Qatar Airways Shares How It Prepares High Quality Food at Altitude

Some airlines are known for the exceptional quality of their inflight meals. If you’ve flown much, you’ll know that dining options on flights can range in variety and quality.

Fine Dining in the Sky

Though many passengers are happy with standard snacks when it comes to short-haul flights, serving high-quality food is a defining factor for many airlines operating long-haul flights.

So much so that the research, planning, and testing of menus and wine lists is as intensive as you would find in a top restaurant.

Airline Meals

Industry experts believe that there is more to just making food look good. It must also taste good.

To be on par with a fancy restaurant, inflight meals have to be carefully designed. However, this is something that is not quite as straightforward as it seems.

Airtight Cabin

While seated on a flight, passengers’ tastebuds are impacted by the dry conditions inside the pressurized aircraft cabin.

This impacts their sense of taste and smell and makes even tasty food seem very ordinary. Qatar Airways says it applies science when producing inflight menus for its flights.

Qatar Airways Catering Services Vice President, Shashank Bhardwaj, explains that the “great leveler is the physics of being in the air inside a pressurized tube.”

Qatar Airways’ Q-Suite business class (Photo: Qatar Airways)

Noteworthy Advances 

Bhardwaj explains that two major advances have helped Qatar Airways overcome this. The first is the result of years of experimenting by chefs.

This has led to the realization that umami,  the dense savory flavor found in a variety of foods including charcuterie, spinach, Chinese cabbage, seaweed, soy sauce, and tomatoes with a deep, red hue helps to win over senses dulled by dry air.

The second development is innovation in aircraft design and materials.

This includes the use of carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic in the aircraft’s fuselage. This allows the air inside the cabin to be more humid without risking structural damage.

Operations of Scale

Bhardwaj emphasizes the complexity of airline catering by highlighting the scale of Qatar Airways’ food and beverage operations.

Last year the airline utilised more than 5,000 tons of fruit and vegetables. This equals to 13.5 tons per day.

The airline prepares and serves more than 4,500 tons of poultry, meat, and fish as part of the 350,000 gourmet meals it prepares for its scheduled flights.

All meals are meticulously prepared to accommodate the dietary preferences of the passengers on specific routes.

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Lorne Philipot

Lorne is a South Africa-based aviation journalist. He was captivated and fascinated by flying from the day he took his first airline flight. With a passion for aviation in his blood, he has flown to destinations in all corners of the globe. Lorne has traveled extensively and lived in various countries. Drawing on his travels and passion for aviation, Lorne enjoys writing about airlines, routes, networks, and new developments.

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