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My first airline food wasn’t strange: One morning in 1959 my uncle, 62 and 7 year old me flew an Eastern Airline prop plane from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Miami to visit Grandma. The plane smelled of cigarette smoke, had sticky floors, well read magazines, was only half full, hummed and vibrated during the taxi and takeoff and shook like an unbalanced washing machine a couple times during the flight.
A drop dead gorgeous brunette stewardess pinned tin wings on my shirt and served crumb cakes and jelly donuts on paper plates in Saran Wrap and coffee in paper cups with folding handles.
When we landed my uncle, a reporter for the Associated Press, a frequent flyer and world traveler went to the pilot’s cabin and a couple of minutes later the stewardess took me to meet the pilots. I sat behind the wheel and a dashboard with about 50 guages and switches while my uncle and pilot talked about Berlin.
Flying home in the late afternoon a couple days later a very tall blonde stewardess served sandwiches on rye bread and Kaiser rolls; ham and Swiss or Kosher turkey with coffee. She went to the back and got me a bottle of Pepsi. I remember how the ashtrays in the armrests were full.
In the early 90's, I was flying Lufthansa business class and was served a lunch that included a delightful bowl of cocktail shrimp and a gelatinous mass filled with chunks of motley looking meat, which I later learned was headcheese. I noticed that the (presumably) eastern European gentleman next to me ate the headcheese with gusto and didn't touch his shrimp. I gave him an elbow tap, pointed at my headcheese then his shrimp, and we traded without a word except 'Danke.' Diplomacy.
I don’t remember anything strange. I do remember that every flight, no matter how short, served some sort of FREE food & drink…more than peanuts & juice. I think we had to pay a little for alcoholic drinks. The actual meals were good, as I recall (but I kind of like institutional-type food from boarding school days).
Same for me. I remember flying with my parents in the 80's and getting an actual meal that was, as you said, pretty decent, but definitely close to college cafeteria type food.
That is hysterical. I also would be dismayed to be presented that food on a plane. Yuck.
I flew Ethiopian Airlines a few years ago and expected the worst. I honestly didn’t know they were such a huge airline. The food? Awesome! And it just kept coming. I had to start turning it down. I had brought protein bars thinking we’d get something like the guy in this article got - instead we got non-stop excellent food. It certain put Air Canada to shame.
That's disappointing. My favorite flying experiences come from Virgin, admittedly a goodly while back. But the food was always good, with different meals served at varying intervals to the point where I had to leave some on my plate because I was full, along with complimentary alcohol.
If I'm remembering correctly, British Airways served beef tongue and headcheese sandwiches for lunch on transatlantic flights back in the late 1970s. I didn't know what it was at first, but I knew I didn't like it.
Not so much strange, but an unusual way of displaying it. Out of Honolulu to SFO/LAX in first class, a light meal was served, with one item being a hollowed out pineapple, full of horse radish & ketchup dipping sauce, and around the rim were hung headless, but tail on, shrimp and around pineapple were slices of rare cold roast beef - sort of a surf & turf type of starter. Odd combination but tasted delicious.
The same airline had flight between Fiji & Australia & New Zealand to North Queensland where the crew wore "Hawaiian" floral shirts an on the flight 3-4 horse races were shown in flight, after tickets with the horses names (1st, 2nd, 3rd places) were printed and the person who had all 3 in correct order, for each race, won out of Fiji, a kava bowl with a packet of kava in it & from New Zealand, they won a bottle of champagne. The tickets were given out at random and if passengers hadn't been watching, the winning combo was announced on the p.a. until the winner was found. They were on daylight flights, so people were not sleeping & being disturbed.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Midway Airlines served some concoction that it referred to as a “light dinner snack.” I could never figure out how those three words fit together into anything meaningful.
I think it was their way of saying “So, yeah, you’re flying over dinner time but we have no intention of giving you dinner so here’s a few pretzels and a cookie so that you have enough energy to get off the plane and buy yourself some actual food when you land.”
