A late-night flight on Thai Airways out of Tokyo made for a lethal combination when it came to the in-flight meal in business class. That’s the subject of this week’s Meal of the Week.
Here’s my question: how long or “international” must a flight be before food is offered to suit both western and eastern taste buds?
I was flying from Thai Airways from Tokyo Haneda to Bangkok, departing just after midnight. It is a 7hr flight from North Asia to South Asia utilizing a 747-400 filled with hundreds of people from around the world.
Seated in business class, I was offered a midnight snack after takeoff: sushi and soba noodles. That was it. No choice.
And at that moment I deeply regretted not eating anything in the lounge prior to boarding. Because I was hungry…but this food? Try as I might, I simply cannot acquire a taste for sushi or for these noodles with shrimp. Believe me, I wish I could. It would make life much easier when visiting clients in Japan. This sort of food is loved by many, but the worst possible meal I personally could have been offered.
Was this meal perfectly reasonable for dinner on a 7hr flight? Or should at least one other choice have been offered, perhaps something a little more western? It’s not that I discount that many, perhaps most, “western” people like sushi and noodles. Rather, my point is this is a very strong dish—why not at least offer something neutral with it like a salad or even bread?
A Cultural Preference
When I lived in Germany and worked for Star Alliance, we’d often host Air China employees in our office. It always struck me as somewhat amusing that whenever we would go out for meals, my Chinese colleagues always and only wanted Chinese food. You would think that while in Germany they would prefer to try German food, or maybe Italian or Turkish. But there’s nothing like comfort food, is there? If you read my trip reports and especially hotel reviews, you know I am the same way wherever I am in the world…
Suddenly, I wonder what it is like to fly as a “foreigner” in the USA, where most U.S. airlines exclusively offer western and/or American meal choices. Is that how pickier visitors experience food on U.S. carriers? (save the joke about everyone feeling that way about food on U.S. airlines)
Thai Airways redeemed itself somewhat with a western breakfast option prior to landing. Still, the six hours I had to wait for it felt like an eternity.
Somehow, I’d even consider the first meal service worse than my previous record holder, a frozen sandwich on United. I’d rather eat that than sushi…
Oh boy!!!! Don’t bring me memories of the last time I ate sushi on a plane. 🙁 The mistake resulted in losing almost 7 lbs of body weight and 2 days inside the room of the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur.
Do you know the meaning of “lethal”?
It’s called hyperbole.
This is such a provincial viewpoint. If you’re in Asia, you should expect to eat Asian food. This is not even a “strong” meal by Asian standards. Oh by the way, “lethal combination” makes it sound like someone died. To read your article, you are in substance not even alleging that you or anyone else got sick.
I was expecting a much bigger culinary disaster. How dare they serve sushi out of Japan! Certainly a US/European carrier would be expected to serve Western options, but I still wouldn’t have expected you of all people to have the palate of a pre-teen. You could have at least asked that they throw the sushi fish in the oven for a minute if you are just averse to raw fish.
BTW, how’s the lawsuit going?
best comment!
+1
+2
Unfair to pre-teens, a population among which sushi is an extremely popular food. I often reflect to my kids (now well into their teen years) that when I was a kid not only did kids not eat sushi but adults didn’t eat sushi.
Yes, after condemning his Chinese counterparts for not wanting to explore the local cuisine, I was expected it to be followed up with a comment about how this incident made him better understand them… But no, more whining, this guy would never survive economy if he can’t do first class, maybe next time everyone will get their act together and make his life easier, after all the world revolves around first class customers… Oh wait… It doesn’t, airlines would actually make more money if the whole plane was economy.
Sushi on a plane? Uh, no thanks. Love it in restaurant but no thanks on a 747.
I don’t remember seeing many western food options in the lounges at HND recently, so you’d be SOL anyway.
I wouldn’t call sushi and noodles ‘a very strong meal choice’, it’s a rather plain (kinda like McNuggets appealing to a wider audience then hotwings).
Lethal combination? Seriously?
For my palate, yes sir.
“Lethal” does not mean what you think it means.
In this instance, were anyone to take this post seriously (not something you need to worry about), it would border on the libelous.
I’ve already addressed the clear hyperbole in that statement above. But libelous in the context of my post? Please Larry…don’t even try.
Try the business class meal on Kenya airways… you will love that sushi and soba noodles!
Wait…so was the food physically/gastronomically bad, or is the hyperbole because you simply don’t like that style of food? I get that you’re miffed because there was no other option, but that’s a separate issue from the food itself being bad. The title is a bit misleading. But I agree that sushi on a plane is a risky gamble. But at least it was catered out of Tokyo and not, say, Houston.
