The lure of junk

By A.B.

FOLLOWING my colleague's piece yesterday about restaurants for business travellers to try, I want to draw attention to this Wall Street Journalitem about in-flight food. Modern passengers, it seems, are not as keen on healthy options as the airlines thought they might be.

Many airlines have experimented with offering healthy items and fresh salads, only to find travelers more often going for salt and carbohydrates. Trying to entice customers to buy food onboard, several carriers have created snack boxes filled with a cornucopia of junk food packed with more calories than a basic meal.

The fact that passengers choose salty foods that could exacerbate the dehydrating conditions found at 36,000 feet comes in for particular comment:

"It's food that's only going to make you hungry as soon as you land,'' said Fred Pescatore, president of the International and American Associations of Clinical Nutritionists and author of "The Hamptons Diet.''

The nutritionists advise passengers to hold off on the burgers and tapas snack boxes that can be bought in-flight, and bring their own sandwiches instead. But I think this may miss the point. For starters, the pressurised airplane environment drains the taste from most food, so a good bit of salt doesn't go amiss. And passengers will often treat themselves, choosing crisps over salad, because they're on holiday/travelling on the company dime. Or they're miserable at being cooped up in a plane after spending 40 minutes in a security queue, so cheer themselves up with some comfort food. Or they're aware that flying and staying seated for many hours involves a suspension of sensible healthy behaviour anyway, so reckon there is little point in not having the burger or the Pringles. Salads and wheatgrass juice can wait till they're back on the ground.