Airplane dining

Dinner - pretty presentation but not very nutrient rich

I have made the transatlantic flight more than a dozen times and it always is as long and uncomfortable as ever. However, it gets nicer every year, especially the possibility to order special meals has improved a great deal. This time, I had several options for a vegetarian meal and I decided to choose the basic lacto-ovovegetarian meal instead of my usual Indian vegetarian dinner.

I must have flown so many times that this time I didn't put much thought into packing, including packing snacks. Usually I have had all kinds of things with me, including sandwiches, nuts, fruit and energy bars, whereas this time I only packed two bananas and some prunes. I realized I would be depending on airplane food, as I wouldn't have much else to eat.

When dinner time arrived,  I started feeling nervous as my special meal wasn't arriving.  It turned out they didn't have it - luckily the other dinner option was vegetarian pasta.  I was starving and so the food tasted surprisingly good. Nevertheless, my meal consisted mostly of white flour, which is quite nutrient poor. The salad was tiny and had one cherry tomato, one olive and a few salad leaves. Still,  I finished everything because I don't like wasting food.

Breakfast - eggs were tasty and broccoli is very nutritious,
 no whole grain though!

As we were closing in on the destination,  we had breakfast - this time they did have a special meal for me. It was scrambled eggs, steamed (read microwaved) vegetables,  a breakfast roll, yogurt and a fruit cup. Again, I was really hungry,  so the eggs and the veggies hit the spot perfectly. The other stuff wasn't so great (how is the fruit cup always so awful?), but again I didn't like the idea of wasting food, so I finished everything.  

The positive aspects of both meals were the facts that some veggies were offered and that they had made sure that even the cheese was vegetarian friendly. (I know it's weird, you'd think that cheese by default is vegetarian, but that is not the case. Think rennet extracted from calf stomach.)

Due to extremely high airport prices and badly prepared snacks from my part, the airplane food fit the bill of providing me sustenance for the duration of the flight. Overall the food was fine, but there is a serious lack of whole grains. Apparently the majority of people prefer white bread or are ignorant of the benefits of whole grain, since none was available on the flight. Luckily my final destination was Finland, which has excellent bread and other whole grain products for me to enjoy! 

So many whole rye breads to choose from and without sugar! Mmmmm...

Hopefully on the way back I will see improvement and perhaps some whole grains (I doubt it though). This time I will also make sure to pack more snacks, including a sandwich made with whole rye bread. Then only can I be sure to get some whole grain on the long and tedious flight back to California. I have plenty of different breads to choose from!

I hope you enjoyed the post. If you have an idea for me to discuss, let me know!

Love,

Anna-Kaisa

Back to Finland

I arrived in Finland a couple of days ago after being away for ten months or so. I spent my first night in a hotel in Helsinki, as there would still be a five-hour bus ride before I would reach home in Eastern Finland. To my surprise, I felt hungry even though I had been awake for more than 24 hours, so I decided to see what the hotel restaurant had to offer. Only three vegetarian choices, but that's to be expected in this country.

I had the funnel chantarelle soup, which was quite superb, along with great tasting (finally!) dark bread. I also decided to order a cider, which is awesome here, only it turned out to be almost the same price as my soup! Yikes! Unfortunately eating out is not cheap here. At least the cider was excellent, so paying up wasn't so awful after all.

One thing is for sure, though: I must find out how to get these mushrooms in California and make the soup myself when I am not in Finland!

Thanks for reading!

All the best,
Anna-Kaisa