It’s style. That’s the point of my post. Not proud of it, but it truly is the worst of kind of meal you could ever give me. I’d rather eat poached rat and dog on the streets of Xi’an. Honest. I’m just sad there was no other choice.
Not a lot of choice, agree. But still preferable over the processed US foods. When in the US I am always amazed by the loads I have to dump. Somehow the stuff moves extremely fast through the digestion system.
To be fair, there’re a lot of folks, even some way up there, who would rather indulge in the familiar (think well done steak with ketchup) than try a delicacy their host country has to offer. And there’s nothing wrong in that. And airlines should cater to the preferences of the general flying public, of which a good number are westerners.
On the other hand, what will such preferences do to your legitimacy as a travel blogger? Given the above comments, quite a negative effect. And the food doesn’t look bad at all, perhaps you could have toned down your title a little.
I’ve tried to eat sushi for almost two decades. Not sure why I can’t stomach it…
I personally love sushi and it looked good from the pictures. However, you’re right, not everyone enjoys, or can even eat for health reasons, raw fish. A simple second option should have been offered. Japanese steak is also excellent, would have been a nice alternative.
What health condition prevents people from eating well-prepared raw fish?
When can we expect an update on your Aeroplan situation?
As soon as I have one.
I love sushi but agree with the other commenter: not a good choice on plane just for concerns on hygiene and potential risk of parasites.
I am Chinese and I am adventurous. Many Chinese are not though.
I was under the impression that airlines can’t serve raw fish. Every time I’ve had sushi or a raw fish dish on an airplane, it’s been cooked, cured, smoked, or processed in some other way. Personally, I would’ve been delighted with the meal; it actually looks pretty good. Could you have requested an Economy meal instead? I somehow doubt that they would’ve been served sushi…
I’m with you Matt. I’d be pretty bummed too!
Why would you expect a meal for a flight at midnight? Isn’t this a red eye and people are expecting to sleep?
In most of the world, it is customary to be fed a meal on an international flight after takeoff. I had not eaten for several hours.
While I like to fly the Asia carriers like BR, ANA, JAL for comfort and service the food isn’t their strong suit. The one exception would possibly be CX and SQ which have decent western food offerings. Don’t even get me started on the mainland Chinese carriers and the ‘western’ cuisine offerings. Of course, flying Asia carriers out of N. America and Europe you’ll have better western meals. Sad about Thai, but they’ve never had good reviews that I have read over the years; the consistently degrading factor on TG that bloggers hit on was the food, even in F. I’ve flown them J intra-Asia and can vouch for that. That said, o’dark early flights on most airlines have minimal or one food choice.
So provincial to consider sushi unpalatable.
But, you’re hot. So, all forgiven. Haha 🙂
In my opinion most Thai people and also many western foreigners love the Japanese cuisine, and adding up that the flight departed shortly past Midnight from HND, I see no problem that they just served this option. The catering is not top notch on Thai in C but was always still eatable.
Did you ask them to get you a sandwich from Y as an western option? Or did you even let them know you are not OK with this dish?
I chose not to complain, though I did ask for bread and was told there was none till breakfast.
Surprisingly that the crew did not offer you the sandwich then. This is usually the midnight snack for Y and quite a few opt to skip it to sleep instead. So either they think the sandwich would not be proper food to offer as an alternative for C or they did not want to walk to the back of the plane to get you one.
Just about any sushi or sashimi made in Japan is going to be safe to eat and fresh – even on a plane leaving there. That being said, while I enjoy sushi, I know many folks that think it is disgusting (many of which never tried it). Regardless, I tend to agree that on Thai air in business class, that is a disappointing selection even for a flight leaving after midnight. At the very least, I would expect a hot option of some noodle combination.
Rule number one from someone who lives in Japan – never ever choose the Japanese option unless you are on JAL or ANA. Even if you’ll eat anything you will be disappointed. Of course this time you didn’t have a choice and I feel for (your melodramatic description of) your travail.
It’s like an Asian guy asks for an airlines to serve choices of congee, Thai rice soup with shrimp, or grilled Saba for breakfast on a LAX-JFK flight!!
You know how average Asian person thinks about American food/breakfast: bagels, cereal, eggs ? They are grossed out by them even more than westerners grossed out by Asian food, and yet they don’t complain about it when flying between two western cities. They just simply declined to eat and think “oh when we get to NYC or LAX they can just go eat their Asian food.
