Food in the air

Vegan food on QANTAS

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I recently flew out of Australia with QANTAS and the vegan food was on the correct side of acceptable.

First up was the main meal an even though the photo is atrocious, the meal itself was tasty and satisfying.

I enjoyed and pasta, vegetable, and tofu dish with a mini vegan bread. This main was also accompanied by a moist slice of chocolate cake and a pack of dried fruit pieces.

Once again, economy lighting and space restrictions mean I feel the need to apologise again for the terrible photography.

Next up was some sort of breakfast muffin sandwich that was so outrageously hot from overheating, I actually couldn’t hold it for fifteen minutes.

Once it cooled, I chomped my way through it and loved it. It was like a breakfast muffin filled with a bean patty.

Finally, I was served a breakfast dish consisting of vegetable and bean rissoles, mushrooms, and tomatoes.

This was accompanied by a bread roll and a packet of quinoa and apple crispy bites.

Of course this food wasn’t going to win awards, but it certainly kept me feeling well-fed and nourished during the 13-hour flight between Brisbane and Los Angeles.

As far as inflight meals go, QANTAS is up there with the best.

Vegan eating with airlines

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Big news this week involves a new vegan lasagne offering on the latest Ryanair inflight menu.

Coupled with all the other amazing advancements we are seeing around the, veganism is showing no signs of slowing down.

The vegan lasagne (and other snack and drink offerings) on Ryanair got me thinking about a few predictions I made in the ‘Future of Veganism’ chapter of my book Fat Gay Vegan: Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t.

See this short excerpt below:

As we explored in the vegan travel chapter, life on the road for those wanting plant-based sustenance is improving and I believe we are set to see significant improvements. It stands to reason that the more we flex our compassionate consumer muscle, the more airlines will be willing to explore making vegan food available to passengers. In a ‘you read it hear first’ moment, I expect a major airline to replace their vegetarian inflight option with completely plant-based menus very soon. It might have already happened by the time this book hits shelves.

Not only is it a more inclusive policy to make the vegetarian meal a vegan option (everyone can eat vegan, only vegetarians and some animal eaters would choose to eat the vegetarian option), it makes complete financial sense. Why create an extra meal category when you can cover a lot of bases with vegan food? Airlines operate just like any other business looking to squeeze extra profit and I think we will see some fundamental changes to vegan food offerings based on the bottom line alone.

The vegan food expansion for travellers will not just be confined to eating in the air. Food on trains, ferries and other forms of transportation has already started to become more inclusive for vegans. A recent blog post guest written for me by a reader showcased a fancy three-course meal on a ferry company called Viking Line that runs between Stockholm and Helsinki. I’ve even ordered a hot vegan burger whilst traveling on a train down the Californian coastline. I honestly almost fell over when I saw a vegan burger option featured on the dining carriage menu.

I’m thrilled to see my predictions starting to play out and I’m excited to see how things will change during the next year or two.

Surely it isn’t unreasonable to think we will have a fully vegan airline menu in the not too distant future?!

To read more of my predictions you can order my book via Hive (makes order via your local independent bookstore), Amazon, WH Smith, Foyles, and Audible.

Vegan meals with British Airways

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The quality of vegan meals served on airplanes varies wildly depending on the carrier and the city from which you are flying.

This week saw me traveling from London to Mexico City with British Airways and I was happy with the food service. Not amazed, but satisfied.

Check out the meals below.

The first meal was a green coconut curry featuring tofu. The flavours were really quite pleasing and I would happily eat that meal again either on or off a plane. There was also the usual too hard to eat fruit, some tomatoes in their own plastic pot, a packet of cashes, and a bean/chickpea salad. The bread roll was accompanied by a vegan spread.

Next up was a chestnut ragout served with mixed rice. This dish was tasty but not as impressive as the green curry. The pleasant surprise on this tray was the Pecan Pie Nakd bar. It is the inclusion of something like this that makes me believe the catering firm are paying attention to veganism.

Overall, it was a satisfactory in-flight eating experience and it is reassuring to see airline catering getting more vegan friendly.

Now all we need is for the vegan meal to be the default choice for everyone!

A better vegan airline meal

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Here is a quick post to share info that I meant to share about a month ago.

Apologies for the slow posting.

I do have some reasons for being slack, but the most convincing is that I not only moved from London to Mexico City but I also just moved into a new apartment in Mexico City. I have been running around trying to get my living situation sorted.

But enough about me looking for sympathy.

