Man reveals the world’s most delicious airplane meals from Cajun spiced salmon to ricotta-filled ravioli
Food blogger Nikos Loukas believes you can find tasty grub at 35,000 feet
NIKOS Loukas is a keen foodstagrammer, but his culinary interests are different than most.
Rather than snap fancy fare or exotic delicacies during his travels, this frequent flyer prefers to turn the camera on his in-flight meals — a kind of food that is generally considered the gastronomic lowlight of any trip abroad.
But Nikos reckons there’s great grub to be found at 35,000 feet — if you know what to order and which airline to fly with.
Thankfully, this flying foodie has done the hard work for us.
With about 300 in-flight meals under his belt, Nikos makes a living off sampling and reviewing airline food and has come to understand why meals on flights can taste so awful.
Since 2012 the Dublin-based Australian has used Instagram — and later, his website Inflight Feed — to showcase the good, the bad and the ugly of airline meals.
“I just started doing it for fun,” he told .
“I travel a fair bit for work and for pleasure so I wanted to start keeping a log of all my airline food experiences. Instagram is great for that.
“Generally I find [airline food] OK — sometimes it’s horrible, and other times it’s like dining in a fine restaurant, even in economy class.”
Nikos said the airlines dishing up the best meals were Turkish Airlines, Aegean Airlines, Scandinavian Airlines and “any Japanese airline, as they are so meticulous about everything”.
He said the most impressive meal he’d eaten was with Singapore Airlines.
“The Japanese Kyo-Kayseki meal in first class, or the Lobster Thermidor. Amazing,” he said.
“Sure, it’s first class, but I’ve had similar experiences in economy class with airlines in Europe.”
As for one of the worst? Nikos said a gloop of mystery meat on a Ukraine International Airlines flight lurched dangerously close to a culinary horror.
Having taken an estimated 400 flights, Nikos has become somewhat of an expert in knowing what to order and what to avoid in any travel class.
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“If there is a curry available on the menu, choose it,” he said. “It tends to travel quite well and retain its flavour at 35,000 feet.
"We tend to lose up to 30 per cent of our sense of taste and smell when travelling up in the air, so that has a lot to do with why your meal might not taste the best.
“If you want to avoid being bloated try to stick to salads and cold dishes only, and drink lots of water.
“Airline meals aren’t always heavy, but sitting down and not doing much for up to 12 hours can take its toll on you.”
Nikos has recently started a crowd-funding campaign to help finance his upcoming documentary, The Inflight Food Trip — It’s Not Just Plane Food!, which will explore the wonders of in-flight dining and provide a behind-the-scenes look at airline food production.
“The documentary is hoping to lift the lid on airline meals, we want to show people that not all airline meals are created equal,” he said.
“And there really are some great airlines and in-flight caterers out there trying hard to please even economy passengers.”
Follow Nikos Loukas’ airline food adventures on his website or .