stefanie says

Almost everyone whom I’ve told about my love for airplane food have reacted with “Airplane food?? Why?” accompanied by a cringe and shaking of head.

It’s one of those little joys that I love getting excited over, and I find something to love in every aspect of it - The rarity that you can have it, unless you’re a frequent business flyer. The wonder of how they’ve prepared it all and how they got it heated up in the cabin at the back. The quaintness of little containers and the cutlery sets that are slightly smaller than standard (I think, who makes these tiny forks and knives?) The excitement of not knowing exactly how your food will look like until you lift the aluminum foil lid. The little cups of mineral water that you open precariously in the fear it’ll squirt all over.

And tray tables, with little grooves for your cups! The fact that you can go from sleeping to eating and back to sleeping again without moving from your seat - all the best things about breakfast in bed. How everything comes in its own little bowl, arranged onto a space slightly bigger than an A4 paper. The way you sort of have to eat everything really carefully in your confined space and try not to spill any sauce or coffee or juice on your blanket underneath. Salad sauce that comes in those little squeezy packets that you squish together and it breaks in between the barrels. The constant movement in your cup of water that reminds you you’re on the move. I will never stop being fascinated by cart trolleys - the way they seem to fit so much in those narrow things, full of secret slots and compartments.

Rarely is one so excited to see sachets of pepper and salt and creamer and sugar. I’ve probably horrified many neighbouring strangers at my ability (and persistence) at finishing everything presented on the tray. Sure, the rice and potatoes always tend to be either over-cooked or under-cooked, and the smoked salmon always has a suspiciously dull colour and limp tendency, but the thrill of eating something thousands of metres in the air outweighs all that.

So, if you ever fly with me and have a general distaste for airplane food. Don’t worry. Pass your tray over, and Il’l enjoy it enough for the both of us.