrambled eggs are done rather 8216;8216;delicately8217;8217; and his grilled lobsters are kept a bit moist in the sauce. Technical innovations also have to be kept in mind. While the British Airways devised its meal sticker, indicating the accurate temperature of the meal to the crew, it also collaborated with the OFS to introduce the polloux egg pasteuriser. 8216;8216;Earlier, eggs were imported for board, now they can all be made bacteria-free in-house,8217;8217; says Rajesh Kurungati, General Manager, OFS.

But then, more often than not, the jazz is reserved for the privileged first class and the business classes. While airlines chefs would hotly contest the notion, the fact remains that the economy class doesn8217;t get the best of food. 8216;8216;Times are changing and the quality will improve as people want value for money,8217;8217; insists Oberoi.

Meantime, many would still scoff at the platters that are served on the board. Sikka puts it aptly: 8216;8216;Hardcore foodies will still turn up their noses at airline food.8217;8217; For the rest, inflight experience is only changing for the better.