Last month, a traveler posted a photo to Reddit of his girlfriend’s vegetarian meal for a 12-hour flight. It wasn’t pretty.
The sandwich featured two grim cucumber slices and wan tomatoes. On the top half of the dry roll, faint oval imprints of the filling resembled cupping therapy marks. If the flight attendants had tried to revive the meal, they failed.
As a vegan, I could relate. For travelers who don’t eat animal products, the special meal delivered to our seat is often a mystery: What will the ingredients be? How was it prepared? Will it be halfway palatable?
We know the usual suspects all too well, tomato-soupy ratatouille, salty rice the color of pale sunshine or an anemic salad. We squirrel away extra packets of Biscoff not because we are members of the cookie’s fan club; we’re just trying to survive the flight.
The pitiful cuke is the latest publicly shared slight to vegetarian and vegan travelers seeking sustenance on airplanes. In 2023, a Japan Airlines passenger received a solitary banana with chopsticks for his vegan business-class breakfast. In March, Donna Zeigfinger, founder of Green Earth Travel, ordered a quinoa plate on a United flight. The travel adviser’s plant-based meal came with a side of chicken strips.
“They’re not quite getting it,” said Zeigfinger, a longtime vegan. “They’re still not understanding.”
Airlines are constantly investing in meal service, especially in the higher ticket categories. American Airlines recently unveiled its reimagined menu, which included such meat-free dishes as truffle ricotta ravioli and vegetable and garbanzo bean tagine with couscous. Yet, veg travelers are discovering a disconnect between what’s on the menu and what lands with a thud — or whimper — on their tray table.
“One word — disgusting,” said Nikki Dewan, a Vegetarian Society member who participated in a recent Facebook survey about airplane food. “Airlines don’t make an effort to bring good, delicious and wholesome food for the airline customers.”
In a Gallup poll conducted in July, 4 percent of Americans said they were vegetarians. So, why aren’t airlines doing better? And can they please cheer up that sad cucumber with a little dressing?
Missing meals force airlines to improvise
In general, a catering company or in-house culinary team plans the in-flight menus and prepares thousands of meals and snacks in an industrial kitchen on the airport grounds. The airlines assume that all of the passengers will eat the standard meals unless they are otherwise informed.
No different from a restaurant or wedding reception, it is the diner’s responsibility to inform the host (in this case, the airline) of dietary restrictions or meal preferences. Most carriers require passengers to submit their meal choices at least 24 to 48 hours before departure, so the chefs can fill the special orders. If you wait until you’re on the plane to share your requirements, you could end up with an improvised meal conjured in the galley.
“I was always amazed by the time it takes to put together a special meal, which is actually not that easy,” said Daniel Klein, executive chef for research and development at LSG Group, one of the world’s largest airline catering firms. “That’s why I can sometimes see why you might just get a banana, because it’s a last-minute request.”
However, reserving a meal is no guarantee that you will receive it. The flight attendant might not deliver the dish to its rightful owner because of a technical glitch, human error or passenger interference.
“It’s not just the quality of the food or the availability. It’s actually the service,” said Deirdra Barr, director of communications for the U.K.-based Vegetarian Society. “So many people’s vegetarian or vegan meals go missing or someone else gets them, and that means they’re left with nothing.”
Grace Philips, a Vegetarian Society member, knew exactly what happened to her veg meal on a recent flight: Another passenger didn’t “fancy the meat option” and asked for the vegetarian option instead. When the flight attendant reached her seat, all of the veg meals were gone. “I was hungry,” she shared on the group’s Facebook page.
In these instances, the flight attendants will often assemble an improvised plate of food for the neglected passenger. They will forage in the galley or pinch items from their own mini-coolers.
On a flight from New York to Scotland, Elyse Mercedes King said a flight attendant donated her two apples. Vanessa Winsor once survived a long-haul trip with three segments of a satsuma mandarin, six grapes and a bread roll.
When Zeigfinger flew United from Washington Dulles to Berlin, her preordered vegan meal never materialized. The flight attendant tried to correct the injustice with a slapdash meal, plus 700 frequent-flier points.
“The flight attendant was really angry,” Zeigfinger said. “She acknowledged that this was a serious thing.”
