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Airline food comes of age
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February 12, 1998: 3:51 p.m. ET
New optional menus include meals for many health and religious restrictions
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NEW YORK (Biztravel.com) - When it came to airline food, it used to be that passengers didn't have much of a choice except whether to eat the stuff or not.
However, today's airlines offer an increasing array of special entrees for travelers with various dietary requirements, and soon it might be only a very few fliers who eat what's on the default menu.
The current list of special menus includes vegetarian, non-lactose/vegan, Kosher, Hindu, Muslim, Asiatic, diabetic, low-salt, low-fat, low-carbohydrate, low-cholesterol, low-purine (acid-free), gluten-free, high-protein, bland, fruit plates and seafood platters.
All dietary and religious restrictions are strictly observed, to the point where Kosher meals on Continental, for example, come wrapped in cellophane and sealed with a certificate stating that the meal was prepared according to rabbinical guidelines.
Not all airlines offer all of these special menus, nor do the airlines make their complete repertoires available on all flights. Menu offerings typically differ depending on the length of the flight and whether it's flying transcontinental, trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific.
Naturally, flights involving legs to Israel or Japan will more typically include a Kosher or Asiatic menu, respectively.
In general, airlines require no more than 24 hours notice to prepare a special meal, with United Airlines even promising to meet requests made within six hours of flight departure time. Anonymous information requests to the 800 numbers of various airlines yielded unfailingly patient reservations agents who took the time to explain in detail the various cold and hot entrees available on several sample flights for a host of special menus. Here's what we learned:
American Airlines
American offers ten special menus (plus children's), ranging from Kosher to "American Heart Healthy" to seafood and fruit platters. Transcontinental flights allow for a Weight Watchers entree of chicken fettucine with only 418 calories and 11 grams of fat.
Other highlights include a diabetic breakfast -- a plain bagel with unsalted margarine and low-calorie jelly, a banana, Total cereal and skim milk - and a gluten- and lactose-free dinner of shrimp cocktail, rice cake, salad, lemon vinaigrette, fruit, and fiesta chicken.
America West
Diabetic, vegetarian, low-calorie, fruit plate and Kosher meals are available. A sample diabetic breakfast includes an omelet, broiled tomato, Canadian bacon, fruit and whole wheat bread. A sample Kosher breakfast features a Spanish omelet with potato pancakes, sliced peaches and a roll with apple jelly. Kosher dinners feature chicken Oriental, turkey breast or turkey salami, sliced peaches and danish pastry or cake.
Continental
Continental offers a dozen special menus, including Hindu, Muslim, and a special Passover menu in addition to the regular Kosher meals. A diabetic lunch includes tossed salad with fat-free dressing, wheat-crusted chicken in a green peppercorn sauce, white and wild rice, a vegetable medley and a fat-free brownie. A vegan dinner features tossed salad with fat-free dressing, stuffed pepper with grains and legumes and an all-natural oatmeal cookie.
Kosher breakfast includes a bagel served with Nova salmon and cream cheese and a blueberry muffin. A Kosher dinner features a hot entree of stuffed cornish hen, string beans, and rice with peas and pimentos.
Delta
Eighteen special menus including baby's, toddler's, and child's meals, three vegetarian options, two seafood platters (hot and cold) and religious meals are available on Delta flights. Vegetarian entrees -- all of which are served with salad, bread and fruit -- include a choice of black pepper pasta primavera; sautéed spinach with bean ragout; or ratatouille.
A low-sodium lunch or dinner might feature salad, bread, and a fruit dessert, with an entree choice of chicken breast with curry sauce, turkey with tomato herb sauce, chicken tenders with eggplant ragout, or Cajun-style turkey. Muslim meals feature either grilled oriental scallops and an oriental pasta blend; or baked sea bass, pineapple butter, broccoli florets, pineapple salsa and herbed corn cake.
Northwest
Northwest offers 20 special menus, including three vegetarian options, a sulfite-free offering, and separate infant and child menus. Sample menus include a hot dinner suitable for diabetic, low-calorie, low-carbohydrate, low-fat, low-cholesterol and low-sodium requests that contains spinach salad, reduced calorie/reduced sodium dressing, wasa crackers, unsalted margarine, fresh fruit and chicken Oriental with risi bisi.
Delta's vegetarian/vegan hot dinner includes salad, low calorie/low sodium dressing, wasa cracker, fresh fruit, an entree of brown rice and mixed vegetables and mixed fruit compote. A hot Kosher dinner features chicken, noodles in wine sauce, green beans and carrots with mushrooms and pearl onions, fruit, cake and non-dairy creamer.
TWA
About a dozen special menus are available, including a seafood and a fruit platter specially offered to frequent fliers. For now, the vegetarian meal is served when Hindu or Muslim meals are requested, but the airline is working on developing specific menus for these religions' dietary requirements.
Sample menus include a low-sodium lunch of green salad, fresh fruit, melba toast, and sweet and sour chicken or herbed chicken breast. A vegetarian, Asiatic, Indian, and non-lactose lunch includes a salad and fresh fruit with either grilled polenta with rice and a vegetable mix, or a Bombay curry of eggplant and potato with white rice, mixed with pineapples and coconut. A Kosher dinner might be salad nicoise, roast chicken with baby carrots and sliced green beans, and apple pie served with pareve cream.
United
Sixteen special menus, including three vegetarian options, low-purine, Kosher, Muslim, Hindu, and Obento Japanese meals, are offered.
United's sample diabetic dinner menu includes a dinner roll with margarine, fresh garden salad with diet dressing, pear halves, white wild rice salad with raw vegetables and marinated chicken breast with penne pasta and zucchini. A low-fat/low-cholesterol breakfast features a plain bagel with artificially-sweetened preserves and margarine, a fresh fruit appetizer and an egg-substitute omelet with pan-roasted vegetables and fire-roasted pepper sauce.
The Asian vegetarian main meal offers a plain rice cake with natural preserves, fresh garden salad with lemon rice wine vinaigrette dressing, peach halves, vegetarian steak appetizer and vegetarian pasta with curry sauce.
U.S. Airways
Twenty-one special menus, including low-purine, bland, high fiber, high protein, and a cold seafood platter are available. A sample Hindu/Asian vegetarian lunch includes a tomato and cucumber salad, rice pilaf, cauliflower and coconut melange, stuffed pepper, grapes and melba rounds. The gluten-free entree features a salad with diet French dressing, grilled marinated chicken breast, rice and vegetable of the day and sliced fruit.
Both the Muslim and Kosher meals include pita bread, salad, a chicken entree and sliced fruit. The cold seafood entree features a shrimp salad or tuna nicoise, crackers and grapes. 
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