Particularly in business class, airlines have to work extra hard to impress seasoned flyers with their food offerings.
Lufthansa (DLAKF) and Japan Airlines (JPNRF) have both, at different points, launched in-flight menus featuring caviar, while Alaska Airlines (ALK) recently collaborated with the chef behind the popular San Francisco Michelin restaurant Mister Jiu to feature a menu of items including braised duck leg, roasted black cod topped with ginger-scallion sauce and silken tofu and mapo sauce, and breakfast congee with braised pork belly.
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Based out of Istanbul Airport (IST) and often called the world’s “most connected” airline because it runs flights to a record-beating 349 destinations, Turkey’s flagship carrier Turkish Airlines just announced the launch of a new bread meant to highlight the country’s ancient history. The baked roll, dubbed the Oldest Bread, is made from a blend of einkorn and emmer wheat types whose origins antiquity historians say date back up to 12,000 years to early Anatolian agriculture on Turkey’s southeastern Tas Tepeler region.
Bread now served in business class taps into nation’s ancient agricultural history
Developed by Turkish chef Ömür Akkor and anthropology historian Çetin Senkul and prepared by the airline’s catering partner Turkish DO&CO, the Oldest Bread will be offered to Turkish Airlines travelers taking intercontinental flights in business class.
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This will include the new route between Istanbul and Sydney the airline announced last week but also multiple flights between Turkey and the U.S.; the airline currently runs 28 weekly flights between Istanbul and JFK as well as 14 weekly flights to other U.S. destinations such as Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami. Bread, which is an integral part of Turkish cuisine and food culture, is also meant to serve as a welcome to Turkey for travelers coming from other places.
“With this bread, traditional to Turkish cuisine and significant to global culinary history, we aim to blend past and present together on our inflight guest experiences,” Turkish Airlines Board Chairman Prof. Ahmet Bolat said in a statement. “We hope that our new menu item will be appreciated by our guests as we continue our award-winning leadership in the field of in-flight dining.”
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Airlines increasingly taking steps to showcase culture through food
While the large number of meals that need to be made for economy passengers usually make this too challenging, airlines will often use their business class menus to highlight ingredients and food culture from their home base.
Singapore Airlines (SINGF) dishes such as laksa, chicken rice and bee hon regularly land it on lists of the best in-flight food in the world while Air France AFRAF has a tradition of offering a selection of French classics such as macarons and local cheeses.
Some other local business class menu items introduced by other airlines in 2024 include Hawaiian Airlines mai tais, salmon and beet poke and soy-braised short rib and Cathay Pacific (CPCAF) ‘s partnership with Michelin-starred Hong Kong restaurant Duddell’s for an in-flight menu of Cantonese classics such as chilled abalone, drunken prawns and lettuce wraps with rice crackers.
Over in the U.S., Delta Air Lines (DAL) also recently partnered with Hong Kong-Singaporean chef and restaurateur Jereme Leung to design a new locallyinspired menu for a new flight between Seattle and Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TPE).
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