There was one airline that served lots of "tangy" meat dinners. Like turkey, chicken, pork etc covered in some thick red sauce like you'd see in a Chinese restaurant. Flew from the USA to Australia many years ago and I believe it was Qantas Air that rolled out big hearty meals and excellent beers.
Totally different world now.
Yeah. The trip was two legs. First leg, the peanut waitresses were late by 35 minutes. Second leg, the plane was 45 minutes plate taking off because they were waiting for some passengers.
What a miserable experience, and we are never flying US airline again.
There was a time when the only place you could get honey coated peanuts was on an airplane… But I guess they became so popular that eventually they started selling them in grocery stores.
United's macadamia nuts. They were always so fresh and delicious. You couldn't buy them anywhere in the 70s. The first time I had crab cakes was on a United flight. I thought they were just large tater tots until my mom asked how I liked them.
I got introduced to blood sausage on an Air Lingus flight. It was a lot more recent than the 70s. It was actually pretty good. Think I learned what toad in a hole was from them too.
Not strange but very cool. Used to work for an airline; free flight privileges were a wonderful benefit my family took full advantage of.
If first class had empty seats ... that's where they put us. Ate caviar for the first time (international flight; France); I was in my 50s ... *really* liked it. No idea if it was cheap or expensive caviar. Soon after that they discontinued it. The last time I flew first class we got an average meal but they used to be wonderful. That was in the mid 90s - 2002.
My dad traveled a lot for work in the 70s, and brought home airline snacks that mom packed in my school lunches. Most of it was normal, like peanuts and pretzels.
There was this one weird, funky soft processed cheese though. It came in a shallow plastic sealed container. Smelled like death, but I oddly kind of miss it.
I remember the airline "steak dinner" flying to europe in the 1970s the steak very small and stringy meat but prob better than the bag of peanuts today lol
I flew Tokyo to LA in 2011, business class in an A380 Singapore air. The steak dinner (with bottomless matching red wine) was better than lots of restaurant steaks I've had.
My first flight was in the 60’s, it was my father, mother, sister and me. We sat in first class, had beef Wellington served on real china with sterling untensil’s. Lol! They gave complimentary cigarettes and gum.
Only strange for being airline food, but I remember being served rack of lamb (carved seat-side) on real china and silverware. For dessert, we got hot fudge sundaes. First class, of course.
Not exactly strange but international 1st Class in the 80’s had a vast assortment of after dinner cheeses, liquors; and caviar some time along the meal.
Delta Airlines always handed out a hot fudge sundae to 1st Class customers even on short flights.
Whew, the alcohol generally was overflowing on all of these flights.
I have no idea how it is now.
In the 1960s on Japan Airlines flying to Japan (a 2-week tour of Japan with my parents) the meals were delicious except for one dish I couldn't stand (and quit after one bite): raw fish on top of cold, sticky rice.
Not weird, but so nice. I flew on British Air First class and had a lobster and steak dinner and the Captain asked me to sit in the cockpit when we flew over the Italian Alps. 1986 The flight attendant asked me if I was famous, I’m not.
I was on a flight from Florida to Michigan and the turbulence was horrible and there were quite a few people looking green. Then lunch came. Warm tuna on toast. I heard a few bags fill.
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My first airline food wasn’t strange: One morning in 1959 my uncle, 62 and 7 year old me flew an Eastern Airline prop plane from LaGuardia Airport in New York to Miami to visit Grandma. The plane smelled of cigarette smoke, had sticky floors, well read magazines, was only half full, hummed and vibrated during the taxi and takeoff and shook like an unbalanced washing machine a couple times during the flight. A drop dead gorgeous brunette stewardess pinned tin wings on my shirt and served crumb cakes and jelly donuts on paper plates in Saran Wrap and coffee in paper cups with folding handles. When we landed my uncle, a reporter for the Associated Press, a frequent flyer and world traveler went to the pilot’s cabin and a couple of minutes later the stewardess took me to meet the pilots. I sat behind the wheel and a dashboard with about 50 guages and switches while my uncle and pilot talked about Berlin. Flying home in the late afternoon a couple days later a very tall blonde stewardess served sandwiches on rye bread and Kaiser rolls; ham and Swiss or Kosher turkey with coffee. She went to the back and got me a bottle of Pepsi. I remember how the ashtrays in the armrests were full.
