Airline meal
An airline meal, airline food, or in-flight meal is a meal served to passengers on board a commercial airliner. These meals are prepared by specialist airline catering services and are normally served to passengers using an airline service trolley.
These meals vary widely in quality and quantity across different airline companies and classes of travel. They range from a simple snack or beverage in short-haul economy class to a seven-course gourmet meal in a first class long-haul flight. The types of food offered also vary widely from country to country, and often incorporate elements of local cuisine, sometimes both from the origin and destination countries. When ticket prices were regulated in the American domestic market, food was the primary means by which airlines differentiated themselves.
History
1920s: Unheated meals in the early days
pioneered the service of light refreshments. Their flight attendant, also known as the cabin boy, would procure food from the local markets before preparing and serving them in lunch boxes. Planes would often have to land at destinations even where no passengers were boarding or disembarking, just so that passengers could have their meals while the plane was being refuelled. At this early stage of aircraft meal service, the only heated refreshments were coffee and tea.The first airline meals were served by Handley Page Transport, an airline company founded in 1919, to serve the London–Paris route in October of that year. Passengers could choose from a selection of sandwiches and fruit. In-flight menus were not often changed, as the low frequency of air travel meant that passengers would be less likely to notice the similarity of food served.
Only chewing gum was served on the inaugural Pan Am flight in 1929, in order to prevent airsickness. Flights in this era of air travel were extremely noisy and uncomfortable, with passengers often anxious about flying for the first time.
In the late 1920s, Western Air Express was one of the first airlines to serve in-flight meals in the United States, beginning with flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco. Food served included fried chicken, cake, fruits and sandwiches. Mealtimes served as a distraction from the unpleasant flight experience and helped ease nerves.
1930s: Romanticising in-flight dining
Dining areas got increasingly spacious, providing passengers with the freedom to move around and mingle while having their meals and for that reason, the 1930s were described as the "most romantic" era of air travel. Aircraft lounges were elaborately designed, accompanied with posh chinaware and white tablecloths.United Airlines set up the first dedicated in-flight catering kitchen. Based in Oakland, California, this initiative provided passengers with a choice of either scrambled eggs or fried chicken as the main course. At the same time, improvements in flight technologies and aircraft capabilities posed a new set of problems for meal service. Flying at higher altitudes meant that eggs took a longer time to cook, and bread would spoil much faster.
Pan Am is known to be the first airline to heat food in-flight, on board a Sikorsky S-42. The delivery of bigger aircraft like the Boeing 247s and Douglas DC-3s meant more space for hot stoves and fridges to be fitted on board. Such an upgrade of the flight experience was a way to differentiate themselves from competitors.
1940s: Rise of the pre-packed meal
New aircraft built after the end of World War II were more advanced than those of the early 1940s, but food heating and service technology had not quite caught up. However, passengers came to expect food to be served on almost every flight, even on ultra short-haul ones between nearby cities. One Eastern Airline flight crew recalled having to serve sandwiches and drinks within the twenty-minute flight between Washington DC to Richmond, Virginia.WWII US Navy veteran and founder of the W. L. Maxson Corporation William Maxson introduced the idea of heating up frozen food in-flight, parallel to the post-war surge in the development of refrigerators. His famous 'sky plate' was first meant as an option for naval troops to have hot meals, but soon found its way into Pan Am as a legitimate way of serving pre-made food. Pan-Am started serving pre-made frozen meals, which in turn inspired the TV dinners sold in American supermarkets, and these are still offered today in modern-day commercial flights for economy class. The service of frozen food was well-received and encouraged by airline management, since it greatly reduced food waste when flights were cancelled.
In 1946, the number of flyers increased to the point where flight attendants had to serve twice the number of passengers in two-thirds the amount of time. There was increasing pressure to serve food fast during meal service as flight times gradually became shorter. Passengers were expected to consume their meals quickly, especially when tray tables had to be stowed for landing.
