Airline Specialty Meals: How to Improve Your Flight Experience
So...What's the deal with airplane food? Traveling abroad for a while now, I've eaten my fair share of it. The consensus? It's entirely, extremely, without a doubt, incredibly just okay. That's no secret though, no one really flies for the fine dining experience. However, I've learned how to make the experience just a bit better for those of us with particular dietary preferences.
Many may worry about if they can eat well when flying due to their dietary needs. The answer: Yes! If you go to the airline's website, they will have a list of all special meal options available for no extra charge. The number of options will always change between airlines and within the airlines themselves, but there will always be something for everyone. After deciding what you want, all you need to do is call the airline's Customer Service center to let them know and you're set!
The most impressive selection for me comes from Asiana Airlines, offering up to 22 different options: providing everything from religious meals, to vegetarian/vegan, to dietary options like low sodium and diabetic, to kids meals! My personal favorite is their, "vegetarian oriental," a chinese-style diet including fish but no meat or dairy!
The photos below are from my most recent flight with United Airlines. For this flight, I opted for their vegan meal service, called "Vegan (strict) vegetarian," on their website.
Breakfast: Oatmeal with dried cranberries and apricot, side of fruit, applesauce, and a roll with spread
Lunch: Pita filled with mediterranean barley salad and lettuce with a vegan cookie
Snack: Asian rice crackers
Not only are these meals good for suiting dietary needs, but many times they actual look better than the regular meals! This is because typically the specialty meals include more vegetables, fruits, and other fresher ingredients. Also, they usually come with more to eat which is always a bonus!
Dinner: Stir fry noodles with veggies, salad, roll with vegan spread, and a vegan cookie
Vegan cookies
Once when a flight attendant was taking the order of the couple next to me they said, "We want what she's having!" Sadly, they couldn't as they didn't call ahead.
The meals change all the time. Here are some photos from a different trip, still using United Airlines. These meals didn't look as visual appealing compared to the ones above, but they still tasted pretty good!
Lunch: Rice with roasted red pepper and eggplant with a side of sliced kiwi and pinapple
Dinner: Rice with roasted pepper, eggplant, and chickpeas, side salad with veggies, roll with vegan spread and jam
And that's it! You now know the secret to eating well on flights~ With that, happy travels! Feel free to share your favorite airline meal experiences below in the comments!