The best and worst airlines for vegetarians and vegans
In the 1990s, many travelers who identified as carnivores on the ground became temporary vegetarians when flying. The meatless meal seemed like the tastier and less enigmatic option.
“People who weren’t vegetarian were ordering the vegetarian meal because it was so much better than the chicken or beef they would serve on the plane,” said James Doran, director of business development, tourism and hospitality practice at SIS International Research.
As airlines chase after loyalty members and elite travelers, they are paying more attention to overall meal service, including the previously maligned proteins. Some carriers have teamed up with celebrity chefs, such as Delta’s partnerships with Michelle Bernstein, Michael Chiarello and Linton Hopkins. Air France works with Michelin-starred French chefs and award-winning pastry chefs.
Charles Platkin, founder and executive director of the Center for Food as Medicine, described vegan and vegetarian meals as an “afterthought” in this profit-driven market. Even so, the major airlines are still providing special meals, including several that go beyond the traditional veg diet. The subcategories include Asian vegetarian, vegetarian lacto-ovo, fruit platter and Jain, a vegetarian diet that eschews root vegetables.
Travelers note that airlines that cater to populations inclined toward vegetarianism, for cultural or religious reasons, often excel in this department. Doran fondly recalled a vegetarian Malay meal on Malaysian Airlines and an Indian-style vegetarian dish on Emirates. However, this rule doesn’t always apply.
“Very surprisingly Air India is terrible on the occasions I’ve flown with them,” Teresa Dawkes shared on the Vegetarian Society’s Facebook page. “Pretty inedible and they didn’t have any gin.”
Ashley Isaacs Ganz, the vegetarian founder of the luxury tour operator Artisans of Leisure, said she wishes carriers based in countries with strong vegetarian traditions would better showcase their culinary heritage. For example, she suggested Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways incorporate Japanese temple cuisine into their menus.
“I always want to have the Japanese meal, but the different components of the meal are, for the most part, not vegetarian,” she said. “I would love for them to take it to the next level.”
In a Vegetarian Society Facebook post about airplane food, more airlines were panned than praised. Patricia Thompson called Irish carrier Aer Lingus “woeful” for serving dry veggie pasta for dinner and canapés with chicken bits that the flight attendants offered to pick off.
Not just pasta and salad anymore
To be fair, some airlines have been refining their palates.
Since 2009, Swiss has partnered with Hiltl, which claims to be the world’s oldest vegetarian restaurant (it was founded in Zurich in 1898). The airline celebrated its 10-year anniversary with a three-course meal that included spicy beetroot tabbouleh, penne with vegetarian bolognaise or massaman curry for the main course, and a vegan mango mousse for dessert.
In November, Australian carrier Qantas launched new vegan menu items in all of its classes. Economy passengers can dine on lemon herb pearl couscous with roasted carrots, baby beans and toasted almonds. Higher classes can sample such dishes as pumpkin and ginger soup with sourdough croutons; stir-fried shiitake mushrooms with tofu, chrysanthemum greens and jasmine rice; or plant-based orecchiette with sautéed mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower cream and pangrattato.
For its latest vegan and vegetarian menus, Air New Zealand introduced such dishes as cannellini bean smash with pan-fried tofu spinach and jackfruit with coconut red curry and black mustard seed steamed rice.
Klein recently developed a Western-themed vegan menu for Korean Air. For first class, he created a trio of amuse-bouches, including an onion puree flavored with passion fruit; smashed Yukon potatoes with fresh truffles and a chestnut puree; and a risotto with roasted vegetables.
He said the biggest challenge in crafting innovative in-flight meals is not the altitude, which dulls the taste buds, but the cost of some products. He said alternative meats are too expensive to include on menus.
“They are still very pricey,” he said. “We’re not there yet, so we go with regular items, but we try to be creative.”
Platkin is not clamoring for fake proteins on flights. He advocates for clean, healthy ingredients, and said the airlines already rely too heavily on processed foods and easy carbs.
When asked to review new menu options on American Airlines, he said the dishes look tasty, but he was concerned about the heavy use of cheese and the fake meat.
As for the meal plan for international economy passengers, his critique was short and to the point: “It is all pasta.”
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