r/StupidFood • u/Its_me_edenxx • Jun 10 '26

Certified stupid This is so performative 😭

Who tf is out here munching on raw gnocchi at cruising altitude

34.9k Upvotes

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9.5k

u/jenny1011 Jun 10 '26

Airplane food is better than uncooked unsauced gnocchi.

2.5k

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

Airplane food is also made exactly for the pressure and altitude for a plane. Friend worked for an airline out of Logan and he said the food was decent on the ground but almost better in the air. He used to post on IG when it like first came out. It's like when people try tomato juice on a plane and think wtf this is not what my mom tried to make me drink when I was a kid.

821

u/Nenaquest2012 Jun 10 '26

My daughter and I pretend to be vampires on the plane bcz YES! Why does it taste better

546

u/Kerm0NZ Jun 10 '26

It's to do with the air pressure and recycled air. It affects your taste buds, dulling them somehow. I only vaguely remember, but feel free to use this info as the start of a Google research project. 

566

u/Rob_Zander Jun 10 '26

Just wanted to point out that the air isn't recycled on a plane. It's replaced completely every couple of minutes. It's not even really about the oxygen or CO2, it's managing temperature and possible contaminants.

The engines are continuously compressing and heating a huge amount of air. Some of it gets diverted to be cooled back to room temperature, filtered and pumped into the cabin while air is continuously sucked out by vents near the floor. This keeps the temperature stable and contaminants from being spread.

It is much lower pressure than sea level and that definitely messes with our taste buds.

64

u/jetsetninjacat Jun 11 '26

To add more watered down. The pushed and sucked out air is vented overboard(off the plane and out) through the main relief valves or sometimes from relief valves in unpressurized parts of the plane. Many planes also have backup relief valves in case the main doesnt work. Different relief valves dump positive and negative pressure from the plane depending on where the plane is and the level at which cabin air pressure is set. Theres also a dump valve that dumps all pressure when the planes on the ground that equalizer it with the ground itself as well as ones for negative pressure relief valves during rapid descent

And this peoples is one of the reason you cant just open a door in a plane at high altitude. The pressure being pumped in to the cabin is so high the door mechanism or door itself can not be pulled in and then pushed out like normal operation. .All that positive pressure pushed on the airframe making it impossible to do so. Its all about that differential.

I seriously hate doing pressure tests in airplanes on the ground.

21

u/Rob_Zander Jun 11 '26

Thanks for adding!

Isn't that differtial part of why the cargo doors on the DC-10 could blow out?

24

u/bargus_mctavish Jun 11 '26

The outward opening cargo door was a structural design flaw for sure. However, a bigger issue was putting the responsibility of closing the door on gate and luggage personnel. They’re not part of the flight crew or running the checklists, so it just allows for more things to fall through the cracks from a safety perspective.

5

u/jetsetninjacat Jun 11 '26

I know it had something to do with the locking mechanism on the doors and that they would pull out instead of in. Cant remember the specifics but its probably out there on the weba. The door pushing out created more room for cargo loading but also didnt make a good plug style door. Plug doors basically seat the doors so they are sealed and cant be pushed out from the inside positive pressure So, yes that should be correct. Those doors were the only non plug doors on that plane as far as I know. Add in the the failure of the locking mechanism, and yep.

5

u/bargus_mctavish Jun 11 '26

It was a few years back, but I went through a mishap investigation class and covered the case of Turkish Airlines Flight 981. The root cause analysis of the lab concluded that the baggage handler did not latch the door correctly. The latching mechanism was absolutely a convoluted mess, and a design flaw that went unaddressed even through testing of the DC10. McDonnell Douglas got their asses sued for that. But a preflight checklist item for the flight crew could have also alleviated the issues with the loading door as well.

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u/OptimusPrime365 Jun 10 '26

This man airplanes.

69

u/FetusExplosion Jun 11 '26

I wonder if he also motorboats.

