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Chapter 1: What tips does Ali Dunworth offer for food while traveling?
Now, summer is here and many of us are planning a getaway, whether it's time on the beach or visiting a new city, or sometimes maybe it's the journey itself that's the holiday, a cruise or a train journey. But whatever your destination or your mode of transport, you're going to have to eat. And the food we encounter while travelling can set the holiday off to the right start. Or not.
So whether you're going by boat, taking a flight or riding the rails this summer, food writer and cook Ali Dunworth has some tips on how to maximise your gastro experience while travelling. She joins me now. Morning, Ali.
Morning.
It can set the tone for the holiday, can't it?
Absolutely, yeah. I think it's a big part of it.
Now, so for a lot of us, the first time we might think of having a snack, if you're like me, you get to the airport way too early and you're floating around. You're a big fan of the lounge, are you?
Yeah, I think like as the prices have gone up for everything in the airport and often you'll get a snack, you're just at a boredom, you might spend 20 or 30 quid. I'm like, you can book the lounges sometimes for 25, 30, like they do deals, depends on the time of day, but you can book in for like two or three hour slot and then like all your food and drink you can have in there.
Yeah, OK.
And I've heard some people call it bottomless brunch in the airport.
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Chapter 2: How can airport lounges enhance your travel food experience?
And then everything started to go wrong.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, I think as the flights got longer and you had to feed people more food, like obviously that's logistically crazy and also expensive. And as the flights got cheaper, they don't want to spend as much money on food. You're competing more in price and loyalty points than you are on what you're doing. And the classes, the levels started to appear.
So it wasn't everyone who flew wasn't still doing luxury. Like when I started flying, I was like in my late teens, it was still, you always got fed on every flight. And sometimes depending on who you're with, you could get two or three courses. But like that then obviously Ryanair, thank you for the cheap flights, but it kind of changed everything.
And the food became an extra add on and not, it's not always included in everything. Even now on some really long flights, like you always have to check before because there's often some of the American, like transatlantic, your food is not always included. And your drink is not always. Aer Lingus do, but like if you're going with other airlines, definitely want to check.
And there's a lot of science goes into how to make food taste better. I'm fascinated by this. I wasn't completely unaware of all this because food tastes different on an aeroplane.
And when you hear it, it makes sense, like because it messes with your senses completely. The cabin pressure, the dry air, the noise has a huge effect on like how you enjoy and taste because your brain is so busy. Sorry, filtering out the noise like you're not tasting the same as you do on the ground. And particularly your sense of smell, which totally changes on a flight.
And when you're eating, like a big part of your taste is your sense of smell. So when they're making those meals, like they put loads of research into this, obviously for the first class and then it filters down. So, you know, that research is coming through to you. But they're probably putting 20 to 30 percent, they say, more salt and sugar into your meals.
Like so if you ate that pasta dish in your kitchen, you'd probably be like, I can't eat that. But up in the air, it tastes different.
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Chapter 3: What is the history of food served on flights?
So there's definitely a lot of planning around the different restaurants. And I know when you pay for the cruise, you get like a basic access to all inclusive and then you can kind of pay up to different levels of restaurants online. Or there's restaurants on board that you can go to for like a special occasion if you want to add it on.
So like, and the food has to be like top notch and they have to offer so much to keep people entertained.
It's some operation to feed that number of people though, isn't it?
I was looking it up and the Symphony of the Seas, which is one of the largest, it's not the largest anymore. They said that like 6,600 passengers, 2,200 crew. So you're talking about like there could be 15,000, 20,000 meals a day that they're making. So it was like 60,000 eggs a day, nearly 10,000 pounds of chicken. They said 20,000 pounds of potatoes, 450 cases of champagne.
And like, I can't even imagine the chef that is at the top of that list. Organising, the procurement, the health and safety, the fridges, the freezers. It would be assembly lines, military precision. I'd say there's a lot of form filling. There's definitely someone going around checking that stuff all of the time. I'd love to get on board a cruise ship kitchen and have a look around someday.
Busman's holiday for you. Now, speaking of which, luxury train travel is something that a lot of people might aspire to. And you had the experience last year, was it?
In December.
In December. So a train journey from Singapore. Tell us about that. What was the food like?
Yeah, so we it was the Belmond Eastern Orient Express.
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Chapter 4: How has airline food evolved over the years?
So you have an emergency picnic no matter where you go. And even if you don't eat it on the flight, you'd be delighted to have that when you arrive somewhere.
So you have to go to the shop if you haven't cleared out the lounge already. Now you are talking about travel food this weekend, is it? Beyond the Pale?
Next weekend. So next weekend. Yeah, we're going to talk about Below Deck and the chaos and champagne of the food and drink on board. So I've got Aideen White, who is a yacht chef and has worked on these super yachts and has signed numerous NDAs because she's cooked for so many famous people. So she's going to have some stories.
Louise McSharry and Nicola Brady, who are both as obsessed with reality TV and Below Deck. as I am. And it's really funny at the festivals, I nearly always do a reality TV food thing and it has the biggest crowd. Like people, they just love it. It's just a subject that if you watch the show, the food is such a huge part of it. So it should be fun.
Okay, Ali Dunworth, thank you so much indeed for joining us and giving us those top tips and making me jealous about your holidays.
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