What’s the beef?

“We’re confident vegetarians, flexitarians and dedicated meat lovers alike will enjoy the delicious taste of the Impossible Burger,” Air New Zealand’s Inflight Customer Experience Manager Niki Chave says.

Delicious? Fascinating? A little bit too Soylent Green? Whether the idea of artificial, vegetarian meat tickles your tastebuds or turns your stomach, Air New Zealand is continuing to push the boundaries of inflight catering with an eye on the environment.

The airline has game here, having recently secured government approval to reuse sealed, untouched food service items rather than having to send them to landfill for biosecurity reasons — diverting more than 132 tonnes of rubbish in just nine months.

Yet Kiwi MPs remind us that few people lose in politics by taking the chance to bash their national airline, including Deputy (and, with leader Jacinda Ardern on maternity leave, currently Acting) Prime Minister Winston Peters.

MP and former minister for Primary Industries from the centre-right (and present opposition) National Party Nathan Guy says it is “disappointing to see Air NZ promoting a GE [genetically engineered] substitute meat burger on its flights to the USA. We produce the most delicious steaks & lamb on the planet – GMO & hormone free. The national carrier should be pushing our premium products and helping sell NZ to the world.”

Mark Patterson from the populist-nationalist New Zealand First party says “the national carrier should be showcasing our premium quality grass-fed New Zealand red meat, not promoting a product that has the potential to pose an existential threat to New Zealand’s second biggest export earner.”

The idea that Air New Zealand is not “helping sell NZ to the world” will seem ridiculous to anyone with even passing familiarity with the airline. Its aircraft even carry the official government-licensed FernMark — a partnership that was created when Nathan Guy was in government and that continues during the Labour-NZ First coalition.

Indeed, successive governments’ focus on environmental and nature-based tourism mean that eco-friendly initiatives like the meatless burger are well-placed marketing, especially given the context of criticism around agriculture-based pollution of the “100% Pure” New Zealand environment.

It’s even more eyebrow-raising to suggest that the carrier is not “pushing our premium products”. Air NZ features a huge range of products from Aotearoa, particularly on the food and drink side of things — with Kiwi brands like L&P, Verkerks, Cookie Time, Macs and Steinlager featuring on current menus throughout the aircraft.On the premium side especially, after 31 years of sponsoring national wine awards, the carrier pivoted this year towards the Fine Wines of New Zealand programme, now in its third year, and features a rotating selection of these award-winning labels in business class, alongside a wide range of NZ-produced food.

Indeed, the airline says it is the largest server of wine in New Zealand, and even the briefest glance at its wine lists will show that that it carries NZ wine almost exclusively on board, not to mention in its domestic and international lounges.

Air New Zealand isn’t even stopping serving meat alongside the meatless burger. The airline’s Niki Chave explains that “for those who want to stay with the tried and true it will sit alongside our regular selection of menu items prepared by our talented culinary team and consultant chefs.”

‘Air New Zealand isn’t even stopping serving meat alongside the meatless burger.’

Air New Zealand is between a rock and a hard place when it comes to politicians. Government part-ownership means MPs feel they have a licence to meddle, and rural and regional politicians always want more flights for their constituents, all in the context of the national carrier needing both to operate profitably and to be an ambassador from Aotearoa to the world.

Beef, however delicious we may (or may not) find it, has a high environmental impact, as does aviation. New technologies in the airline world, from composites and new cabin designs reducing weight to latest-generation engines improving efficiency, are helping to mitigate these impacts. On the soft product side, airlines are redesigning their passenger experience to carry only the items that really matter, and to reduce their footprints. Just as forward-thinking agricultural businesses should lead the way in developing lower environmental impact food options, airlines should be at the forefront of food technology and environmental advances — and not artificially constrained for political point-scoring.