Why do you feel bad on-board meals?

ByJohan Larsson

When eating in-flight meals and sweets provided in an airplane, it may be felt different from usual taste. The BBC clarifies why the taste of a person changes over the sky and what kind of countermeasures are taken by airlines.

BBC - Future - Why does food taste different on planes?
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150112-why-in-flight-food-tastes-weird


What makes me feel awkward about the in-flight meal provided inside an airplane is that as the aircraft got up to the altitude of 30,000 feet (about 9000 meters), changes in taste and smell occurred and in airplanes kept air pressure It is due to the loss of perception ability of saltiness and sweetness, "says Las Brown, who is responsible for overseeing meals at American Airlines. Professor Charles Spence, who studies experimental psychology at Oxford University on the cause of taste change in the sky, says that three factors, "humidity reduction", "barometric pressure reduction" and "surrounding sound", are relevant I will.

As the airplane takes off and raises altitude, atmospheric pressure decreases and the humidity inside the airplane gradually decreases. At an altitude of about 9000 meters, the humidity is less than 12%Dry than the desertIt is said to be in a state. According to a survey conducted in 2010, the organ of the tongue feels sweet and salty in the sky is about 30% dull as compared with the ground. Organs that feel acidity, bitter taste and pungent taste are hardly affected by a decrease in atmospheric pressure or humidity, but human beings also feel the taste from the "smell of cooking", and in the dry aircraft, the nasal mucosa that perceives the smell It does not work well and seems to feel food more casually than usual.

ByM Glasgow

For that reason, airlines are devised so that they can eat more deliciously by adding more salt and spices to the in-flight meal. Mr. Brown says, "Adding an appropriate amount of seasoning is key to providing flavorful in-flight meals." According to Jerry McLaughlin, a chef by United Airlines, "It is rich in flight meal by using exciting spices".If you eat while listening to loud BGM, you will feel saltiness and sweetness lightlyBased on the research that it seems that the salty taste of the dish is darkened in consideration of intermittent hearing of the engine sound of the airplane in the cabin.

ByKārlis Dambrāns

Furthermore, in addition to "reduction in atmospheric pressure / humidity" and "influence of sound", there are also causes for "recipe for in-flight meal". Many airlines warm up in-flight meals frozen after cooking on the ground using a convection oven over the sky. The main way to cook dishes by hot air is because microwave cooking and direct cooking are prohibited, which means that it will change to a different taste from that offered on the ground.

ByChristopher Doyle

Each airline company is developing a meal in-flight on a daily basis at an experimental facility that reproduces the environment inside the aircraft so that it can enjoy tasty food even in the sky. It seems that the following measures are taken as an example.

· Utilizing new cooking methods such as vacuum cooking method
· Devised cuisine including "umami" that is not affected by changes in atmospheric pressure, such as sardines, seaweeds, mushrooms, tomatoes, soy sauce
· Offer fruity and acidity thin wine