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Tasting the high life

Published: 25/11/2011 - Filed under: Archive » 2011 » December 2011 / January 2012 » Special reports » Features » Archive » 2011 » December 2011 / January 2012 » Features » Special Reports »

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Following on from her feature on economy food, Jenny Southan looks at how airlines are meeting the culinary demands of premium passengers.

If it wasn’t for the new TV drama Pan Am that began airing on BBC2 in November, the glorious Jet Age – with its glamorous stewardesses, cocktail swilling and lobster munching – would well and truly be dead and gone.

Nowadays, many of us have become so jaded by the experience of flying that it takes a lot to impress. This is especially true of the meals we are served in first and business class, where a return flight in a premium cabin can command a rate of up to £10,000, suggesting that champagne and caviar should be de rigueur. But was onboard dining really all that good in the 1970s, or are we being nostalgic?

A little investigation into the online archives of the Northwestern University Transportation Library reveals that passengers on board British Airways’ 1979 flight from London to Boston were tucking into historically themed dishes from the “Elizabethan Club”, with menus inscribed in Ye Olde English font.

“Capon puddynge after mistress Duffeld’s way – prepared from capon chickens minced and blended with ground pork, butter, chopped figs, ginger and cinnamon” was washed down with “Posset Sir Francis – a hotel beverage of milk flavoured with spices and fortified with liqueur.” (If in doubt as to whether this was more a case of novelty over quality, it can be noted that the diner scrawled on the back of the menu: “Excellent food.”)

Just over a decade ago, top-tier travellers flying New York to Paris on Concorde with Air France found the options to be rather more sophisticated. Brunch on AF1 kicked off with “petals of mango and kiwi garnished with red fruit”, followed by a choice of hot dishes such as “scrambled eggs with truffles and medallions of Maine lobster served with creamed wild morels”. But perhaps this kind of culinary adventure tailed off with the demise of supersonic flight.

For some airlines, advances in technology such as steam ovens, toasters and induction ovens – which can cook steaks to order, poach eggs and bake pizzas (standard convection ovens simply heat food) – have contributed to better grub. However, cost-cutting has meant few carriers can afford to upgrade their galleys. And many passengers grumble about the poor quality of ingredients used, a lack of variety and slap-dash presentation by overworked crews.

One businesstraveller.com forum poster notes that the issue of presentation often comes down to whether the meal was assembled at on-the-ground catering facilities, such as those of Gate Gourmet or LSG Sky Chefs, or plated on the aircraft itself. “Catering that arrives on the plane already plated – ie, meat, veg and sauce already in the dish – combined with a somewhat bumpy ride and a holding temperature of at least 60°C for what might be several hours before it lands on your tray table, is a more than adequate explanation for the fact that the dish isn’t presented at its best.”

However, some airlines are putting considerable effort into improving their onboard dining experience, seeing it as a way to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Robin Padgett, vice-president of aircraft catering for Emirates, says: “One of the easiest ways to save money is on catering but we have resisted that. The key to the success of our food is attention to detail, quality and being generous.” Linda Patrice Celestino, general manager of in-flight services in Oman Air’s commercial department, agrees: “[Catering] is not the first driver in customer decision-making in terms of who they are going to fly with, but we know it’s critical if they are going to decide to fly with us again.”

Part of the problem is that as seasoned travellers who are used to eating in top restaurants around the world, expectations among premium flyers are higher than ever. Not only this, but people have a better understanding of healthy living, so airlines have been forced to take into consideration the salt, fat and nutritional content of what they serve, as well as special dietary needs. Padgett says: “We are seeing trends evolve in eating fashions. More customers are demanding to know what goes into their food and the provenance of ingredients. We have introduced a healthy option in all premium cabins, as well as a calorie-counted main. We see this trend taking hold in the future.”

A spokesman for British Airways agrees: “Thinking about the effect air travel has on your body and mind has really landed with our customers. The amount of water we put on the plane today compared with 20 years ago is dramatically different. We used to load our bars full of spirits but these have been massively reduced because most comes back untouched.”

BA’s premium food offering has also changed. The spokesman says: “Grand lobster dishes are just too complicated and people don’t want them – we have moved away from that. The approach that we have been taking is to remain true to what we know people like – comfort food, but comfort food that is not stodgy or bad for you. That said, there do have to be a few little indulgences – there would be anarchy if we took bacon rolls out of first class. The bottom line is that you are at 35,000 feet, and recreating all aspects of fine dining is not something customers want.”

Still, even if passengers don’t order the more extravagant dishes, they still like to know they can if they want to. It’s about fulfilling expectations – high-paying passengers want to see what is available to them, and know why business is better than economy, and first better than business.