It’s an Asian carrier flying between two Asian cities with mostly Asian passengers (even flights between Asian and western cities have more Asian passengers cuz there’s more Asian population in general) so it would be disrespectful of the food cultures to expect western food. At least if you’re gonna be disrespectful to some food cultures then choose a bad one, like say… American?
This is not a matter of respect, it is one of personal taste. And I cannot think of a more unappetizing thing to eat than sushi and cold noodles/shrimp. But that’s just me…on my blog. You’re free to enjoy whatever food you wish.
The food not appealing to you is a matter of personal taste.
Calling the food disgusting is clearly disrespect.
Compare, for instance, someone who prefers not to fly in a premium cabin with your child with someone who prefers not to fly with your disgusting child. See the difference?
(To be clear, neither of those positions are mine — I’m perfectly content to fly in any cabin with children)
I never called the food disgusting in my article. In fact, I lamented the fact that no matter how often I try it, I just cannot develop a taste for it.
I like most foods. That’s just one of the few things I cannot stomach.
Dude, you literally just edited the comment I was replying to and changed “disgusting” and “slimy” to “unappetizing”.
The proper way to do that is not too then pretend you didn’t say “disgusting”. The proper way is to say “I take your point. I’ve amended my comment to say “unappetizing” instead”.
I should also say that you’re completely entitled to your food preferences. I myself am idiosyncratic in that I don’t eat carbohydrates of any kind. This often — at least in economy — leaves little it nothing for me to eat. But that’s not the fault of the airline, it’s my preference to limit what I eat.
Look, the bottom line is that my article, which has not been edited, was clear and tasteful in pointing out I found the food unappetizing rather than asserting that the food itself was objectively unappetizing.
What health condition prevents people from eating well-prepared raw fish?
The only food complaint i think one could make about this flight is that Thai Airways did not offer any Thai food.
Otherwise, the notion that a flight between Japan and Bangkok should have offered food from neither location is a perfect illustration of that form of monomania referred to be there overused term “cultural privilege”.
Online, at least, Thai appears to offer a large selection of special requirements meals for advance ordering. One is “European Vegetarian” which is probably pasta. But, possibly the safest in this case, would have been the children’s meal.
I booked it same-day so no special meal was possible, but that’s a good point — why wasn’t there Thai food? I would have been so relieved.
for those who ask “what health condition prevents people from eating well prepared raw fish?”
Answer: fish and seafood allergy.
Also, although fish is allowed, eating seafood is not allowed by major religions including Judaism and Islam and some Christians. (the Old Testament says eating shellfish is an abomination)
I eat predominantly Asian, South Asian, and Latino food. But I do not eat fish or seafood.
Thus I always eat before getting on Asian flights because the meals are very fish/seafood heavy and sometimes there are no other options
My meal from Shanghai to Vancouver was shrimp salad followed by sushi, raw sea cucumber, some kind of tepid broth with cubes of something in it, sliced seaweed, and rice
Luckily there was extra rice so I just ate that.
This meal may not have been appropriate given the number of Thai Muslims that could have been on this flight (depends on what the sushi was). They could not eat the noodles with shrimp (haram)
First class on Thai from Sydney to Bangkok. Only two of the six ate dinner. I asked for the Thai green curry and was told that they do not have it anymore!
There s actually a dine on demand on Thai airways
There is usually an online option available to most passengers where they can specify what type of meal they prefer. This is designed for passengers with diet restrictions, such as allergies, religion, life style…
I think the point you’re trying to make is that you would like food choices available in BC on international routes.
I’m pretty sure most people would agree.
So a more accurate title might have been, “My Plea For Greater Menu Choice”, or something like that!
The fact that you don’t like sushi and shrimpy noodles has become a distraction, especially since it puts your food tastes pretty far outside the mainstream for international travelers in Asia and maybe elsewhere.
Maybe you want to hit the “Vegetarian” or even the “Kosher” checkbox next time?
PS I would take this meal over EVERY business class meal I’ve ever had on domestic United and American!
Just saw your comment about not having the checkbox option because of last-minute booking.
On domestic US flights, I almost always bring my own lunch/dinner/snack rather than endure the processed industrial food that’s available. This is more complicated when traveling internationally, but reading your post, I will be tempted to go to a little trouble to have a snack on hand at least.
the only thai fail is that they didn’t offer an alternative for a midnight snack. sushi and noodle seem tasty. because the midnight departure they think passengers would have a proper lunch before the flight