Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Food

Kosher Food at 30,000 Feet

When thinking about fine dining, or really even just food that you want to eat, airline meals are not what comes to mind. While most major carriers have done away with meal service on domestic flights, the meals wrapped in foil are still alive and kicking on international routes.

The challenges of preparing and serving food at 30,000 feet places severe limitations on what can be served, however, standard airline meals have come a long way from the slop that used to be served. On a recent transcontinental flight (in coach), my seatmates were given the choice of three different entrees for dinner, and two for breakfast. And all of the different choices looked edible and tasty. I however, wasn’t so lucky.

Airlines are more than willing to accommodate special diets, and in-air kosher meal service goes back decades. In fact, for those who strictly follow the dietary laws, kosher food onboard an airplane is quite simple. On the ground, a local kosher catering service prepares a meal to the airline’s specification, then double wraps and seals the meal. In-flight, the crew then heats the meal and brings it to the passenger, who breaks the seals and wrapping and enjoys (err, eats) their meal. Kosher-keeping passengers are however, at the mercy of these local catering companies, whose food ranges from tasty to rubber.

For breakfast on my recent flight others in my row were enjoying blueberry pancakes, while I was served an “omelette” which could have had a future (or past) life as a jar opener in my kitchen drawer. Dinner wasn’t that much more inspiring. The chicken and mashed potatoes were barely edible, and there wasn’t a vegetable in sight. Both meals came with disgustingly sweet mezonot rolls (so passengers would not need to wash our hands), and completely inedible fruit salad that appeared to have been preserved from the 1960s.

Ultimately, airline caterers need to understand that passengers expect a higher quality of food. If it is possible for the regular meals to be tasty (and have vegetables!) then kosher meals need to meet these standards as well. Kosher meals are the most frequently requested special meal, and caterers and airlines must realize that passengers will expect food of a higher quality.

In the end, my flight wasn’t completely miserable. I brought an ample supply of Pretzel Crisps and Lara Bars, and the empty seat next to me let me stretch out a bit. I am looking forward to future journeys and the promise of better meals just over the horizon.

Daniel Infeld is the Institutional Advancement Associate at Hazon and is glad to be back home after a whirlwind week of international travel.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.