London vegan news, reviews & events
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.
Josh is back with another airline meal report from his recent trip to Turkey. He already filled you in on his inflight meal on the way there and soon he’ll have a full report about vegan offerings in Istanbul. In the meantime read all about his meal on the way back…
I love sharing tales of airplane meal glory and sorrow with you all. The stories always get a huge response and I think it taps into an experience with which most vegans can relate… being stuck somewhere with nothing to eat.
The latest instalment of Food In The Air comes courtesy of my partner, Josh, who just enjoyed this meal service between London and Istanbul.
Check out Josh’s meal below and then keep scrolling to find out what he has to say about it.
If you are a vegan traveller, you probably spend a fair chunk of your preparation time wondering what your airline-supplied meal will consist of once you are in the sky.
I have a recurring section on this blog dealing with just that very topic. You can click here to view past stories of airline meals, or keep scrolling down this page to see what I was served on my British Airways flight between JFK New York and London Heathrow last week.
My recent flight between London and Los Angeles featured vegan food that made me feel like I had seen it all before.
The provider of the inflight meals for British Airways must think they have discovered the winning formula for vegan food because I seem to be getting the exact same meal every time I fly.
Meals on flights seem to belong in two camps. Either they are awful or they manage to be just OK. My recent British Airways flight back from Mexico City to London involved food of the fairly awful variety.
My expectations were high after the decent dishes I was served on my way over to Distrito Federal, but the reality was disappointing.
The main meal was an uninspired and unenjoyable mix of rice and vegetables, a cup featured barely ripe fruit pieces while the salad was overfilled with slimy mushrooms.
I didn’t even attempt to eat the dessert as it looked like it was made with dairy milk and was not labelled as vegan. Actually, my entire meal was labelled vegetarian as opposed to the vegetarian/vegan label on Josh’s meal. This is why we pack out own snacks, right plant eaters?
The only thing worse than the meal was the movie I watched during the trip. If you get a kick out of dreadful films, watch Austenland.
Check out the photos below and see all my inflight meal posts here.
A quick little post to continue my thematic entries about food I eat while up in the air.
The meal featured below was served to me during my recent flight with British Airways between London and Mexico City. Vegans are only too aware of how erratic flight food can be, but I give serious dues to this meal. It was a solid effort.
As you can see, I did alright!
I would love to feature your meals in the sky if you are keen to share your experiences. Just let me know.
One of the most popular recurring features on this blog is airline food. You people are mad for it. No other posts get as much instant attention as these airline meal posts. If you have any theories as to why this is, please let me know below.
While I wait for your replies to pour in, let me tell you about a recent eating adventure from above the clouds that was made a whole lot more enjoyable by music.
Recently returning from Philadelphia on British Airways, Josh and I were treated to a decent-verging-on-notable meal that appeared to be completely vegan. But it wasn’t just the inclusion of vegan spread and a salad dressing kit that made my flight enjoyable. I was also blown away by the staggering amount of super cool music featured within the inflight entertainment catalogue.
Let’s get the food over and done with and then we can talk music.
My main meal tray featured a tasty tomato dish with sides of mushroom sauce and steamed broccoli. I wasn’t running up and down the plane celebrating culinary greatness, but it was a solid dish that was consumed promptly. That’s about as good as it gets on a flight for vegans.
The salad was just a salad except for the little dressing kit accompanying the bowl. A small bottle of olive oil sat with a sachet of salt and herb called Mrs Dash. It was life-altering, but I don’t think I’ve seen ingredients to make your own vegan dressing on any other flight.
Toss in a bit of fruit and my meal was of a fairly high standard, but it was the music that made this the best flight of recent times. Check out the food photos mixed with shots of some of the albums I enjoyed.
Any of your favourites in there?
There is nothing more tragic and upsetting than a vacation coming to an end.
You know that sinking feeling, right? Having to pack and keep busy on your last day of holidays, with a mammoth flight hanging over your head. There isn’t enough time to go sightseeing and it is heartbreaking as you pile everything into a suitcase that has been doing nothing but gather dust for a month or so.
These feelings of depression are still sitting with me even after a fortnight back in London. I miss the weather, culture, people and friends of Mexico CIty… and the gay bars serving cold beer.
The only upside of having to get on that plane for 10 hours and be spirited away from my favourite city was the airline remembering my vegan meal and the meal being rather acceptable.
Do you often fly coach/economy? Then you will be acutely aware of how lousy airline food can be.
Requesting a vegan meal on a plane is even more of minefield. I was once served a lamb curry for my special meal request. Another adventure involved nothing but a few blocks of cheese and water crackers. And of course we all know the anguish of having nothing to eat except a bowl of under-ripe melon. I have enjoyed the occasional vegan meal on a flight and the memory will always be cherished of being served a vegan donut with chocolate soy milk on a United Airlines flight.
I am keen to share my latest experience of vegan flying food with you, but before I do I want to ask a question. What is the best vegan food you have been served inflight? What is the least memorable? What is the most unbelievably bad? I know that is more than one question, but I am just that curious!
Here is the vegan meal I was served on British Airways a week ago on my way to Mexico City. Overall I was impressed by the quality and the thought that had gone into my meal. The vegan dishes were actually vegan as far as I could tell. It was definitely one of the most satisfying vegan meals I have experienced on a flight during the last few years. How does this rate with your experiences?