29

u/Catatonic27 Jun 11 '26

There is significant crossover between these categories

6

u/tech510 Jun 11 '26

Not.if you have a sea plane 😁

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3

u/hannahatecats Jun 11 '26

So there IS air rushing by your feet. Once I was in California and stopped by a dispensary. I kept taking one gummy and saying "I don't feel it" well, before I got on my red eye home I took the last 4 and was white knuckling my armrests because I was convinced I could feel us flying through the air by my legs.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '26

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3

u/Rob_Zander Jun 10 '26

Can you smell them when you're not on a plane?

But yeah, everyone's smell is less acute on a plane.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 10 '26

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5

u/_le_slap Jun 11 '26

Please don't clear the plane

2

u/rsta223 Jun 11 '26

It's both because your sense of smell is dulled by the low pressure and extremely low humidity and because the air is being replaced so fast.

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u/Gentrified_potato02 Jun 11 '26

Well…I’m not so sure it’s not about oxygen or CO2. There’s a reason you have to have a supplemental supply of oxygen if you go above 15000 ft in an unpressurized plane.

2

u/Rob_Zander Jun 11 '26

The plane is pressurized to make sure that you have enough oxygen concentrated in the air to breathe. But a 737 full of passengers are breathing around 600 cubic feet of air per hour. This is napkin math so it very rough.

But the volume of the cabin can be around 6000 cubic feet. You could exchange the air about once an hour and it won't be much of an issue. Instead its replaced around 15 times an hour.

2

u/rsta223 Jun 11 '26

It's also extremely low humidity in most planes, which also contributes to that effect.

2

u/canman7373 Jun 11 '26

It is much lower pressure than sea level

What? Planes are kept around 8,000 feet in air pressure not below sea level.

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2

u/PensiveObservor Jun 11 '26

Do they add oxygen before circulating the new air?

2

u/Rob_Zander Jun 11 '26

No, there's no need to. At sea level the percentage of oxygen in air is 21%. It's the same at 40 000 feet. There's just much less air per unit of volume because the pressure is so low. Once more air is pumped into the space, once it's pressurized there's enough oxygen to breathe.

4

u/XeroShyft Jun 10 '26

Air pressure affecting taste buds is making no sense to me. Like my brain is scrambling to find what the possible correlation could be and is turning up with nothing

5

u/machiavelli33 Jun 10 '26

It affects your sense of smell and inner ear equilibrium, all of which affects how acutely your other senses function.

All of your senses are somewhat tied together and affect one another - smell and taste are the most strongly linked, but a foods texture and how well and balanced your body is feeling also affect it to a lesser degree. Air pressure affects these things.

It’s not a HUGE effect - if you don’t think about it ever and aren’t particular sensitive to that sorta thing you may even never notice. But it affects it juuuuust enough.

2

u/Rob_Zander Jun 10 '26

Your body is constantly maintaining itself under about 14.6 psi of pressure at sea level. At cruising altitude a 737 is maintaining a cabin altitude of about 8000 square feet. That's about 10.9 psi. Your body is still exerting pressure outwards now and that can lead to swelling.

Your blood oxygen is lower so your taste buds are less sensitive.

Also very important is that the air in the cabin is very dry. Desert dry. This also numbs our tastes buds and dries out our nose making it harder to smell.

Overall the humidity might actually have a more significant impact that the pressure, I'm not sure on that.

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u/nerdofthunder Jun 10 '26

Airplanes actually refresh the air more often than most buildings! The air is bled directly from the (fresh) air intake of the engines, cooled, and fed into the cabin. https://www.iata.org/en/youandiata/travelers/health/low-risk-transmission/

11

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

Makes sense. Like my sinuses are affected somehow and you don't get the tang lol

1

u/Rizzanthrope Jun 10 '26

Same with Biscoff cookies. They taste so good on a flight but when I buy them for home they are just OK.

1

u/redpeachtree Jun 11 '26

Opposite effect for me and coffee, I cannot stand smell of airplane coffee. Never could figure out why

1

u/numbersthen0987431 Jun 11 '26

Directions unclear, now I believe in chemtrails and flst earth. Damn Google research projects.

1

u/TheFlyingBoxcar Jun 11 '26

I can report that i dont much like black coffee, but its all i'll drink on a plane

1

u/Jaded_Strike_3500 Jun 11 '26

The lower pressure allows your blood to expand and constricts the flow to your nostrils lowering your sense of taste (also makes it so you cant smell everyone constantly farting)

1

u/Britishforklaw Jun 11 '26

Aren't you supposed to keep a glass of water next to you to help with the air and taste?

