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Home » Meal of the Week » The Airline Meal I Miss The Most
Meal of the WeekUnited Airlines

The Airline Meal I Miss The Most

Matthew Klint Posted onAugust 4, 2018November 14, 2023 8 Comments

If you’re a frequent flyer, especially on the same routes, you know that legacy carriers are slow to rotate meals. That may be a blessing or may be a curse. That’s also the subject of this week’s Meal of the Week.

Through the end of 2016, United Airlines offered an excellent dish described in this way:

Tamale-filled Breast of Chicken

Creamy corn sauce, grilled yucca and roasted tomatoes.

This dish popped up on intercontinental flights departing the USA and premium transcontinental flights. Typically, this dish was on the menu every other month. And it was delicious:

a plate of food on a tray

a plate of food on a table

a plate of food with a sauce on it

I ordered this dish more than a dozen times over a three-year period and never regretted it. The chicken was always moist, the tamale stuffing delicious, the corn sauce spicy, and the grilled yucca and tomatoes great accompaniments.

In December 2016, United rolled out its new Polaris onboard soft product. With that, my favorite tamale-filled chicken breast disappeared and we have not seen it back, even as many pre-Polaris meals continue to appear each month. I miss this meal so much.

Airline meals are often unmemorable, so when you find something you like, I recommend you stick with it.

Do you have a favorite airline meal that you enjoyed for years but is no longer available?

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About Author

Matthew Klint

Matthew is an avid traveler who calls Los Angeles home. Each year he travels more than 200,000 miles by air and has visited more than 135 countries. Working both in the aviation industry and as a travel consultant, Matthew has been featured in major media outlets around the world and uses his Live and Let's Fly blog to share the latest news in the airline industry, commentary on frequent flyer programs, and detailed reports of his worldwide travel.

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8 Comments

  1. CP@YOW Reply
    August 4, 2018 at 6:08 pm

    I loved the tamale chicken too 🙁

  2. IADDAN Reply
    August 4, 2018 at 10:43 pm

    The current Thai chicken curry thingy offered on UA Polaris is amazing…I order it every time they have it. So glad they brought that dish back…have you had it?

    • Matthew Reply
      March 30, 2019 at 11:15 am

      Yes. It’s good.

  3. Dave102 Reply
    August 5, 2018 at 11:22 am

    The cream-of-mushroom soup and the broccoli-cheese soup, served in First by pre-merger Continental. I also loved the little double-handled bowls they served them in.

    • Matthew Reply
      March 30, 2019 at 11:16 am

      Me too! Loved that.

  4. butzi Reply
    August 10, 2018 at 7:18 am

    On intra-european flights it’s nearly every meal Turkish serves (Do & Co Catering).

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