Sushi sampler among in-flight meal items
Recently, while visiting Houston, Texas, I enjoyed an in-flight meal. That probably sounds like an oxymoron, since most in-flight meals are a few steaks short of enjoyable. But this one consisted of eight courses.
The first course was a sushi sampler. A soup course followed with a choice of seafood bisque or essence of morel. Then came the hot canapés which included grilled shrimp, beef empanada and chicken tandoori. The salad was a mesclun mix with a Champagne vinaigrette. The main course featured a sampling of seafood, poultry and beef dishes which included herb-crusted halibut with a tomato and olive ragout, breast of chicken wrapped in bresaola and mozzarella and served with mushroom ravioli in a pesto sauce and a churrasco grilled tenderloin steak covered with a chimichurri sauce. And then there was the fruit and cheese course, the choice of ice cream sundaes and warm fruit cobbler for dessert. We topped it off with petite sweets served with coffee, tea and espresso.
The airline paired the courses with a variety of wines and Champagnes. Needless to say, we were all flying high. But before you think I was hallucinating and suffering from oxygen deprivation, you should know this flight never left the ground. We were visiting Continental Airlines in-flight kitchens and sampling their BusinessFirst menu - their entire menu, which means our meal lasted longer than most flights.
In the glory days of flying, most of the carriers had their own kitchens or personal caterers. Pan American bragged Maxim's of Paris cooked their meals. And a Trans World Airlines ad featured a flight attendant serving a gourmet meal arranged on a linen-lined tray. The headline read, "Where on earth could you find such service?"
Today, that kind of service is pretty much pie in the sky. On most airlines, you're lucky to receive a bag of pretzels in coach. And even first-class service is often scaled down to a simple snack. But not at Continental Airlines.
When the other carriers began tightening their belts, Continental began looking at their bottom line. Because they already owned Chelsea Food Services, which also caterers international carriers such as British Airways, Singapore Airlines and Japan Airlines, they decided it was more profitable to continue meal services than to eliminate them. Today, they maintain kitchens in Newark, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Denver.
According to one Continental spokesperson, the kitchens rotate 100 different menus every year. They annually also stock the planes with 55 million cans of sodas and juices, 3.5 million quarts of orange juice and 30 million bags of pretzels and peanuts.
And another chilling thought: The airline boards 45 million pounds of ice each year.
The menus are designed and coordinated by 22 food experts. This group includes celebrity sommeliers who choose and pair the wine for each service and four celebrity chefs: Roy Yamaguchi of Roy's Restaurant in Honolulu; Michael Cordua of Amazon Grill in Houston; James Conora, the "Chef to the Stars"; and Paul Minnillo of the Baricelli Inn in Cleveland. This group manages to cater 40 million meals annually. Apparently too many cooks don't always spoil the broth.
While passengers have become resigned to grabbing fast food on the fly, Continental may have the right idea. A hot meal might cool a hot temper and help build brand loyalty. At the moment, too many of the airlines aren't cooking anything except their own goose.
Gail Todd, a free-lance writer,worked as a flight attendant for more than 30years. She can be reached via e-mail at gailtodd@aol.com.