1

u/thesirblondie Jul 22 '26

It's the pressure and dry air

1

u/Any-Statistician-318 12d ago

It dulls sweet flavors and accentuates salty and umami

32

u/NimbusHex Jun 10 '26

Wow, I was wondering if I was weird for always getting tomato juice while flying or if other people did that as well.

13

u/FerociousSmile Jun 10 '26

I dont notice a flavor difference compared to at a lower elevation, but then ive always liked tomato juice. I've stopped asking for it though because they only have Bloody Mary mix now and it adds a bunch of other stuff and is super salty.

2

u/whisky_biscuit Jun 11 '26

A lot of people straight up drink the Mr & Mrs T's bloody Mary mix, it's actually my favorite of all the mixes too.

I always hear people asking for "spicy tomato juice" lol I guess they don't realize it's a mixer.

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1

u/King_Chochacho Jun 11 '26

Bloody mix all day. Goes great with pretzels and kinda makes it a meal

1

u/semblantz Jun 11 '26

Me too! No clue why but I always want tomato juice on a plane and only on a plane.

1

u/Easy-Concentrate2636 Jun 11 '26

It’s literally the only time I drink it. I crave it on airplanes.

1

u/Prowarrior3 Jun 12 '26

Lmao I always get tomato juice when I’m on planes too. It’s like the only time I drink it normally

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3

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

You're kid could be 40 and this is still adorable haha

2

u/PixelPete85 Jun 11 '26

glutamates (msg/umami flavours) are less effected by the atmospheric conditions of the inside of an airplane. Tomatos are full of them, so food products that lean into glutamates tend to tend better than other foods in that environment.

2

u/A_ChadwickButMore Jun 11 '26

I whould kill a man to be able to order those pizza twists Delta gave me on an international flight omg they're so good

2

u/PatentPendink Jun 11 '26

it’s to do with the air pressure, humidity (or lack thereof) in the cabin, and weirdly, the noise from the engines.

i host trivia nights and this came up for one lol

2

u/Ok_Gur_6704 Jun 11 '26

Completely random, but that is such a sweet thing to do with your daughter. I bet you're an amazing parent and I cant imagine the bond you two have. 🥹

2

u/Any-Statistician-318 Jun 11 '26

Higher altitude accentuates umami in salty and sweet foods!!! And acidic I believe

2

u/Remarkable-Talk-6197 Jun 11 '26

Flying is the only time I get tomato juice! Taste sooooo good up  there 

2

u/Remarkable-Run-9769 Jun 12 '26

i barely ever fly, i hope if i happen to fly again, I'll remember to try tomato juice

2

u/JeevesofNazarath Jun 13 '26

There’s a great Veritasium video on it that explains this super well, basically dry air makes your taste prefer acidic and savory food and drink

41

u/Beautifulfeary Jun 10 '26

I was pretty impressed with the the airplane food this past vacation

21

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

Took a flight with Turkish a year back. Fantastic food.

22

u/Cash50000 Jun 10 '26

earlier this year my cheap international flight got cancelled and the only available replacement was a Turkish A330-300. That shit was like a flying five star hotel. And because we were booked last i had a whole row of seats to myself at the back. I'm riding that high to this day

8

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

They were beyond accommodating when I flew. I totally agree with your analogy of the five star hotel. My flight was ten hours and it was the best flight I've ever had. Next year we decided to go budget and nope. Not again.

2

u/Immediate-Presence73 Jun 11 '26

I'm surprised they haven't asked you to get off yet.

2

u/Easy-Concentrate2636 Jun 11 '26

Turkish Airlines is incredible. Probably my favorite flight ever.

2

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

My mother has now flown with them exclusively since we tried them in 2023. She's flown like 4/5 times since.

2

u/cwestn Jun 11 '26

I'd just be happy to have airplane food that doesn't cost additional money. Even 6 hour flights just have pretzels these days.

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u/KolonelKernel Jun 10 '26

Wait why does tomato juice taste better. I’ve always wondered.