1950s: Class differentiation and the flight attendant as familiar icon
The cabin galley began to develop, and passengers came to expect their meals to be served from the back of the aircraft. Newer jetliners had at least three galleys, with at least one serving each travel class. Airlines would sometimes offer special menus on special occasions. For example, when the British royal family came to Australia in 1954, Qantas passengers were served fish topped with hollandaise sauce and lamb cutlets paired with potatoes.In 1958, the International Air Transport Association officially recognised economy as a distinct travel class. This gave rise to what is known as the 'sandwich war', where IATA issued an agreement with airlines that they were only allowed to serve simple and low-cost food in economy class. European and North American airlines interpreted this ruling differently, the latter serving conventional sandwiches, while the former group of airlines offered more elaborate open faced sandwiches, featuring expensive ingredients like asparagus and ox tongue. After rounds of meetings and negotiations, IATA ruled that sandwiches should not be overly elaborate, and should look more like what airlines in the US serve. Eventually, airlines did begin serving higher-quality food to economy class passengers due to increased competition.
The 1950s was also a decade where the female flight attendant began to be seen as an icon of air travel, particularly through the imagery of flight attendants as 'waitresses in the air'. Japan Airlines would serve American dishes such as roast chicken and pineapple salad, alongside a few 'exotic' Japanese foods on board their Tokyo-San Francisco route. The decision to serve American style meals was made by JAL's upper management in order to cater to the tastes of foreign passengers.
1960s: Rapid industrialisation
As jets began to fly at higher altitudes, in-flight meal caterers faced the problem of decreased taste bud sensitivity amongst passengers. The low humidity in cabins would affect passengers' sense of smell, thus affecting ability to taste. Thus, menus with stronger tasting food and beverages had to be devised and served. Cheaper wines were found to be tastier than more expensive varieties when consumed at cruising altitude.Cathay Pacific was one of the first international airlines to pivot from solely serving traditional cuisines, which were long seen as comfort food for the stress and unfamiliarity of travel. The airline had shark fin soup, kangaroo tail soup and even flaming baked Alaska on its menu. Aviation observers note that Cathay might have had the liberty to make this decision due to its non-membership in the IATA. Regardless, the Hong Kong carrier has since stopped serving and shipping shark fin on board their flights.
In 1969, the Boeing 747 jetliner was introduced to commercial aviation. 362 passengers were serviced by a total of six galleys. Rolling carts also made their maiden appearance— and although these carts were first thought to increase the efficiency of meal service, the increased number of passengers meant that there was no significant decrease in meal service times.
Rapid industrialisation also forced airlines to come up with strategies to serve the most number of passengers in the shortest possible time. Economy classes across the board switched from glassware to plastic to minimise the need for washing and cleaning, while smaller, bite-size food like sandwiches were frequently served so that passengers would finish their meals quicker.
1970s: Budget offerings, celebrity chefs and transnational foodways
In the 1970s, business class started to be seen as a travel class of its own, with airlines often adopting unique sets of cutlery and plating services to distinguish it from economy class. At the same time, budget airlines began to increase in popularity as a low-cost travel option. Meals were usually not served unless pre-ordered and paid for, although packets of peanuts would usually be distributed to passengers. Southwest Airlines started this practice of serving peanuts mid-flight, although the budget carrier removed this option in 2018, after concerns over peanuts being an allergen surfaced.Air France and British Airways were well known for their lavish first class offerings, with caviar, foie gras and champagnes being the norm to be served. Both airlines operated the Concorde supersonic airliner where passengers received menus created by celebrity chefs with 3-6 courses including lobster and truffles served upon Damask table linen with Wedgewood and/or Royal Dalton china, paired with a wine selection from the airline's 12,000-bottle wine cellar. Thanks to the near-lack of turbulence at the heights that Concorde operated, “flight attendants could balance trays with 15 glasses and walk along the 16-inch-wide aisle without a ripple”. The meal service upon Concorde along with the faster trip justified the high ticket prices as well as offsetting the tight legroom and limited permitted luggage that passengers were afforded on Concorde.
The spread of transitional trade enabled in-flight caterers to streamline their food production facilities. Ingredients from different parts of the world would be flown into a centralised kitchen for cooking and packing, then transported to another city and loaded on board an outbound flight. Pan Am was one such airline, with kitchens in resource-rich cities like New York, San Francisco, and Tokyo.
In 1973, French airline Union de Transports Aériens became the first air carrier to engage a chef to improve their in-flight menu. French chef Raymond Oliver was tasked by the airline to overhaul their menus in light of the altered taste buds at high altitudes. Oliver increased the amount of salt, sugar and oil used in their recipes, resulting in an almost immediate improvement in taste.