This may be a touchy subject but would anyone care to shed light on what they believe makes for good crew meals. I have been asked to research such a topic for an airline and would greatly appreciate any info or experiences you have to offer.
Touchy subject. Crew do need to be nourished while on duty, but a lot of food is wasted for different reasons. In-flight catering isn't cheap and airlines would welcome cutting here too. Difficult consensus.
The latest trend at EK seems to be cut down on the proteins (the expensive stuff), fill the plate with carbohydrates (rice etc, the cheap stuff), throw in a few veggies on the side, add to that pleanty of bread and a "salad".
I think GF has the best crew meal, usually in the form of a two or three course meal. But I'm afraid those days are numbered as BAS' catering is extremely expensive.
Cheese board, sandwich plate, arabic coffee and dates, selection from first class menu prior to passengers, ability to pre-order special meal selections 24 hour in advance..............
Without being pedantic, crews should have the choice to order their meals from a selected few from their own personal profiles where these meal contents should be loaded in consultation with the companies' nutrition specialists. I know this is far, far away for many "managers" and many of you think I'm from the outer space.
This is an interesting thread for me. I have a strong knack for healthy foods for more than 6 years and when I ever talk about it, I seem to go longer than usual.
Mr Fractional .. I agree with you and I don't think you are from the outer space. For instance, if one is traveling overnight lengthy flight from a GCC capital to a European capital like London or Paris, I would certainly recommend date, fruit, salad and a small portion of protein with little vegetables but omit all grains like bread, rice (especially refined white ones), potatoes, eggplant, spaghetti, ..etc
Grains cause a major increase in insulin level, especially in late night hours, and cause pancreas to release insulin abnormally while sleeping. Once insulin level drops in the blood, people would wake up, mostly in bad mood and perhaps behave insanely and complain about everything for no reason. Even doctors advise to avoid grains in the dinner. We often experience this with friends and relatives who sometimes wake up fighting first thing in the morning or having headache following a short nap after lunch. When a menu is established for lengthy night flights without any grains, the passengers would sleep continuously because serotonin enzyme source is included. This make passengers sleep deeply and without interest for next meal. They would wake up normal, leave the plane happy and smile all the time. Thus, the company achieved less cost and saved meals left by hundreds of passengers, part from the noise of some passengers.
Coffee sometimes is good for lengthy night flights to attend to lag time and adjust biological hour.
I read this from a famous American doctor and watched before on a TV show.
Perhaps a note to add. Most airlines and hotels tend to offer tiny packets of sugar and salt using aspartame in place of sugar (though sugar is bad too) and artificial salt instead of natural sea salt. Both look presentable, but dangerous enough to cause several health problems on long term.
But anyhow, I agree with Mr Fractional that a specialist advice is far better. A final product must meet many objectives concerned with the cost, quality and benefit.
A few months ago in JED, the catering supervisor asked what we wanted. Most of the CC wanted chicken with rice...but as a meat/potato guy, I asked for a New York steak, medium rare, with a baked potato.
Thirty minutes later it shows up, just as requested. Ummm, good! We always get a good selection of sandwiches as well. The breakfasts ex-JED can be very good, also. No 'green' eggs, fortunately.
A little of topic but since we are talking about crew meals I might as well ask. I heard that some of the airlines in Europe allow the flight crew to have a glass of wine with their meals. Is that true?
Gulf Air's crew meals out of Bahrain have been virtually the SAME for the past 5 years. Greasy rice with various protein bits in it, "Indian style" vegetarian curry (that makes you fart beautifully), overcooket fettucini with -bizzarely- sweet-and-sour vegetable-something. Hardly any bread is provided for crew. Sandwiches on the other hand are usually a dig, soft (and of course sugar loaded) hunk of white bread roll with minescule filling. Again, the same selection for the past 5 years. Crew, from the drivers to the most junior FA, are constantly asking for SOUP and salad from F-class. Management take note! Surely a few jugs of soup are the easiest and cheapest meal to provide!!
Out of stations such as FRA, CDG, LHR, BKK, MNL etc we get to select from a 9-item menu. The wish-list gets handed to the catering guys on arrival and will be hopefully provided on the way home. Recently, 12 out of 13 crew choose the same item. Fortunately someone in catering had the good sense to put the foot down and change a few orders. Imagine there was something wrong with the food. The entire crew would have been down and out.
As for buying your own meals, I think that Lufthansa lets their crew purchase/place orders on-line for their crew meals. Nice, big meals for a few Euros. I don't know if this is still going on, but they seemed to be happy.
Fly for a low cost operator and you get to bring your own meals from home. Exactly what you want and you know what's gone into it and how it's been prepared. Provided it is transported and stored correctly (good insulated containers, not for too long), it's sounding like a better option than what's being described here.
At Lufthansa, we do indeed get to order crew meals, and this can be done online or by calling on the catering frequency. These meals cost around €5,- and the quality varies from one station to the next. Unfortunately, FRA and MUC are the worst. HAM is much better. The price is deducted from the daily allowance. There are only around 8 main corses to choose from, so I tend to bring my own as often as i can, and use the crew meal service on those days that I can't manage to obtain something on my own (stand-by duty, sundays).
Home cooking is only good on the first day or if you come home everyday, otherwise you've got to live with the outside meals. Companies have got to be sensible and sensitive if they want crews to pay for their meals. Every case is different. I accept few options, but long-haul don't have a choice except on your first day of the flying. MANAGERS (yes with capital letters) lay out good practices where the vast majority usually do not have a problem with and take it well leaving behind the expected moaners.
Crew meals - at night soup, baked potatoes + toppings, steak and kidney pie with ketchup ie good basic stuff nothing too fancy as body doesn't fell like a ring stinging curry (unless are tired and need to wake up!!), morning - breakfast muesli if sensible but bacon or sausage butty + strong tea is ideal, lunch - soup and salad / pasta not too heavy, dinner - dinner on the ground at home or down route with a glass of wine!!! It is not rocket science!! NB having a bottle of Tabasco in the aircraft stores always helps to spice up boring stuff
Cheese board, sandwich plate, arabic coffee and dates, selection from first class menu prior to passengers, ability to pre-order special meal selections 24 hour in advance..............
Mutt 9th August 2008 13:43
Don't forget first crack at the dessert trays too......
Location: "como todo buen piloto... mujeriego y borracho"
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HAM is much better.
Oh, we don't get to do that here in the Middle East
Have to agree with El Peligroso. A sandwich is NOT a meal. I occasionally enjoy a Subway (from the exact-name chain-- substitutes not accepted) on brown or honey-oat for a lunch bite, but anything else is unacceptable, especially the "sponges" that I have seen on our airplanes.
Also have to agree with Sal-e about GF crew meals-- they normally provide a variety of chicken, beef, fish, vegitarian, and probably something else, so I can normally find a few favorable options for my palate.
My major concern with crew meals is their healthfulness. When I fly full-fare PAX I normally opt for low-sodium. As a passenger, I really enjoy Lufthansa's low-sodium meals-- they are extremely tasty as they are flavored with herbs and spices, and I like the fact that they are also probably low in the other "sodiums" such as Sodium Benzoate, Monosodium Glutimate (that seems to be disturbingly common in German prepared food) as well as the common salt. If all else fails, the salt packet is right next to the knife & fork.
Furthermore, when doing "red-eyes", I like to stay low on carbohydrates. Yes, I know I am up all night but fear my metabolism may still be on local time zones. So I pick out the proteins (meats and vegis) and avoid the rice and potatos (although I sometimes have a few spoonfuls of desert to take the edge of the meal at the end). So the Biryanis are out.
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