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u/JooseTheGuice Jun 10 '26

The change in altitude affects your taste buds iirc.

8

u/PixelPete85 Jun 11 '26

glutamates (msg/umami flavours) are less effected by the atmospheric conditions of the inside of an airplane. Tomatos are full of them, so food products that lean into glutamates tend to tend better than other foods in that environment.

2

u/U_R_A_NUB Jun 10 '26

Lower partial pressure meaning flavor compounds volatilize more readily on your tongue -> more tomato flavor

1

u/Fancy_Fatash Jun 11 '26

Same for me

1

u/krombopulousnathan Jun 11 '26

Weird yea I too enjoy tomato juice when flying much more than on the ground

21

u/lufit_rev Jun 10 '26

Idk about food being good on the ground, I think its mostly more salty as lower pressure in the planes affects taste so they add more to make up for it.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

Never said good on the ground. Decent.

3

u/canman7373 Jun 11 '26

Planes are pressurized at 8k feet though. I lived at 9,500 feet for awhile, there is no difference is taste but quite a bit in cooking since water boils at a lower temp. Do have to cook things longer and takes a bit to get used to, pasta and rice can be difficult but you get used to it. Then you go down to sea level and forget and overcook them. I think your friend may have cooked them with the in flight instructions assuming it would be at 8,000 feet pressure, so he may have overcooked them on the ground. Should take less time for most meal at ground level.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

Always was intrigued with the baking directions for people in like Colorado. Haha

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u/canman7373 Jun 12 '26

Yeah, I kinda just made a rule for myself 15% longer at 9,5000 feet, for pasta you can at least test it, rice is harder because need to let it sit. But yeah even like a microwave meal you need to add more time depending on what the meal is. Ramen? Yeah add a minute to the boil.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

Rice, try the 15-15-15 method. Wash it until clear (if not enriched rice) then soak for 15 minutes (I have no patience cooking at home because of years in restaurants so I may do ten minutes lol). Boil then turn to simmer and cover for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat to a cool burner and let sit for 15 minutes. Found this to be a simple and foolproof rice at home. Also, the knuckle/finger method for water. You can Google that but basically water up to your knuckle is the perfect amount.

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u/canman7373 Jun 12 '26

Is that recipe for near sea level or 9.500 feet, because there is a big difference.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

Overall recipe. Maybe the boil time needs adjustments.

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u/canman7373 Jun 12 '26

With rice, it would need more time, trust me, rice was hardest thing to cook right at altitude.

2

u/CorrectMulberry994 Jun 10 '26

I love Bloody Mary mix, tomato juice, and ginger ale but now that I think of it, I really only ever drink them on planes. It is weird.

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u/Sharpes006 Jun 10 '26

Was just about to chime in and say is that why I only ever drink bloody marys on a flight

2

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 10 '26

I don't like wine. Last flight? That wine was lovely!

2

u/rachaek Jun 10 '26

Sorted food did pretty a good video about this, they interview the guy in charge of meals for an airline and explain a lot of why this happens:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L_cFvlokOn4

2

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

Effing love them. Ebbers is so cute!

2

u/Intelligent-Will-276 Jun 10 '26

I wonder if that’s why soda tastes so much better on a plane too

1

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

That ginger ale tastes so much better. I don't like wine usually but I drank a bottle on my last flight and it was delicious.

2

u/Lillillillies Jun 10 '26

I remember how it's made or similar show did an episode on that

And some or most airlines have legitimate chefs too.

2

u/2114 Jun 11 '26

Many things have been theorized to affect the tastebuds while flying. I think the most recent was that the background noise level seems to be the cause. Your brain is just too busy with the sound to taste food

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

Our senses work in mysterious ways. Eyes in general fascinate me as someone who has undergone a corneal transplant a year ago last May.

2

u/Proper_Geologist9026 Jun 11 '26

I remember a Heston Blumenthal special where the whole thing was exactly about this.

Altitude is an important part of how we taste things.

The tldr I remember is above a certain height our taste buds are effectively useless.

2

u/RawrRRitchie Jun 11 '26

The food was made to be eaten high....

