When comfort food flies first class

BA’s chef team promises that the three cuts of British beef (chuck, cheek and onglet) will keep the burger moist and tasty in the dry cabin atmosphere.

The more flavourful, juicier cuts are a good start, since a bit of char on the burger will create umami-rich flavour compounds via the Maillard reaction.

Umami is the rich taste familiar in foods like vegemite, parmesan and soya sauce, and unlike the other four basic tastes – sweet, sour, salty and bitter – it isn’t affected by the drier, thinner air of aircraft cabins.

British Airways’ 2011 research with TV molecular cuisine chef Heston Blumenthal led to the amusingly named “Height Cuisine” initiative to bring more umami-rich dishes to airline meals, including a well-received cottage pie in economy. Fingers crossed the BA brioche bun doesn’t dry out – one of the other key problems for dining at 38,000ft.

“Burgers are experiencing a renaissance right now, with pop-up burger bars and food trucks opening in all the major cities. Burgers are the ultimate tasty satisfying treat and ‘comfort food’ we crave when flying,” British Airways chef Mark Tazzioli argues.

Delta passengers within the US have certainly been raving about the airline’s burgers in economy, which come served separately in a tray, leaving you to assemble the bun, beef, cheese, lettuce, tomato and sauces separately (handy both to avoid an unappetising mess and to let you make it just how you like it).

But do the crème de la crème want comfort food in the caviar-andchampagne havens of first class? Or should airlines aim higher with less height cuisine and more haute cuisine? Qantas’s menus try to tick both boxes, with first class passengers to the US offered both the Red Roo’s signature steak sandwich and a seven-course dégustation that starts off with spanner crab and harissa tartlet plus an Ibérico jamón crostini with date and ricotta.

Lufthansa’s first class is known for its caviar service and off-the-wall food combinations (cherry gazpacho? salt cod salad with oranges, olives and sherry dressing? crab cake with avocado and marinated watermelon?).

Yet not all its passengers (notably people flying to and from the US) have been thrilled by having a gastronomic experience instead of dinner. So Lufthansa has introduced slightly less adventuresome first class options, like pasta stuffed with artichokes, and smoked grilled beef fillet.

The passenger experience trick is, of course, to provide posher options for passengers who want them, while remaining approachable and familiar

That importance of selecting food to emphasise an airline’s brand extends down the back of the plane too.

for those who don’t – yet ideally retaining signature items that say “you’re flying us”. And that importance of selecting food to emphasise an airline’s brand extends down the back of the plane too.

Qantas’s hot chocolate services, Air New Zealand’s Lemon and Paeroa fizzy drinks, and the chance of vegemite for breakfast or a Tim Tam in the middle of the night all bring the warm fuzzies out no matter where you’re sitting.

Arabic mezze like hummus and tabouleh that urbanites worldwide will recognise, plus a few unusual yet effective options like south Asian curries, make Emirates’ food respected even in economy.

Economy might be where the food offering is most important, since it’s not just food – it’s entertainment too, which is especially important if you’re sitting in the same position for the best part of a day. Opening up little sachets of this and packets of that and a tiny tub of the other makes us put down our book as the hero is in peril, pause our film just at the exciting bit or wake up from a deep snooze as the trolley tinkles down the aisle.

Australian inflight food guru Nik Loukas always starts off discussions of inflight dining by asking what you ate for your last airline meal, and then asking what you had for lunch last Thursday. Most people can remember the former but not the latter, no matter where they sat on board. It’s that sense of place and time and dining as an experience – as a passenger experience – that makes what you eat on the plane so important.