6 Reasons Why Airplane Food Tastes Different

[Music] security screening done passport control check a cup of coffee a magazine from the duty-free store and a short line later I'm finally on board to play now just let me buckle my seatbelt live through the takeoff and some 40 minutes later I hear my favorite phrase in the world chicken or fish but it seems that the question really is to eat or not to eat I've got to admit I'm a huge fan of airplane food but you see my best friend isn't you can't imagine all the times we argue to ourselves hoarse about the quality and taste airline food honestly one day it started grading on my nerves and I decided to find out everything I could about the meals on airplanes it turns out that airline companies plan all their meals up to a year in advance and when I say plan I mean they count every single cherry tomato that you'll later find in your salad you've probably heard that famous story when American Airlines managed to save forty thousand dollars after they removed an itsy-bitsy olive from each salad on their flights yep it's all about the right planning and if you think airplane food is just some frozen stuff cooked months in advance think again wait wait don't say anything yet let me finish naturally the food isn't prepared on the plane either because there's literally no space to do it onboard besides there are particular safety standards that most likely don't include sharp knives and open fire mm-hmm nope airplane food is prepared on the ground not far from the airport large airline catering companies such as LSG sky chefs can produce a whopping 15,000 bread rolls an hour and more than 30,000 sandwiches a day and mind you they'd work 24 hours a day 365 days a year what's even more unexpected for us simple passengers is that most dishes are prepared by hand even though some processes are automated for example they say LSG sky chefs Frankfurt hire 2,000 five employees who cook eighty five thousand five hundred meals a day also the meals get refreshed all the time according to modern food trends at the same time your airplane food isn't exactly super fresh typically your meal gets prepared ten hours before you take that first bite but you wouldn't be able to eat this food right after it's been cooked on the ground the trick is that let's say chicken usually leaves the kitchen only 60% done and steak just 30% ready after that all the food gets chilled in special fridges and transported to the plane in a peculiar state not completely frozen but not edible either and the final stage of hot dish preparation happens on board interestingly the people responsible for creating meals usually test the dishes that are about to appear on the menu right up in the air well there's a serious reason for that when you're on the plane your nose gets dry because of low humidity this along with the pressure change during takeoff and even the constant noise from jet engines makes your taste buds not as perceptive as they are on the ground in other words you perceive no more than 30% of the taste of your food that's why chefs had to add extra ingredients such as extra spice extra salt extra sugar to all the dishes they cook so remember those chicken wings you are eating on your last flight they would set your mouth on fire a few munched on them in the terminal but let's get back to our trays with airplane food if they can't board right away the meals wait in their own gate lounge it's not unlike your lounge but freezing cold and resembling a massive refrigerator then everything depends on whether the plane is ready to leave on time if there's a delay which is announced in advance the food just stays in its fridge lounge but what if it's already been delivered on board in most cases if the delay is too long the airlines just dump the load and ask the catering company for a replacement shipment oh my what a waste but I must admit better that than getting food poisoning mid-flight so let's say the plane leaves on time takeoff goes smoothly and several hundred passengers follow the flight attendants with hungry eyes no pun intended that's the cabin crews clue that it's time to reheat the meals no they don't shove food trays into microwaves probably because there are no microwaves onboard instead they use convection ovens with fans that blow hot air onto the meals it helps to prepare the food pretty fast in about 20 minutes while your food is steaming in the oven emitting mouth-watering smells it's time for drinks now I never ever drink tomato juice on the ground guess it's not my cup of tea ha ha but in flight hole boy give me two or better three and look at all those people who all of a sudden decide to share my newly found love for tomato juice disappointingly there's no mystery here as you remember in the dry air plain air your sinuses get bogged up and as a result you start to crave salty and acidic stuff eventually you get your food and bite into your meal after you finish there are still some cookies left on the tray but you're so stuffed you decide to leave them after all they're unopened and surely the airline will be able to serve them on another flight unfortunately it's against the law to reuse anything a passenger has add on their meal tray it may lead to spreading disease and airline companies don't want to take chances that's why your cookies are going to be vacuumed into a special underground room and burn to avoid such unnecessary waste share the cookies with your neighbors or hide them in your carry-on that chomp on later on the other hand it was a great surprise for me to find out that all the dishes I eat from during the flight even the plastic ones are reusable the same catering companies that prepare food for airlines also have huge dishwashing areas where they wash and sanitize plates cups and cutlery interestingly every plane has three sets of tableware one is used on board the aircraft the second is in the dishwasher and the third set is always ready to replace the stuff that has not been lost or broken and now last but not least I want to warn you about one thing airline state that the water they used to make hot drinks is safe to drink and meets all necessary regulations but the fact is that the water tanks on planes often become a playground for all kinds of bacteria for example when the Environmental Protection Agency tested water taken from about 300 aircraft back in 2004 the researchers discovered that 15% of all the samples contained coliform bacteria and since these bacteria are often found in feces they are typically used to determine how sanitary the water is it goes without saying that nowadays after new stricter rules and regulations have been introduced the situation has significantly improved but still from time to time routine checks prove that the quality of water on commercial airplanes is still an issue if you're still worried boiling the water should destroy all the pathogens that could be in it but as they say better safe than sorry that's why I always try to get my daily portion of caffeine in the terminal before the flight do you like in-flight meals or do you prefer to bring your own food onboard the play let me know down in the comments if you learn something new today then give this video a like and share it with a friend stay on the bright side of life

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Views: 554,474

Rating: 4.8530488 out of 5

Keywords: planes, airplane, airports, onboard, traveling by plane, travelling, flight delay, flight rules, air travel, how airports work, airline secrets, traveling, airplane food, how airplane food is made, airline meals, airline food, in-flight meals

Id: pY3np5iQ-r0

Length: 8min 8sec (488 seconds)

Published: Thu May 16 2019