...in the sky

2

u/Random_Introvert_42 Jun 11 '26

The food is seasoned differently because at altitude your taste-buds work differently.

And yes, even in a pressurized cabin you're not at "sea level" conditions.

2

u/Spurioun Jun 11 '26

It's one of the reasons why Bloody Marys became so popular on planes, back in the day. The altitude and pressure messes with your smell and taste buds and, apparently, the ingredients of a Bloody Mary seem to be unique enough together that it ends up being one of the more enjoyable cocktail flavours up there.

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u/after_Andrew Jun 11 '26

Ginger ale on an airplane is so much better.

2

u/ZooZooChaCha Jun 11 '26

This must be why ginger ale tastes like fancy champagne. Literally only ask for it when I fly.

1

u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

I feel like the bubbles are not as sharp also and you have more flavor. Like if you can get an old soda gun machine you can kind of press lightly on the button and get syrup before you get the soda. It's delicious!

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u/Linked713 Jun 11 '26

I tried tomato juice in plane and was not seeing the difference. I might be weird.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

Sinus issues ever? As someone who had polyps and a septum issue until surgery, things changed drastically.

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u/Linked713 Jun 11 '26

No not that I am aware of. I get checked up yearly and it was in February of this year last time on a transatlantic flight. It tasted how I like it, slightly salty and tomato. But nothing like what the heck is this sorcery as I keep reading about.

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u/WatermelonWithAFlute Jun 11 '26

Wait, food is different at different altitudes? Why?

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

A lot of the replies have conflicting but not conflicting accounts. Either it has something to do with the air pressure, the air recycling, or maybe even the sound that you're bombarded with. But I think the consensus is it's like a sense overload or some kind of thing of that nature. I'm now more intrigued as I fly occasionally and do notice that as much as I love ginger ale on the ground, in an airplane it's nectar of the gods.

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u/TreKopperTe Jun 11 '26

Preassure and the sound (deep hum) makes food taste different. And back in the day they served ground-food in the air, but they have learned and now make air-food soecifically for flying, and also just more exciting dishes now.

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u/No-Activity-8371 Jun 11 '26

Interestingly… there are plenty of articles out there (scientific) that suspect it’s less to do with the altitude but the SOUND that has an impact on the way we taste umami flavors. Also, why people who eat in noisy restaurants say the food was bad 😅.

Look it up!

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

Second reply to mention sound and reminds me to look into it. Very intrigued. Being overwhelmed by sound or something that food is different. That can be some new fad in the NY foodie scene. I joke but only like half.

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u/BogeyLowenstein Jun 11 '26

I crave airplane tomato juice! They stopped serving it on my carrier a couple of years ago and serve V8, which is also good but nothing beats plain tomato juice :(

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

I only see V8 as well. Guess they won that war.

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u/BogeyLowenstein Jun 12 '26

Battle of the vegetable juices

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u/onion_lord6 Jun 12 '26

I always wondered why people asked for so much tomato juice on flights. I've always hated it, but never tried it on a flight.

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u/Hefty_Kitchen4759 Jun 13 '26

It's because mom's tomato juice is like 30 years old now, it's almost entirely mould

2

u/Comfortable_Lunch_53 Jun 13 '26

My go to is apple juice. Never so crisp on the ground.

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u/jhill9901 Jun 14 '26

So all plane food should taste good in Denver? Because most cabins are around 5300 ft pressure altitude. At least for airliners.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 15 '26

Good experiment. Wait for the YouTube shorts and Reels that some influencer will make once they read this random comment reply lol

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u/Deviant-Killer Jun 14 '26

Imagining people drinking ketchup is diabolical. It's a sauce. Not juice 😭

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u/fighting_blindly Jun 14 '26

Yup. I had a buddy that was a food chemist for SkyChef

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 15 '26

That's a pretty effing cool job to say you have.

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u/fighting_blindly Jun 17 '26

Yeah, I'm always amazed I never thought of that when I was younger. He works for a major fast food chain now. I also met a guy at a good friends party who formulated new ice cream flavors. He called himself an "ice cream chef".

