Spirit of Aloha | Features | September/October 2007

Good Fare in the Air

Is there any hope for airline food?” I asked the chefs responsible for the food prepared and loaded onto Aloha Air­lines flights departing from Honolulu. We were in the dining room of Chelsea Food Services, the catering division of Continental Airlines based at Honolulu International Airport, which designs Aloha’s inflight meals. We were eating a meal that had been delivered straight from the flight kitchens and was, like several other choices, under consideration to be served on Aloha’s flights.

Of course, my question contained fighting words for any catering manager, and Linh N. Tran, executive chef of Chel­sea, and Nelson Tani, director of Aloha’s dining services, eyed me as if I were an unappetizingly overcooked soufflé. Their message, tasty and succinct, was: “Aloha is right up there with all other airlines in first-class meals. And the food gets better and better.” As they were able to demonstrate for the next two hours, while a dedicated and severe “board of experts” composed of Aloha inflight service executives and flight attendants tasted and put their stamp of approval on a variety of select dishes, the proof was in the pudding (or, to put it another way, in the Seared ‘Opa­k­a­paka with Teriyaki Beurre Blanc Sauce).

This menu presentation, conducted three times annually, brings together the chefs and food preparers from around Aloha’s route network and the Aloha food “jury.” On this day, the group in­cluded the chefs from Aloha’s Los An­geles, Oakland and Sacramento kitchens, and Annie Chan Matsuwaka, director and general manager of Continental’s Chelsea Food Services division. To say that they were interested parties to this food affair would underestimate that in­flight food, frequently maligned, re­mains an integral part of the flight experience. “The thing is,” said Tani, who has directed Aloha’s dining services since 2002, “we actually try to take our in­flight food one step further than the norm. Obviously, on a Boeing 737, we have space constraints. But we should always remember that airline catering, even in the best of conditions on large aircraft, is much more difficult than catering in a hotel or restaurant.”

The truth is, the food on many airlines isn’t, as you may have noticed recently, what it used to be. But while there was once no way for the traveler to dispel the bleak realities of an inflight meal, today the emphasis is on quality, with the most imaginative menus possible, use of the freshest ingredients, new and varied health-conscious food, and more elegant preparation and service. On Aloha, es­pecially in first class, food has once again become the focal point inflight. “We listen very carefully to our board of experts,” says Tani, “and we make all necessary changes. We read our flight attendant reports daily. What do our passengers like to eat? What didn’t they like? Was the food prepared properly? Was it properly served? We know well that if passengers don’t like a meal, they will react. We want to be a step ahead of them.”

On this day, Aloha’s expert panel sampled first-class menus of uncommon variety. In addition to the seared ‘opakapaka, there were also such dishes as braised pork shank with bordelaise sauce, seared chicken and herb de Provençe with a creamy wild mushroom sauce, breakfast and brunch se­lec­tions of egg Provençal with eggplant confit, chicken Panang with a bread bowl of rainbow rice, gemelli with a red creamy pesto sauce, a bone-in short rib with tomato molasses barbecue sauce, and other delicacies.

Viewing and tasting these enticing dishes, I was constantly reminded of what an airline chef once told me in Hong Kong as he showed me around his large catering kitchen: “In a hotel or restaurant you cook the food and then you serve it. If a customer complains that his steak is undercooked, he sends it back and another is served. This is not possible for a planeload of people. Nor is every meal you can order in a restaurant suitable for serving on an airplane. What we prepare has to be ready hours before departure. It normally has to be cooked and carefully chilled on the ground, and then galley-oven heated in the air. We have to choose food that can stand up to all this preparation, look good and taste good. And all of this must be done under extraordinary health and hygiene inspections that are much stricter than even hotels or res­taurants.”

Chef Tran heads Aloha Airlines’ “Fly­ing Gourmet Chef” culinary team and is a member of Continental Airlines’ Congress of Chefs. He also has served in the Honolulu chapter of the Amer­ican Culinary Federation’s Chefs de Cuisine Association. He told me, “Con­sistency among the different kitchens we use is an important element of our work. We try to counteract the complexities of our catering by offering more consistency in food quality, with em­phasis on proper taste, eye appeal and portions. This is why we bring our chefs to Honolulu three times a year to im­prove how they prepare and display the food. These are brainstorming sessions that help us choose what we serve in first class and how we serve it.”

Also key to the success of an inflight meal prepared for Aloha Airlines is food availability—often seasonal—and raw materials. Menu plan­ning, done well in advance of seasons, keeps these limitations in mind, as well as ever-changing trends and popular flavors of food. Out­station catering is supervised by Chef Tran and his team. This assures menu and taste consistency.

“Inflight expectations continue to be high in first class,” say Tran and Tani.

“Overall, there is a feeling that Aloha has very good meals. Feed­back is positive. Even with our space limitations, we’re able to serve our meals in courses, and so our passengers appreciate this.”

Meanwhile, opinions are still divided on how much airline food can improve, especially when it is dictated by galley space, food reheating, cabin attendant training and the availability of fresh ingredients. Despite the complexity of the situation, Aloha’s Flying Gourmet Chefs are optimistic that they’ll be able to continue to bring something new to their passengers. They’re aware, of course, that food served at 36,000 feet isn’t the same as it is in a restaurant, and, all things being equal, they’d like to have their kitchens right there on the plane. But, as they remind us, restaurants can’t fly, either.



—Tom Chapman

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