Firstly, the gastronomic revolution. Air New Zealand is leading the way. It will install induction ovens on its new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to ensure freshly prepared food. They will even have in-flight wine tasting in the forward galley. (Just for the record an induction cooker uses a form of induction heating for cooking. It is chiefly distinguished from other common forms of stovetop cooking by the fact that the heat is generated directly in the cooking vessel, as opposed to being generated in the stovetop by electrical coils or burning gas).

Italy's Alitalia has taken Italian cuisine, literally, to new heights by being awarded the 'Best Airline Cuisine' by Global Traveler magazine readers. By rotating the menu every three months and including products authentic to particular Italian regions, coupled with linen, tableware and personal care items designed by top Italian designers (and Italy is definitely style city when it comes to design) Alitalia has elevated the best of one of the world's most popular cuisines to a new airline meal level.

Asian airlines have a long history of serving much more palatable cuisine than American and some, like Cathay Pacific, can actually make eggs to order, which was almost unheard of a few short years ago. Others, like Asiana Airlines of South Korea, often voted the best in the world, offer shaved truffles on the risotto and All Nippon Airlines of Japan offers an 'out of this world' Kaiseki meal, a traditional multicourse Japanese dinner. Many airlines now partner with famous restaurants or celebrity chefs for menu advice.

However, it is well established that the taste buds are less sensitive at 35,000 feet while travelling at 40C below zero at Mach 1 speed or just below, so chefs and menu designers must work harder to bring out the flavor of all food, not just the mass produced economy class food. For example on Delta, a large American airline, the consulting chef included in his menu balsamic cipollini onions with the roast chicken breast, blue cheese sauce with mascarpone mashed potatoes and cheese ravioli tossed with eggplant and artichoke caponata. Yummy.

Which is all well and good, but the simple fact is that airline food must endure several obstacles, not common in earth bound restaurants, that often gives it that blandness passengers complain about and every comedian since the start of commercial airline flights has made jokes about. (Believe it or not, the first commercial flight was a Russian Sikorsky Ilya Muromets airliner in 1913.)

Some of those obstacles? For example, meals fit on trays that must be easily stacked, so large or vertical foods like whole chickens or lamb shanks don't work. If there is turbulence and the crew must remain in their seats, the food may sit in a reheating oven longer than planned, so it dries out easily. After being cooked in the airline catering division, the food is blast chilled to around 38F degrees. The flight attendants have photos and large folders of notes and instructions on how to serve the reheated food.

'White Noise'

But what about that inexplicable blandness of airline food? Well, a recent study by Manchester University in United Kingdom found that the 'white noise' heard inside an aircraft's cabin, a random collection of sounds such as the muffled noise of aircraft engines, is capable of diminishing the taste of salt and sugar. This explains why airline food is 'improved' with extra salt, sugar and other flavourings.

The study confirmed that sound plays an important role in the perception of taste. One enterprising chef has exploited the trait in a specially designed seafood dish served to diners hooked up to iPods listening to the sound of surf crashing on a beach. The study even found that sounds affected how crunchy some types of food sounded to diners, which in turn affected their perceptions of freshness and palatability.

The study involved blindfolded diners assessing the sweetness, saltiness, crunchiness and overall flavour of the food as 'white noise' was played. While louder noise reduced the reported sweetness or saltiness, it increased the measure of crunch.

Finally, how hygienic are those airline galleys? You would think with all the movement of the food from preparation to packaging to reheating to serving that a few nasty bugs would creep in along the way. In the United States they are taking no chances with the Federal Department of Aviation [FDA] cracking down on unsanitary conditions at airline caterers. The FDA inspectors had found live cockroaches, ants and flies at a food preparation facility.

All a bit sobering. Maybe it is best to remember the wise lyrics of Stephen Sondheim, a famous American songwriter: "Anything that's gray, don't eat."

By Alastair Carthew, a Phuket based writer and communications advisor.
Tel: +66 (0)76 317929 Email: alastaircarthew@gmail.com