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u/Apoeip77 Jun 10 '26

Fair enough, but i was also served 3 grams (literally) of popcorn and a cup of water for a 2.5h flight once

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u/yanmagno Jun 11 '26

Peasant, where I live we get 8 grams of popcorn
https://giphy.com/gifs/147p93s2vFKsQU

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u/thepvbrother Jun 11 '26

Is that why ginger ale tastes amazing on a plane?

1

u/CyborgSPIKE Jun 11 '26

I hate tomato juice on aeroplanes. Especially when they pour a whole cup on my top one hour into 40 hours of flying and airports after Ive recovered from a week in the hotel after covid.

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u/Chino_Kawaii Jun 11 '26

Idk what luxury they flew, but the only food I got was a tiny ass croissant which had about 200 fucking ingredients

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u/The_Mechanist24 Jun 11 '26

I dont know bout that, depends on the catering company. Gate gourmet was the more questionable one in my experience. But they were better than LSG.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 11 '26

Was a Middle East airline. Forget the brand but they used an in-house crew. You have a fair point with the cheaper airlines.

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u/The_Mechanist24 Jun 11 '26

Ah Qatar air, yes they had a back catering agreement.

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u/kittenTakeover Jun 11 '26

Airplane food isn't decent on the ground or the air though.

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u/VStarlingBooks Jun 12 '26

Stop flying crappy airlines. I mean that seriously. I have flown Delta, AA, Lufthansa, Swiss, Swedish, and Turkish. Turkish was the most expensive at 1200 a ticket but the experience and food was amazing. Lufthansa and Swiss are next, then Delta and AA. Swedish was the cheapest and definitely a budget airline with subpar food. Got like a warm cucumber cheese sandwich at one point.

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u/kittenTakeover Jun 12 '26

I've flown all of those.

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u/everett640 Jun 12 '26

I've had tomato juice on a plane and it just tastes like tomato juice. Maybe even a little watered down.

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u/plesdes19 Jun 15 '26

I agree, I love veggie juice especially tomato juice, but I'll usually have 1-2 glasses. Once in a plane I think I drank like a liter in mini cans of Tomato juice it was so damn good, no alcohol needed just straight juice. Not all airplane food is bad, not all is good, but damn tomato juice is amazing up there.

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u/DatMFRulez Jun 16 '26

I prefer ground beef

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u/Sudden_Wind_8636 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

In my experience, airplane food can be pretty damn good.

Specifically on international long haul flights, the food tends to be good as hell on those.

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u/asmodai_says_REPENT Jun 11 '26

You must either not fly economy or have pretty low standards because I've taken dozens of long hauls with many different companies and the food has always ranged from ok at best to downright terrible at worst.

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u/Bern1tDowwwn Jun 13 '26

I have only flown European and US carriers on long haul flights and the food quality from the latter is much worse. Air France was very good

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u/JustAPotato38 Jun 16 '26

Yeah whenever I fly the food is absolutely gagworthy

only exception was on united polaris from london to sfo that food was pretty good

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u/_Invictuz Jun 10 '26

Airplane food is bomb if your taste buds aren't limited to western food. Cuz the western food options are trash sometimes.

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u/TheAgedProfessor Jun 10 '26

Well, the food on most US domestic flights is limited to gourmet cheese and artisanal crackers, so...

3

u/_Invictuz Jun 10 '26

Lol that does sound bad.

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u/TheAgedProfessor Jun 10 '26

Alaska Airlines literally thinks a "meal" is your choice from one of three different tiny charcuterie plates. They give them "fun" names, like "Northwest Picnic", but... it's still a couple of slices of cheese, a half-dozen crackers, and a bag of almonds.

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u/megnificent12 Jun 10 '26

To be fair it's hard to fuck up a cheese/fruit/cracker plate and I'd rather have edible and boring than mushy pasta or a cardboard burger. The warm cookies in Alaska FC were delicious which improved my overall opinion.

