Singapore Airlines prides itself on its award-winning dining experience, but what really goes into making its aeroplane meals? Jenni Mortimer finds out.
Chicken or fish? Beef or vegetarian? Kids’ meal or gluten-free? Whatever your onboard selection – or lack thereof for the back of the plane battlers – chances if you’ve travelled, you’ve experienced “aeroplane food”.
Depending on those past aeronautical dining experiences, the term either fills you with a shudder or joy.
I fall into the latter, an aeroplane culinary enthusiast – who eagerly awaits unveiling the contents of the tin-foil-covered offering that awaits my tastebuds.
But how is that food really made? Who cooked it? How long ago was it cooked? And most importantly, does it actually taste any good?
Singapore Airlines took me behind the scenes of their catering facility in Singapore to see how their food is made, who it’s made and inspired by and to try the dishes offered across the airline’s classes.
A whopping 52,000 meals a day come out of Centre 1 of the Singapore Airlines Terminal Services catering facility, manned by 860 staff, complete with chefs working out of the 11 unique purpose-built kitchens.
From a pastry kitchen to a dim sum kitchen and even a premium kitchen, the facilities are simple in appearance but world-class in their tech. They are built to test the quality of meals under the same conditions that passengers experience in the air with cabin pressure at the centre testing facility the same as an aircraft flying at 9000m/30,000 ft.
If you’ve travelled, you’ve experienced “aeroplane food”.
While past experiences from many airlines might lead you to believe human input was minimal in getting that food onto (or barely onto) your tray, Singapore Airlines prides itself on its award-winning dining experience, dreamed up with SIA’s culinary panel, Georges Blac of France, Matt Moran of Australia, Sanjeev Kapoor of India, Yoshihiro Murata of Japan, and Zhu Jun of China.
For as many complicated dishes as there are on their menu, from laksa, hawker style chicken and rice, lobster thermador and economy classes famous chicken biryani, the process runs strangely smoothly.
Food hygiene is a top priority for the entire team, with full PPE worn at all times and an airshower for all staff and visitors to go through before entering the first door of the facility. The airshower is bizarre to experience and explain, but to summarise - the cool blast of an airshower means they take hygiene and food safety very seriously.
Once inside, it’s a feast for the eyes and tastebuds - the economy-class food is made in gargantuan quantities, cooked from scratch in comically large vats, deep fryers, bowls and ovens and mixed with spoons and spatulas so large they wouldn’t be out of place in a garden shed.
The facility's oriental kitchen.
But despite the large size, it’s somehow all very precise with meals and ingredients all being weighed out perfectly, bags of pre-mixed seasoning and sauces the size of a standard pillow being tipped and transformed - no detail is missed in the dance that is meal prep.
And yes they use real eggs, not some egg powder - a question I too have asked on planes - and that potato is actually freshly peeled and mashed in a room built just for it, not made of instant mash flakes.
While business class and first class foods are cooked in their own kitchen, and book the cook requires its own level of detail, the general standards and stringent procedures remain the same.
Once cooked, food is then placed in a blast-chiller to arrest the cooking process before it can be sent for plating. At plating, the clock is ticking and if timings are out by even a minute the entire production line must be destroyed in order to stick to safety protocols.
After being hand-plated, trayed or boxed up, the food is immediately sent to the trolley building room. This is the room where those elbow-bashing suckers you see on the plane are filled and prepared for your flight ensuring each is perfectly stocked and ushered off safely to the awaiting plane when it arrives.
So how long does it sit before it reaches your hot little hands? For Singapore Airlines, their meals are made around 12 hours before the scheduled flights and stored to ensure they remain safe to consume and enjoy.
Once on the plane, the precision doesn’t stop there, in fact, that meal you selected has been perfectly paired with the current wine offerings on the plane, a behind-the-scenes I also got to be privy to during the trip.
So next time you peel back that economy-style tinfoil lid or glance your eyes on the fine china dish in business class, spare a thought for the 860 people, processes and airshowers it took to get it there. I know I sure will.
Jenni Mortimer is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and travel audience editor. Jenni started at the Herald in 2017 and previously worked as an education publication editor. She’s also the host of The Herald’s parenting podcast One Day You’ll Thank Me, mum to Knox and aeroplane culinary enthusiast.
