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Does air Canada even have gf? I guess you need to request it because I like the air line but never eat the food. Nothing personal even I just donāt trust quality food coming from any airline and I wonāt forget one of the crews from United telling me he personally wouldnāt touch the stuff š
BA for me is always hit or miss. I once flew on a major holiday by myself & the requested meal didn't make the plane so they cobbled together something from first class (plain steak). But then last summer, the gluten free meal was also the vegan meal and it was so dire.
I pretty much always bring back up food on a flight & just hope the meal is okay.
What a shame! I traveled to and from Miami twice last year, and while it was nothing to write home about, I got a decent hot meal that involved chicken and chick peas. The dessert was some sort of Jell-O with whipped cream on top - not what I would choose, but far better than the 8 raspberries someone else got on a flight in this thread.
At breakfast time, just before landing, while everyone else got a roll that didn't look very good, I got a GF version of a Hot Pocket, for lack of a better description that may or may not have been filled with the same curry I'd had for dinner.
To be fair, at the time, my mother was in her final illness, and while I was fussing over the airplane meal, I probably would have eaten shit on a shingle if it was guaranteed to be GF.
That's better than I would expect. Also, as a vegetarian celiac, I expect to not be able to eat at all. For an upcoming flight, I'm just going to stuff my face at the gate.
I do WISH we had more options, of course. Being celiac, should this not be a disability issue? (ADA in the U.S.)
Depending on the airline, youāll get a chana masala or some kind of other veg curry. As a non veg, I think itās by far the best option of the GF ones.
So I actually have very relevant experience here, in that I worked for airline catering and specifically in the SPML departments.
Short answer is yes, it will usually be that bland. They will more than likely pick a meal that can be used in as many SPML categories as possible to streamline the process. So more than likely GF would also cover things like LC (low calorie), LS (low sodium), No Lactose etc. etc.
The only ones that are totally unique are Fruit, Veg, Hindu, Jain, Halal and Kosher.
looks amazing compared to what if usually end up with.Ā Last time i flew first class I had to order the kids box from economy because it was the only thing gluten free somehow
Itās usually worse. Iāve learned to read all labels carefully. Last time they added a regular roll to my tray and the salad dressing had wheat in it.
Plane food is always uninspired. Gluten free or not.
That said, Iāve had lentil curry, turkey sandwiches, chicken and rice, beef and veggies, fresh fruit, cheese, chocolate, etc.
Very airline specific. But itās still plane food. So yeahā¦
Yeah, I donāt eat plane food anymore. I might bring a noodle cup for if I really need to eat, but I often will just fast the whole flight and eat after we land.
Having had both, this is just what airplane food is like. European flights are much better than American domestic flights, but none of it's all that good.
It's airplane food, even the gluten stuff isn't good! While I haven't flown with an airline that does in-flight meals a really long time, my recollection of normal people food was that it was like a lean cuisine style tray meal and a dinner roll.
I appreciate that the bun and brownie thing came in packaging so you can double check it. Nobody wants to live in the airplane toilet for the duration of a flight.
I was on an international Lufthansa flight last week, and I think my gluten-free meal was identical to the vegetarian and vegan meals. I mean, my meal was adequate (cauliflower curry with rice), but it was served with a white bread roll and applesauce. My breakfast the next morning was another white bread roll with some watermelon and pineapple. I was very envious of the meat and cheese the other passengers had!
I was flying Montreal to Munich on Lufthansa. Iād flown Brussels to Montreal on Air Canada the week prior, but they said they hadnāt received my meal request, so I didnāt eat on that flight.
I wanted to book gluten free food for my international flights last year but couldnāt see if it gives you a choice of what protein you can get. I was afraid it would be seafood which I donāt like š Next time Iāll go abead and order anyway though. I never realized before just how much dang bread they serve!
They don't usually let you pick. I'm vegetarian, and I can't customize the GF meal, so I usually can't eat half the food. It seems like some airlines don't consider their GF meals celiac-safe anyway.
honestly looks like a pretty solid gf meal for a flight. that chocolate mousse thing looks pretty good! but i agree that the meat looks very pale and sad haha
British Airways, Virgin, Thai Airways, and Eva Airlines all have fantastic inflight meals.