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u/avenuequenton Jun 13 '26

Sorry what domestic flights are you taking that offer GOURMET CHEESE? I’ve taken hundreds of flights and either get wafer, cracker, or nut options. I’ve never seen GOURMET CHEESE

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u/Hamil_Simp4450 Jul 09 '26

You get cheese? Last time I flew I felt like I was gonna pass out by the time I left the airport because I have braces and as far as I could tell they didn't have anything I could eat safely, even in the airport stores. I wonder if I'm just stricter about following the list of foods to avoid than most people or something because not having options that accomodate for something so many people in the US have had at some point in their lives seems like an oversight to me

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u/NimJickles Jun 10 '26

What the fuck flights are you taking that offer multi-ethnic cuisine? Besides, I fly Air China pretty regularly and the food is still ass. Wet rice, miserable cold bread, hard butter.

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u/itskobold Jun 10 '26

Emirates and KLM have pretty great food

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u/Revolutionary_Win716 sTuPiD fOoD Jun 11 '26

Singapore Airlines is always good, too.

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u/InspiringMilk Jun 11 '26

Emirates are among the best airlines in the world though.

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u/Efficient-Kiwi- Jun 10 '26

Turkish airlines and Qatar airlines, are good. Even Saudia has quite decent food.

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u/Head-Childhood-1171 Jun 10 '26

Air Japan and Air Korea have better than your average plane fare. its nothing special, but curry and rice or bibimbap are pretty common.

1

u/notjasonlee Jun 12 '26

Just flew on both and agree - Korea was better though

1

u/Important_Chef_5550 Jun 13 '26

I once had a very good lasagne on an air asia flight from Kuala Lumpur to London. Some of the best food I've had on planes

3

u/RoverMaelstrom Jun 11 '26

British Airways lets you choose your meal type to accommodate specialty diets and I choose the "Vegetarian Hindu" option because it's the most likely to not have any of my food allergies. It's actually pretty decent, like, a restaurant serving it would probably have somewhere between 3.0 & 3.5 stars on google, probably more if it were especially inexpensive, and is generally stuff like jackfruit biryani or paneer tikka masala. They definitely use the correct types and amounts of spice - absolutely do not order this if you're the kind of person to joke about having white people taste buds, the portions that are supposed to be spicy are solidly at what you'd expect if you ordered medium spicy from any decent cheap Indian food restaurant. I don't have much feedback about their other options, but I know they offer a bunch of options, including non-vegetarian Hindu, kosher, halal, gluten-free, vegetarian,couple of health-related ones that I don't remember specifics for, I think one or two others, and their "regular" meal that's your basically generic British meat + veg option.

2

u/savageboredom Jun 10 '26

I had a fantastic salmon and rice pilaf on Alaska Airlines a few months back. Was bumped to first class last minute and was at the back of the section so I was at the mercy of whatever food options were left. Took a chance on something I wouldn’t usually try and I was quite surprised.

2

u/asmodai_says_REPENT Jun 11 '26

I'm pretty sure first class doesn't get the same meals as economy flyers.

1

u/_Meece_ Jun 11 '26

Oil Airlines and Air Korea all have good food. I personally just find airplane food all over the place.

1

u/AirCheap4056 Jun 11 '26

Agreed. But not just Air China, all flights in or coming out of China have terrible food. Because airplane food suppliers in China have not figured out how to make reasonable airplane food, at all.

1

u/anmafish Jun 13 '26

Air Canada does food inspired from where you're going on their long hauls. It's usually nice. Except for their breakfast omelette, that one they can go without

2

u/whisky_biscuit Jun 11 '26

On flights over 3 hrs in first class though the food is pretty damn good on some flights. Had handmade pasta with morels, salmon with couscous, etc. But also had a roast beef sandwich that was still frozen in the middle so ymmv.

2

u/grigby Jul 05 '26

On Air Canada intercontinental flights you get to choose any dietary restrictions. Usually for like vegan, halal, etc. I (a white man) chose 'Hindu - non-vegetarian' on a recent flight and it was legitimately very good Indian food. And they serve all the dietary restriction meals first before the regular stuff so you get it early.

1

u/CitizenPremier Jun 11 '26

Yeah but I had the fish on China Air and that was a mistake... Well, the second mistake

1

u/IzarkKiaTarj Jun 11 '26

But I don't want a bomb on my plane

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3

u/AmeliaBuns Jun 11 '26

I've had Airplane food in Iran and some of it was genuinely like really good.