Emirates’ Padgett describes the thinking behind its catering: “In business class, it is about being able to select from a wider range of options – so great cheeseboards, exciting starters, a range of desserts. Then, as you get into first class, it’s about adding that luxury. We serve Iranian caviar, for example. It’s about those lavish touches – that it’s not just any old caviar, it’s Iranian; that it’s not just any champagne, it’s vintage Dom Pérignon.”

In today’s celebrity-obsessed culture, it is not surprising to see airlines hurrying to associate themselves with well-known chefs. In October, Etihad began offering first class passengers “five-star restaurant-quality” meals cooked à la carte by onboard chefs trained by award-winning Dutch gourmand Thomas Ulherr. South African Airways teamed up with a renowned local chef, Reuben Riffle, in the autumn “to prepare some of his signature dishes for business class customers”. And in June, Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways introduced new meal options by respected homegrown chefs Yuji Wakiya and Masayasu Yonemura, which are available in business class on flights to Europe, North America and select Asian destinations.

Lufthansa’s “Star Chefs” programme, which offers in-flight dishes created by famous chefs for long-haul first and business passengers on a two-monthly rotating basis, has been running for 11 years, but Singapore Airlines (SIA) was one of the first – launching its “Book the Cook” service for first and business passengers in 1998. The online system allows passengers to request a dish such as “grilled scallops with dill pesto, black ink gnocchi with tomato salsa and saffron fennel” up to 24 hours in advance, from a menu created by a panel of culinary experts. Hermann Freidanck, food and beverage manager for SIA, says: “There has been a distinct move away from eating a lot towards eating quality food instead.”

Airlines are also teaming up with restaurants on the ground. Estonian Air launched its “Sky restaurant” in September, with business passengers given a taste of recipes such as “coq au vin with curry rice” created by the chef de cuisines of eateries such as Tallinn’s Gloria, Dominic and Stenhus. Cathay Pacific also launched a promotion in the autumn in conjunction with Swire Hotels’ restaurants – until the end of January, business and first class customers will be able to try the likes of “braised short rib of beef with soft polenta” from the Michelin-starred Café Gray Deluxe in Hong Kong.

British Airways’ collaboration with the Willy Wonka of gastronomy, Heston Blumenthal, and Michelin-starred chef Simon Hulstone, will see special long-haul meals created in celebration of the 2012 Olympics (for more on how the event will affect business travel, see page 32). The “bold British menu” will be offered in Club World and First cabins from May to September (as well as in economy and premium economy), although passengers will have to wait until the official unveiling in March to find out what they will be tucking into.

According to Heidi Niemenlehto-Jarvinen, manager of in-flight product and development at Finnair, pre-ordering food will become more commonplace. “We should have more choices available but this is the hardest thing to do in the air, so we decided to open a pre-ordered meal service for our intercontinental business class customers. I believe more customers are ready to make their decision before their flight.” Since March 2011, those booking business seats on the Finnish carrier have been able to choose from three different menus – “Wellness and Energy”, “Food Lover’s Treat” and “Chef’s Gourmet”.

Oman Air has a different approach. Celestino says: “With an à la carte menu, you have many variables for customers to choose from – we have some business customers who eat everything and others who might decide that a glass of champagne is all they want. But this means we have to make sure everybody in our premium cabins has the choice of everything.”

For Air New Zealand (ANZ), which has cutting-edge equipment such as induction ovens in its B777s, the concern is to provide restaurant-quality food all the time. Matt Cooper, its international airline product and service manager, says: “Our menus are designed by our culinary standards team in conjunction with our three consultant chefs – Peter Gordon, Rex Morgan and Geoff Scott. The menus are then put through a workshop process with the airline caterers in each port to understand any special requirements, such as local availability of various ingredients.”

Dishes include the likes of “seared New Zealand lamb loin with Lyonnaise potatoes and minted crushed peas” and “chunky vegetable and tofu coconut curry with spinach and coriander green rice”. Each is crafted by an onboard chef and presented on white china.

In all likelihood, many more airlines will plate up premium meals on board, rather than in a factory, in the years to come. Oman Air already does it. Celestino says: “Our business and first class menus have a lot of items that are not cooked, or only part-cooked, on the ground. Premium cabins give us the flexibility to have more dedicated crew per customer and the equipment we need in the galley.”

Reassuringly, with all the evidence pointing towards continued demand for good food, the best may be yet to come. Celestino says: “Being able to offer Loch Fyne salmon from Scotland and Osetra caviar from Paris is going to increase costs but we believe that the value it adds for the customer is worth it. Once you add award-winning wines and champagnes, as we have done, the cost obviously increases but so does passenger appreciation.”

Emirates’ Padgett agrees that food remains as important today as ever: “There is a cultural element with where we are from – food is incredibly important for the Gulf Arabs. If you are entertaining someone, you have to be generous with the food and probably the rudest thing you could do in an Arab household is not have enough food and for people to finish their plates. We want people getting off the plane thinking: ‘Wow, that was so much, that was fab.’”

To read about the future of economy class food, see “The bite back”.

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