Have you ever boarded a flight, been served a meal, and then got to wondering about how your food was prepared, and how it ended up safe and sound on a large airplane?
Airplane food is one of the great mysteries of travel, and the process that takes it from the kitchen to the plane is quite fascinating.
Large facilities located on or near the premises of airports are generally the ones that handle making food for flights—from the most basic economy meals to the most elaborate first class spreads.
These meals are made in giant warehouse facilities and loaded onto specialized trucks that load the pre-packaged, pre-made meals—which are generally made on the same day as flights—onto the aircraft.
After this, the meals are stored in refrigerators onboard the plane and then heated up in plane-safe ovens to raise the food’s temperature to a normal level.
Finally, aircraft crews spend a good portion of the time doling out these set meals—which are decided by the airlines themselves—to their passengers.
Making airplane food is a team effort, and none of it would be possible without the ground-level caterers, the decision-makers in the airline front offices, and the flight attendants who heat up the food and serve it to all. It’s a truly fascinating gastronomic feat!