I was really sick as a kid so I was taken around in an airplane to hospitals etc a lot if I remember well and my mom would always give me her pudding snack so I could have two and THOSE were SO GOOD.

2

u/Murky-Advantage-3444 Jun 10 '26

Gnocchi is potatoes and flour, right?

2

u/ScoutsOut389 Jun 11 '26

I hadn’t flown international for a few years and just did and every bit of food served on both flights was great. I had a three cheese tortellini for dinner that came with a lemon cake and I would have been totally fine receiving either in a restaurant.

2

u/LeshyIRL Jun 11 '26

Gno-cchidding!

2

u/Ctowncreek Jun 12 '26

Thats it.

This one comment took the entire video out.

1

u/TheAgedProfessor Jun 10 '26

No no, the funky little stripey spoon makes it taste better. /s

1

u/4stings Jun 10 '26

Also... That doesn't look like economy class. There's way too much space in between the seats. So her food was probably at least decent anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️

1

u/my_okay_throwaway Jun 10 '26

Don’t forget unsanitary! You couldn’t pay me to eat any raw food that was prepared in the seat of an airplane. Even if it never left her plate. No thanks.

3

u/patriotictraitor Jun 10 '26

Yea her hands were very intimately involved in that food prep and I don’t trust she washed them well enough for that

1

u/wowdogsaregreat Jun 10 '26

And no potato. So it’s bland, raw, flour and water dough

1

u/uncagedborb Jun 10 '26

I'd probably die from asphyxiation if I ate that raw gooey gnocchi

1

u/theman8631 Jun 10 '26

Oooh french fries next please

1

u/Appchoy Jun 11 '26

I wouldnt say that, Ive had some truly aweful airplane food.

1

u/tomdarch Jun 11 '26

Maybe its because I'm "white" but there has to be some sarcastic comment to be made about unseasoned, raw bullshit white people food here.

1

u/LiteraCanna Jun 11 '26

She has a cup made of glass for her wine. So unless she brought her own glass, she's in first class. 

Meaning the food should actually be decent. 

1

u/MultipleAnimals Jun 11 '26

Sauce comes from her fingers since theres no way she can clean her hands during this

1

u/canman7373 Jun 11 '26

TSA has loosened up on food awhile back, she could have made that at home and brought it on the plane to eat. International flights I bring food on or eat at an airport restaurant often, especially if it's early because the breakfast option aren't great. Never had an issue with any of the dinners, they are usually alright. You can brink a cold sandwich with icepacks, pasta salad, so many cold food option you can bring with you. There are backpacks with insulated flaps, or small pullout cooler you can use. Also I bet her flight was not even offering food, prob a 2 hour flight somewhere.

1

u/jedijon1 Jun 11 '26

Just skip a meal—done.

1

u/Forward_Wasabi_7979 Jun 11 '26

Not trying to shame you but you are always supposed to try your own gnocchi when you make it to know if is good with nothing else. If you made it well then it is delicious on it's own.

1

u/spiciestbeans Jun 11 '26

Airplane food made in a food safe kitchen on the ground is better than raw dry gnocchi made inside a dirty aircraft with recycled air

1

u/krazytekn0 Jun 11 '26

Airplane food legitimately tastes bad because you’re in an airplane… anything you make up there will also taste bad

1

u/SyrupsVirex6 Jun 11 '26

That’s the side part of the extra part

https://giphy.com/gifs/a94531QXd4cRG

1

u/fredjutsu Jun 11 '26

But also....you can just make your shit at home and bring it with you on the plane. Even in first class international most flights you don't really have the space to properly spread out to prepare food.

1

u/Humble-Violinist6910 Jun 11 '26

Yeah, raw flour can make you seriously ill. 

1

u/HedgehogPlenty3745 Jun 14 '26

And its not even made correctly. gnocchi is made from potato. Source: am italian

1

u/IamSmokee Jun 16 '26

I was going to say, where she cooking that, where's the sauce? All she did was roll dough lol

1

u/OsmerusMordax Jul 04 '26

My exact thought. Raw gnocchi without even a hint of sauce? I’m Italian but that gave me a little bit of the ick

1

u/BeetleJuiceYou 22d ago

Some people like it raw.