Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Jet Airways in-flight food experience


I've got a air travel problem. During my Jet Airways return flight this month the tin foil canister that my main course came in was a bit odd. May be its been odd all throughout and I never noticed it as I always eat while watching a movie during the flight. But it did not escape my hawk eyes this time. I noticed that every time I scraped my fork into the canister to take a bite of rice it peeled off a thin layer of white film from the base of the inside of the canister. 

And this was towards the end of my meal when most of the rice was in my tummy and I could see the bottom of the canister from the inside. It shined silver in places where the white film had been scraped off and was a pale white in spots where the film had not been attacked by the tines of my fork. 

Being a self proclaimed OCD I suffered a minor anxiety attack and called for an in flight attendant. At first he told me he will ask his supervisor and get back to me. Thoughts about what it was raced through my mind - plastic, fungus, what have you! But I waited. Patiently. 

Another flight attendant, a 'she' this time, passed by and on watching me sit like a statue with my canister missing inquired if I was all right and whether my main course was missing. I repeated my reservations about the packaging of the food, her colleague who I'd spoken to on noticing the oddity, entered our conversation and backed me up. 

I questioned whether or not the film was edible and if it wasn't what was it and if it would have any impacts on my health. She replied back saying only time will tell as the film was already in my system! And that she was not aware of what it contained. Panic attack again!

After speaking to her supervisor she got back to me confirming that the film is to protect the food from getting burnt when they reheat the food and that it was edible. I felt much better on listening to this confirmation but there was this sense of uneasiness that lingered in my head about what it was. And I am still a bit unsure about it. 

May be you could help me investigate and find out! If you know anyone who will be traveling via Jet Airways please request them to check for this film and observe if the same thing happens when they try to scrape off the base of their canisters. And if they do, request them to question the in-flight staff like I did. Please let me know what they reply!

I wonder how the supply chain of in-flight food works.

On another note, mine was a Jain meal which was made up of a pot of curd, a canister of boiled rice sandwiched between stale smelling palak paneer and a dry vegetable made from cabbage and coconut, which was awful by the way. 

This is another issue, I wonder why chefs confine themselves to sticking to the standard, redundant, tasteless, unadventurous dishes out of all the delicious Jain and vegetarian food that they can offer!

I've traveled by Jet airways multiple times and have always enjoyed their main course and desserts. Even when it has been the standard mixed vegetable and paneer tikka masala with bread. But not this time though, the cabbage and coconut was horrid. 

What has also always been horrid is their choice of fruits and salad leaves in their salad bowl which go brown on the edges from being kept under cling foil for days I suppose. And the fruits are generally moist and swimming in their own juice - they are sweet but are chopped up in big chunks and are soggy!

Policy with any food service should be this - if you can't serve it well, don't serve it. It is a waste of food and all the energy, time and money that goes in delivering the fruits and veggies to our seats.

Being a Jain what I do love is the fact that all muffins served on Jet flights are egg-fee so kudos for that! Though the chocolate chips in the muffins are hard as gravel. Ouch!

Sorry Jet I know I've been a bit too harsh but I love your in-flight entertainment and will always travel with you and am spitting fire because I want you to improve.

By the way, happy twenty years!

2 comments:

  1. Yash, I was auditing TFS Gate - the company which does inflight catering for Jet Airways, through TajSats. That white film you talk about, is indeed for preservative purposes, and is edible. :D

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  2. Oh Yash! The light of my life! That is brilliant news! Sorry for the attack Jet and glad it was all edible. Blame it on my OCD! On a other note, Yash, please can you mention in their audit report that they must scrap cabbage coconut off the menu! They can contact me if they want help redoing thier veg- jain menu! ;)

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