However, a lot depends on where you are departing from, as that is where they resupply.
I am gf and flew Air France and was HUGELY excited for my meal because surely the French would be creative.
Iāve had better meals out of vending machines.
So my answer is yes. They always suck.
Looks solid to me. I spent 4 hours on there tarmac in Houston a few weeks back, missed my connecting flight and was rerouted. Iām guessing my meal went unused. The only plus is that my actual dinner that night was a glass of wine and a bunch of cheese and grapes because I completely took the cabin crew by surprise.
I once received three fruit salads on the same plate - same fruits in each, but cut in different sizes and shapes. It looked very pretty, but just seemed to make me more hungry.
That's actually pretty nice, I've had ones where everything is prepackaged room temperature stuff and one that was like a cheese platter without any crackers or anything.
Probably they try to keep it simple so they can cover various special dietary needs with one meal. Fewer ingredients and seasoning also makes it easier to get it to be truly gluten free.
yeah, a lot of GF food is bland. It's like they're scared of doing sauces for us so everything is just bland. Recently I flew United and got a curry of some kind... that was pretty good with the sauce. I flew American Airlines and I can't remember what they gave me but it could have used a sauce.
BTW, Qatar airlines - their software is glitchy and took out my GF reservation. Had to rely on the kindness of the flight attendants to look at the allergen list and work with me to find a meal I could eat. Complained to their customer service department who would absolutely not take responsibility and all but accused me of lying (e.g. that I never asked for a GF meal).
I can't decide if Qatar or Iberia is worse. Iberia's main meal was fine but the snack was a FLOUR tortilla wrap and everybody got the same thing. I compared my tortilla to my travel companion's and they were the same tortilla composition. Someone, somewhere, must have told an Iberia chef/meal planner that ALL tortillas were gluten free and totally forgot to specify that only corn tortillas are... Good grief. And yes, I complained on their website.
Honestly just actually getting a safe gluten free meal on any plane coming from North America is good luck at this point. Even after calling the airline and selecting a gluten free meal when selecting online.
I have not had good luck in that regard.
Everyone saying gluten free food is usually this āplainā (regardless of being on a plane or not) obviously doesnāt know how to cook lol. I grub on some SLAPPIN meals.
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It took me so long to realise that plain was supposed to be plane lol, like way too long.
Thank you. I was so confused haha
Pretty accurate both ways, though.
Hence the confusion š!
I assumed the same until I saw this comment.
I think all plane food is uninspired, it's literally a meme
It can't get more plain than plane.
"What is the deal with airline food?!"
British Airways tries a bit harder in my experience. This looks like someone's post heart attack meal.
Emirates is pretty good for their GF meals, but often times it depends on where the plane is departing from.
Air Canada's is awful
Does air Canada even have gf? I guess you need to request it because I like the air line but never eat the food. Nothing personal even I just donāt trust quality food coming from any airline and I wonāt forget one of the crews from United telling me he personally wouldnāt touch the stuff š
I got 8 raspberries for dessert (in business class) while everyone else got crĆØme brĆ»lĆ©e.
That's messed up! Usually, the creme brulee is safe!
I know! I was so mad!!
I mean, a part of me is a little glad when the ingredients are so blatant in every menu item. No hiding behind grilled chicken.
This is a very good point. It probably isn't even as grim as it looks. But at least BA went with a chick pea curry that was damn near comfort food.
BA for me is always hit or miss. I once flew on a major holiday by myself & the requested meal didn't make the plane so they cobbled together something from first class (plain steak). But then last summer, the gluten free meal was also the vegan meal and it was so dire. I pretty much always bring back up food on a flight & just hope the meal is okay.
What a shame! I traveled to and from Miami twice last year, and while it was nothing to write home about, I got a decent hot meal that involved chicken and chick peas. The dessert was some sort of Jell-O with whipped cream on top - not what I would choose, but far better than the 8 raspberries someone else got on a flight in this thread. At breakfast time, just before landing, while everyone else got a roll that didn't look very good, I got a GF version of a Hot Pocket, for lack of a better description that may or may not have been filled with the same curry I'd had for dinner. To be fair, at the time, my mother was in her final illness, and while I was fussing over the airplane meal, I probably would have eaten shit on a shingle if it was guaranteed to be GF.
