Your mission if you choose to accept it, Heston….
…is to make food taste good at 35,000 feet. Now that’s a daunting task, as even British Airways acknowledged when the wacky chef Heston Blumenthal asked if he could take up the challenge.
It’s "A Mission Impossible for British Airways and Heston Blumenthal" screamed its press release, which went on to explain that the innovative chef was attempting ‘to develop a meal that tastes as good in the air as it does on the ground’.
Hmm…why does airline food taste so bad? Is it the altitude, the cabin pressure, the shrink wrapped plastic trays? We’ve no idea but the slightly stale sandwiched box of watered down squash lobbed into your lap by some airlines would be inedible even at sea level.
However, Heston of Fat Duck fame took on the task of improving inflight cuisine as part of his new Channel 4 programme ‘Heston’s Mission Impossible’.
In the behind-the-scenes documentary, Heston worked with British Airways cabin crew members Jackie Simister and Simon Curley, as well as Steve Walpole, the airline’s development chef at their longhaul catering supplier, Gate Gourmet to develop a tasty airline meal.
Quite a challenge, we reckon, even for the man who has made meals out of ingredients even less savoury than those lurking beneath the lid of an airline dinner tray.
“Heston’s Mission Impossible” starts on Channel 4 on February 22 at 2100hrs.
By Linsey McNeill
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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