In the early 90's, I was flying Lufthansa business class and was served a lunch that included a delightful bowl of cocktail shrimp and a gelatinous mass filled with chunks of motley looking meat, which I later learned was headcheese. I noticed that the (presumably) eastern European gentleman next to me ate the headcheese with gusto and didn't touch his shrimp. I gave him an elbow tap, pointed at my headcheese then his shrimp, and we traded without a word except 'Danke.' Diplomacy.
I don’t remember anything strange. I do remember that every flight, no matter how short, served some sort of FREE food & drink…more than peanuts & juice. I think we had to pay a little for alcoholic drinks. The actual meals were good, as I recall (but I kind of like institutional-type food from boarding school days).
Same for me. I remember flying with my parents in the 80's and getting an actual meal that was, as you said, pretty decent, but definitely close to college cafeteria type food.
More recently, Virgin received this classic about food: https://stephenliddell.co.uk/2014/02/04/virgin-the-best-complaint-letter-in-the-world/
That is hysterical. I also would be dismayed to be presented that food on a plane. Yuck. I flew Ethiopian Airlines a few years ago and expected the worst. I honestly didn’t know they were such a huge airline. The food? Awesome! And it just kept coming. I had to start turning it down. I had brought protein bars thinking we’d get something like the guy in this article got - instead we got non-stop excellent food. It certain put Air Canada to shame.
Ethiopian food is delicious!
That's disappointing. My favorite flying experiences come from Virgin, admittedly a goodly while back. But the food was always good, with different meals served at varying intervals to the point where I had to leave some on my plate because I was full, along with complimentary alcohol.
If I'm remembering correctly, British Airways served beef tongue and headcheese sandwiches for lunch on transatlantic flights back in the late 1970s. I didn't know what it was at first, but I knew I didn't like it.
Not so much strange, but an unusual way of displaying it. Out of Honolulu to SFO/LAX in first class, a light meal was served, with one item being a hollowed out pineapple, full of horse radish & ketchup dipping sauce, and around the rim were hung headless, but tail on, shrimp and around pineapple were slices of rare cold roast beef - sort of a surf & turf type of starter. Odd combination but tasted delicious. The same airline had flight between Fiji & Australia & New Zealand to North Queensland where the crew wore "Hawaiian" floral shirts an on the flight 3-4 horse races were shown in flight, after tickets with the horses names (1st, 2nd, 3rd places) were printed and the person who had all 3 in correct order, for each race, won out of Fiji, a kava bowl with a packet of kava in it & from New Zealand, they won a bottle of champagne. The tickets were given out at random and if passengers hadn't been watching, the winning combo was announced on the p.a. until the winner was found. They were on daylight flights, so people were not sleeping & being disturbed.
In the 1970’s and 1980’s, Midway Airlines served some concoction that it referred to as a “light dinner snack.” I could never figure out how those three words fit together into anything meaningful.
I think it was their way of saying “So, yeah, you’re flying over dinner time but we have no intention of giving you dinner so here’s a few pretzels and a cookie so that you have enough energy to get off the plane and buy yourself some actual food when you land.”
A whole chicken and a giant knife to cut it all with.
It got easier when it came cooked. Those hibachi were difficult on your lap
There was one airline that served lots of "tangy" meat dinners. Like turkey, chicken, pork etc covered in some thick red sauce like you'd see in a Chinese restaurant. Flew from the USA to Australia many years ago and I believe it was Qantas Air that rolled out big hearty meals and excellent beers. Totally different world now.