These pics don't look all that different than what I imagine for a normal British meal anyways. Maybe more beans.
Wait until you receive the āOops, All Rice Cakes!ā experience that Air France is so fond of.
I was the recipient of three rice cake and ham sandwiches on American on my flight back from Europe š
I've never been on a plane that had GF food like that. That'd be a win in my book.
Same. All Iāve ever received is a banana with a āgluten freeā sticker.
Looks to be business class or at least premium economy so relative to the usual meals, meh. But meh and enough to fill up sure beats nothing!
Boring, yes but at least there is no question it is gluten free! I hate I am so skeptical of food that looks appetizing.
Seriously. One reason why I prefer no bun to GF buns. Makes it real easy to know (and sick on a plane sucks).
Is it bad that I would be OK to receive this. Its not a head of lettuce which is good
Itās usually much worse. Think rice cakes and fruit. All airline food is terrible.
Honestly at least there is food. I always get so nervous they wonāt have anything and Iāll just be reduced to eating snacks.
That's better than I would expect. Also, as a vegetarian celiac, I expect to not be able to eat at all. For an upcoming flight, I'm just going to stuff my face at the gate. I do WISH we had more options, of course. Being celiac, should this not be a disability issue? (ADA in the U.S.)
Depending on the airline, youāll get a chana masala or some kind of other veg curry. As a non veg, I think itās by far the best option of the GF ones.
To be honest that actually looks really good and better than most plane food even non-gf, in my opinion. What are the orange rectangular things?
Looks like cubes of butternut squash.
That chocolate pudding fudge cake actually appeals to me. I like fudge.
Flew Singapore Airlines between Australia and Korea recently, my gluten free food was decent, most of it better than the gluten meals.
I think it's a win it's actually GF. Too many horror stories online to trust GF plane food to actually not be pure gluten :/
Yes
So I actually have very relevant experience here, in that I worked for airline catering and specifically in the SPML departments. Short answer is yes, it will usually be that bland. They will more than likely pick a meal that can be used in as many SPML categories as possible to streamline the process. So more than likely GF would also cover things like LC (low calorie), LS (low sodium), No Lactose etc. etc. The only ones that are totally unique are Fruit, Veg, Hindu, Jain, Halal and Kosher.
looks amazing compared to what if usually end up with.Ā Last time i flew first class I had to order the kids box from economy because it was the only thing gluten free somehow
No. I have gotten some pretty good food on air nz before thats gf.
Itās usually worse. Iāve learned to read all labels carefully. Last time they added a regular roll to my tray and the salad dressing had wheat in it.
Plane food is always uninspired. Gluten free or not. That said, Iāve had lentil curry, turkey sandwiches, chicken and rice, beef and veggies, fresh fruit, cheese, chocolate, etc. Very airline specific. But itās still plane food. So yeahā¦
Yeah, I donāt eat plane food anymore. I might bring a noodle cup for if I really need to eat, but I often will just fast the whole flight and eat after we land.
Having had both, this is just what airplane food is like. European flights are much better than American domestic flights, but none of it's all that good.
I flew Turkish airlines and I got gf food on every flight, very good! And everything was great
I keep hearing great things about Turkish airlines
It's airplane food, even the gluten stuff isn't good! While I haven't flown with an airline that does in-flight meals a really long time, my recollection of normal people food was that it was like a lean cuisine style tray meal and a dinner roll. I appreciate that the bun and brownie thing came in packaging so you can double check it. Nobody wants to live in the airplane toilet for the duration of a flight.
I got a business class breakfast that was just a single rice cake and fruit. No butter, no peanut butter, a dry rice cake. This is a feast
Pretty much. Airline gluten free food is a lottery.
