Diana Cottrell savours the flavours of the sky
Airline food. Don't you love it? I expect you enter the plane with nothing but eager anticipation of the taste buds being tempted yet again.
Thus I hurried along to LOT Catering to discover its secrets. LOT Catering provides food for the majority of its own flights and 12 other airlines flying from Okęcie, but has also introduced some meals prepared by foreign suppliers as well, for example, on flights from the US and Canada. (What happened to that nice dish of fish in batter we used to get? It was scrumptious).
Over a rather tasty cake, I chatted with Joanna Patocka-Pollo, LOT Catering's spokeswoman, about the specific requirements for airline food.
For a start, the morsels must, like everything else, fit inside the plane. "Thus, tomatoes must be exactly 1.5 centimetres in diameter and all of them identical. Slices of cold meat must be the same size and shape, and smoked salmon is carefully weighed."
LOT Catering offers 18 varieties of special meals, including vegetarian, kosher and Muslim, baby meals, low-fat or even seafood. A passenger should inform the airline at the moment of booking or at least 24 hours prior to the flight about any special requirements. However, if you have a taste for onion or beans, forget it. No airline will ever serve those offending items because of the smell or, to put it politely, the 'gas effects' associated with pulses. Even an innocent leek salad was withdrawn by the airline after a week's trial. Baked beans I can understand, but leeks? It's a miracle the plane landed safely, presumably with everyone still conscious.
We advanced to the production section. One thing is certain: the food is clean and safe. LOT Catering has employed procedures based on the ISO 9001:2000 quality certificate. No earrings, no fancy dress. Everybody must wear clean uniforms and hygiene caps. It has the ambience of a laboratory rather than a kitchen. The procedures allow for 72 hours of storage between food preparation and consumption, but usually the meal is served within 12 hours from when it was prepared. This is rather better than the service in some Warsaw restaurants.
Separate sections of the "laboratory" are dedicated to various types of food. The patisserie looks civilised and inviting. The bakery produces more than a dozen types of bread, creating a wonderful (just can't seem to get away from it) aroma. The most tempting place is what is called the "hot kitchen," where all the meals to be served hot are prepared. Fish and meat meals are stacked in (excuse me) aromatic piles. Once prepared, they are then chilled in their little trays to five degrees Celsius for two to six hours. Perhaps this accounts for that general taste of plastic I associate with airline nosh, akin to eating the tray.
Quite naturally, Patocka-Pollo disagrees. The meals are reheated strictly according to tests conducted by the recipes division, which uses an airline oven to check the times required for heating specific meals. This month the division is preparing for co-operation with the chefs of American Bistro Poland, with meals cooked by the chefs of LOT Catering in Warsaw and Kraków. Their co-operation has produced some appealing results, such as "grandma's best" for breakfast or "tomato dream" for supper. If you are lucky enough to have dinner on the plane, you may be served "treasures of the sea," which is a roasted fillet of cod with vegetables or "holiday travels," chicken breast with potato dumplings. And "chocolate shell" to end the meal. But absolutely no "leek surprise."
Patocka-Pollo insists that passengers like to have meals on planes. It also distracts those who are nervous about flying, according to an opinion poll. Passengers would like to be served an aesthetic, tasty and relatively filling repast. The limitations of the tray size determine what can be included in the meal. In business class, you pay for a bigger and more interesting meal served on ceramic dishes, not on plastic plates.
The sight and smell of hot meals made me hungry. Next time on a plane I will have an image of LOT Catering's vast kitchens before my eyes and try to revive that good impression. And if you miss airline food that much in your daily routine, LOT Catering also caters events for companies. Then, although you would still not get baked beans, you might just be presented with a "leek surprise."
Thus I hurried along to LOT Catering to discover its secrets. LOT Catering provides food for the majority of its own flights and 12 other airlines flying from Okęcie, but has also introduced some meals prepared by foreign suppliers as well, for example, on flights from the US and Canada. (What happened to that nice dish of fish in batter we used to get? It was scrumptious).
Over a rather tasty cake, I chatted with Joanna Patocka-Pollo, LOT Catering's spokeswoman, about the specific requirements for airline food.
For a start, the morsels must, like everything else, fit inside the plane. "Thus, tomatoes must be exactly 1.5 centimetres in diameter and all of them identical. Slices of cold meat must be the same size and shape, and smoked salmon is carefully weighed."
LOT Catering offers 18 varieties of special meals, including vegetarian, kosher and Muslim, baby meals, low-fat or even seafood. A passenger should inform the airline at the moment of booking or at least 24 hours prior to the flight about any special requirements. However, if you have a taste for onion or beans, forget it. No airline will ever serve those offending items because of the smell or, to put it politely, the 'gas effects' associated with pulses. Even an innocent leek salad was withdrawn by the airline after a week's trial. Baked beans I can understand, but leeks? It's a miracle the plane landed safely, presumably with everyone still conscious.
We advanced to the production section. One thing is certain: the food is clean and safe. LOT Catering has employed procedures based on the ISO 9001:2000 quality certificate. No earrings, no fancy dress. Everybody must wear clean uniforms and hygiene caps. It has the ambience of a laboratory rather than a kitchen. The procedures allow for 72 hours of storage between food preparation and consumption, but usually the meal is served within 12 hours from when it was prepared. This is rather better than the service in some Warsaw restaurants.
Separate sections of the "laboratory" are dedicated to various types of food. The patisserie looks civilised and inviting. The bakery produces more than a dozen types of bread, creating a wonderful (just can't seem to get away from it) aroma. The most tempting place is what is called the "hot kitchen," where all the meals to be served hot are prepared. Fish and meat meals are stacked in (excuse me) aromatic piles. Once prepared, they are then chilled in their little trays to five degrees Celsius for two to six hours. Perhaps this accounts for that general taste of plastic I associate with airline nosh, akin to eating the tray.
Quite naturally, Patocka-Pollo disagrees. The meals are reheated strictly according to tests conducted by the recipes division, which uses an airline oven to check the times required for heating specific meals. This month the division is preparing for co-operation with the chefs of American Bistro Poland, with meals cooked by the chefs of LOT Catering in Warsaw and Kraków. Their co-operation has produced some appealing results, such as "grandma's best" for breakfast or "tomato dream" for supper. If you are lucky enough to have dinner on the plane, you may be served "treasures of the sea," which is a roasted fillet of cod with vegetables or "holiday travels," chicken breast with potato dumplings. And "chocolate shell" to end the meal. But absolutely no "leek surprise."
Patocka-Pollo insists that passengers like to have meals on planes. It also distracts those who are nervous about flying, according to an opinion poll. Passengers would like to be served an aesthetic, tasty and relatively filling repast. The limitations of the tray size determine what can be included in the meal. In business class, you pay for a bigger and more interesting meal served on ceramic dishes, not on plastic plates.
The sight and smell of hot meals made me hungry. Next time on a plane I will have an image of LOT Catering's vast kitchens before my eyes and try to revive that good impression. And if you miss airline food that much in your daily routine, LOT Catering also caters events for companies. Then, although you would still not get baked beans, you might just be presented with a "leek surprise."