On my way to Mexico City, British Airways served me one of the most satisfying vegan meals I’ve ever had in the air.

Check it out.

I know it might not seem that impressive for regular eating, but as far as in-flight meals go it was superb.

Josh and I both marvelled at how tasty the dish was and it is definitely the most planned and considered meal I’ve had on an airplane. Flavoursome and packed with tofu and vegetables. I’d eat it everyday.

Good stuff!

Vegan food with BA

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I know you all love posts about airplane food, so I’m sorry I’ve taken more than a week to share these photos.

Josh and I recently travelled between London Heathrow and Mexico City with British Airways. The food on BA can be hit or miss, but we were pleasantly surprised by the two vegan meals offered on this journey.

The first meal consisted of mushroom ragout with barley risotto. Barley! Who has ever been served barley on a plane?! The side was a tasty bean salad, plus we received soya milk and vegan margarine.

Due to the 11-hour duration of our flight, we were served a second meal as we got closer to our destination.

We were served a rather tasty and unusual-for-a-plane dish of Chinese Bean Curd.

As you can see, BA are not about to be awarded food trophies but these meals were definitely a cut above what we are normally served in the air.

Vegan food on Virgin Atlantic

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This is one of the best things I’ve ever had on my blog.

I got an email this week from Laurie. So what, right? Well, it was Laurie from the fucking awesome punk band Slaves.

Laurie wanted me to know he likes my blog (awww shucks) and wondered if I would be interested in sharing pics and details of his recent vegan meal served by Virgin Atlantic. 

Slaves is heading over to the USA for a major tour, so it was super generous of Laurie to take the time to share his mid-air cuisine experience with all of us.

Check out Laurie’s thoughts below on his LHR>LAX meal and if you are in the USA, click here to see all the dates for the Slaves tour. Like Slaves on Facebook, follow them on Twitter and go to the bottom of the post for some music videos from one of the best bands the UK has seen for decades.

OK. Over to Laurie.

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First up lunch. For the main there was a delicious tomato gnocchi dish. Full of flavour. They also had a bean style side salad with a lovely mustardy dressing. The real surprise was the dessert though. Being vegan you just expect a fruit salad but Virgin have pushed the boat out and provided a nice apple crumble style dessert flavoured with cinnamon. Along with a bread roll the lunch was more than satisfactory. The only let down was the inclusion of a pack of butter which made me laugh.

A few hours later I was pleasantly surprised when a mixed bean ciabatta turned up. Usually we get lumped with falafel at every turn and it can get boring.

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The ciabatta was delicious!

Lastly was a lunchbox, which consisted of a harissa hummus and pomegranate flatbread, some crisps and a chocolate. Having two bread based meals in a row wasn’t ideal but everyone in economy was in the same boat. The wrap was tasty and crisps are crisps. I was excited for the chocolate caramel until I read the ingredients and it had milk in.

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All in all the in-flight vegan options were really great and surprised me. Apart from the inclusion of butter in the lunch and a milk chocolate in the lunch box. Simple things that could be easily ironed out.

Another thing to mention is vegan meals always get brought out first. Feels quite nice to be served ahead of the rest haha!

Thanks, Laurie! Not a bad meal considering what can happen to us vegans when we are up in the air.

OK. Now enjoy the music.




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Pay more for vegan

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Here’s some news that is certain to ruffle your faux-feathers.

My buddy Brendan has just told me that an airline is expecting him to pay €15 for a vegan meal when non-vegan passengers get a meal included in their ticket price.

Check out what he says about the incident:

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Vegan via Emirates

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My wonderful friend Mirel reached out to me to ask if I would like to share her vegan food experience from a recent Emirates flight.

I said, “Hell yeah. Show me the food!” and she did. See the photos below, read what she had to say about it all and then follow Mirel on Instagram for delicious vegan baking photos.

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Vegan BA meal in flight

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If you come around these parts of the Internet often, you will know that I enjoy showing you the vegan food I am served by airlines in my column called Food in the air.

This latest post highlights the two meals I was served during my recent British Airways flight between London and Mexico City.

As you will see from the photos below, one meal was the standard meal handed out to vegans while the other was close to non-existent.

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Airline food with Delta

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The most-read category on this blog is Food in the air. This is where I post stories of the good, the bad and the ugly of vegan airline meals.

A reader named Alex reached out today to let me know about the vegan meal options served to him between the UK and the USA on Delta Airlines.

Read about the experience below. Thanks for filling us in, Alex!

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