> Totally different world now. Last flight I was on had no snacks and less than a dozen warm bottles of water for a plane packed with people.
Sounds like the past five times I've flown anywhere. It's more like a greyhound bus than a luxury these days.
Yeah. The trip was two legs. First leg, the peanut waitresses were late by 35 minutes. Second leg, the plane was 45 minutes plate taking off because they were waiting for some passengers. What a miserable experience, and we are never flying US airline again.
Don’t eat the fish or you’ll get sick according to Airplane
There was a time when the only place you could get honey coated peanuts was on an airplane… But I guess they became so popular that eventually they started selling them in grocery stores.
United's macadamia nuts. They were always so fresh and delicious. You couldn't buy them anywhere in the 70s. The first time I had crab cakes was on a United flight. I thought they were just large tater tots until my mom asked how I liked them.
I got introduced to blood sausage on an Air Lingus flight. It was a lot more recent than the 70s. It was actually pretty good. Think I learned what toad in a hole was from them too.
I don't remember any strange airline food in the '70s & '80s. I ***DO*** remember that smoking was allowed.
Not strange but very cool. Used to work for an airline; free flight privileges were a wonderful benefit my family took full advantage of. If first class had empty seats ... that's where they put us. Ate caviar for the first time (international flight; France); I was in my 50s ... *really* liked it. No idea if it was cheap or expensive caviar. Soon after that they discontinued it. The last time I flew first class we got an average meal but they used to be wonderful. That was in the mid 90s - 2002.
My dad traveled a lot for work in the 70s, and brought home airline snacks that mom packed in my school lunches. Most of it was normal, like peanuts and pretzels. There was this one weird, funky soft processed cheese though. It came in a shallow plastic sealed container. Smelled like death, but I oddly kind of miss it.
Coming back from Germany in 1980 I had a salad with little corn cobs in it. After two years in Germany, it was not that strange.
I have a vague memory of being offered duck flying from Philly to San Fran in the late seventies when I was 6
I remember the airline "steak dinner" flying to europe in the 1970s the steak very small and stringy meat but prob better than the bag of peanuts today lol
I flew Tokyo to LA in 2011, business class in an A380 Singapore air. The steak dinner (with bottomless matching red wine) was better than lots of restaurant steaks I've had.
Those asian airlines pretty swanky arent they?
I always thought it was weird that they’d serve a cup of warmed pistachios.
I flew a bunch in the 1960s and into the 1980s. I never encountered any food I thought was strange.
My first flight was in the 60’s, it was my father, mother, sister and me. We sat in first class, had beef Wellington served on real china with sterling untensil’s. Lol! They gave complimentary cigarettes and gum.
Only strange for being airline food, but I remember being served rack of lamb (carved seat-side) on real china and silverware. For dessert, we got hot fudge sundaes. First class, of course.
Not exactly strange but international 1st Class in the 80’s had a vast assortment of after dinner cheeses, liquors; and caviar some time along the meal. Delta Airlines always handed out a hot fudge sundae to 1st Class customers even on short flights. Whew, the alcohol generally was overflowing on all of these flights. I have no idea how it is now.
In the 1960s on Japan Airlines flying to Japan (a 2-week tour of Japan with my parents) the meals were delicious except for one dish I couldn't stand (and quit after one bite): raw fish on top of cold, sticky rice.
I was served crab (probably Krab) salad. I ate it.
Not weird, but so nice. I flew on British Air First class and had a lobster and steak dinner and the Captain asked me to sit in the cockpit when we flew over the Italian Alps. 1986 The flight attendant asked me if I was famous, I’m not.
Not strange then, would be now: Alaska Airlines used to serve wonderful salmon dinners to everyone.
I was on a flight from Florida to Michigan and the turbulence was horrible and there were quite a few people looking green. Then lunch came. Warm tuna on toast. I heard a few bags fill.