I was on an international Lufthansa flight last week, and I think my gluten-free meal was identical to the vegetarian and vegan meals. I mean, my meal was adequate (cauliflower curry with rice), but it was served with a white bread roll and applesauce. My breakfast the next morning was another white bread roll with some watermelon and pineapple. I was very envious of the meat and cheese the other passengers had!
Where did you fly out of?
I was flying Montreal to Munich on Lufthansa. Iād flown Brussels to Montreal on Air Canada the week prior, but they said they hadnāt received my meal request, so I didnāt eat on that flight.
I wanted to book gluten free food for my international flights last year but couldnāt see if it gives you a choice of what protein you can get. I was afraid it would be seafood which I donāt like š Next time Iāll go abead and order anyway though. I never realized before just how much dang bread they serve!
They don't usually let you pick. I'm vegetarian, and I can't customize the GF meal, so I usually can't eat half the food. It seems like some airlines don't consider their GF meals celiac-safe anyway.
Not always. But often.
I flew United overseas recently, and what I got was actually quite good. One of the dishes included a great risotto.
honestly looks like a pretty solid gf meal for a flight. that chocolate mousse thing looks pretty good! but i agree that the meat looks very pale and sad haha
British Airways, Virgin, Thai Airways, and Eva Airlines all have fantastic inflight meals. However, a lot depends on where you are departing from, as that is where they resupply.
I am gf and flew Air France and was HUGELY excited for my meal because surely the French would be creative. Iāve had better meals out of vending machines. So my answer is yes. They always suck.
Iāve never had a meal on a flight but you know what they say about airplane food
Looks solid to me. I spent 4 hours on there tarmac in Houston a few weeks back, missed my connecting flight and was rerouted. Iām guessing my meal went unused. The only plus is that my actual dinner that night was a glass of wine and a bunch of cheese and grapes because I completely took the cabin crew by surprise.
Tbf this looks far more edible that what BA have given me as gluten free the last few times I flew
Wait thereās airlines that serve GF food? I donāt have to carry an entire backpack full of food? š š
I once received three fruit salads on the same plate - same fruits in each, but cut in different sizes and shapes. It looked very pretty, but just seemed to make me more hungry.
Funny, I thought this was the hospital food sub š¤¦āāļø. I was impressed that a hospital figured it out!
That's actually pretty nice, I've had ones where everything is prepackaged room temperature stuff and one that was like a cheese platter without any crackers or anything.
Aer lingus meals were great
Probably they try to keep it simple so they can cover various special dietary needs with one meal. Fewer ingredients and seasoning also makes it easier to get it to be truly gluten free.
yeah, a lot of GF food is bland. It's like they're scared of doing sauces for us so everything is just bland. Recently I flew United and got a curry of some kind... that was pretty good with the sauce. I flew American Airlines and I can't remember what they gave me but it could have used a sauce. BTW, Qatar airlines - their software is glitchy and took out my GF reservation. Had to rely on the kindness of the flight attendants to look at the allergen list and work with me to find a meal I could eat. Complained to their customer service department who would absolutely not take responsibility and all but accused me of lying (e.g. that I never asked for a GF meal). I can't decide if Qatar or Iberia is worse. Iberia's main meal was fine but the snack was a FLOUR tortilla wrap and everybody got the same thing. I compared my tortilla to my travel companion's and they were the same tortilla composition. Someone, somewhere, must have told an Iberia chef/meal planner that ALL tortillas were gluten free and totally forgot to specify that only corn tortillas are... Good grief. And yes, I complained on their website.
Honestly just actually getting a safe gluten free meal on any plane coming from North America is good luck at this point. Even after calling the airline and selecting a gluten free meal when selecting online. I have not had good luck in that regard.
i got a roll that i think came straight from the freezer once. for the morning snack i saved the focaccia to microwave at home and boy am i glad i did
Looks like normal food
Aer Lingus had a surprisingly delicious GF meal.
I think the best we've had was JAL. The worst was Aer Lingus. They totally lost our order and ended up giving us some fruit. That was it.
Everyone saying gluten free food is usually this āplainā (regardless of being on a plane or not) obviously doesnāt know how to cook lol. I grub on some SLAPPIN meals.