Planes

When commercial airline service took flight in the 1930's, meal options were pretty bare bones: We're talking about maybe a sandwich and a cup of hot coffee. But that expanded throughout the century. And, of course, recently domestic flights have seen a reduction in the amount of meal service. You have to fly on some far flung flights to international destinations to really experience the heartland's best fare.

The takeoff on any vacation or business trip gives travelers an opportunity to share in new experiences. One of those is food. And with new offerings of in-flight meals, you can start enjoying that opportunity, even before you reach your destination. But providing the heartland's best to airline passengers begins well before the plane pulls up to your departure date.

Sidney Ho, General Manager for Gate Gourmet says, "We follow specifications very closely. We want to make sure that we meet the requirements and the expectations of the customer. We assign specific employees to help us produce the different types of cuisines that we have here."

Gate Gourmet is a culinary catering operation that serves some three dozen airports all across the united states as well as kitchen operations overseas. Sidney says, "We pay close attention to quality. Quality is very important. From the time that we receive products there are critical control points throughout the process that we follow closely. We monitor temperatures. We monitor the quality of food."

Think about the challenges of producing large numbers of meals attractive to both the eye and the palate! First of all you need detailed organization: food that is prepped, fully cooked, quickly cooled, transported to the runway and loaded on board. And depending on your destination, special menus demand special attention: Asian favorites, regional European cuisine, appetizers and desserts. And if you think it's all done in large quantities, think again.

The competitive marketplace in airline travel means that carriers have to produce passenger amenities that bring people onboard. Food is a universal attraction and freshness is critical.

When asked, how important is it as a chef to have fresh items instead of frozen?

International Sous Chef for Gate Gourmet, Jimmy Koo responds, "It's the key. I mean especially like coming from the kitchen, to have it plated down on a plane. Everything is being color-coded, and within 24 hours. We're using dry ice to keep it nice and crisp and fresh, and- and the freshness is key."

Heartland harvests give chefs the ingredients to turn out millions of meals each year: beef and seafood from the open range and ocean, dairy products from the Midwest, peaches from the south. And here at their San Francisco facility, produce that comes from farms just a short drive away.

Chef Martens expresses, "We have a great market here-- Salinas, down the street. We have Gilroy here in California, again, everything fresh; fresh, we got it."

Sidney says, "I believe the menus that are planned out are better menus. Most of the airlines are looking at healthier alternatives for their passengers so we see a big improvement in that."

The advantage of working with the airline industry gives you access to heartland foodstuffs that can be flown in from across the country.

It's not every day you see lobster on an airline flight. Chef Martens responds, "Right. Yeah, we have rock lobster. We use also Maine lobster."

When asked, that's for your first-class passenger? He says, "That's correct. About a month ago, we actually did a very important charter for the president of Taiwan, and they all wanted fresh lobster on the entire flight."

And while all of this is headed for passengers on flights around the world, we should note that crew members have special arrangements when it comes to the food that they'll eat on board.

Given the "global" marketplace in travel today, special menus from heartland harvests must be tailored as well...to special dietary needs. That can mean anything from meatless meals to religious considerations.

Chef Marten explains, "We have a lot of like special meals-- kosher meals, child meals, Muslim, Hindu, gluten-free. We have low fat, low salt-- I mean, all those. We have as you know a separate station for that. Actually, I on a daily basis, actually sign off a gluten-free. I personally check the meals before they get out a door."

As with any business, meeting those demands means setting up systems to deliver meals...in a timely and efficient manner. After the preparation, packing and cooling the airline meals are stored until called up for delivery to dozens of planes on the concourse. And as you might expect, airlines compete for culinary honors. Celebrity chefs bring award winning talents to the kitchen competition.

Using the Heartland's finest ingredients is all part of an effort to reinvent "fine dining" in the sky. Or, to put it another way: "Bon Appetit at 30 thousand feet."

Sidney says, "I think it's the passions that the chefs have to want to produce a good product. It's the challenge of producing high volume products and having quality built into it. I think the chefs here do have a passion and they do have a culinary flair to want to do a good product for the passengers."