More and more people in the world are opting for vegan lifestyle. They exclude all animal products in eating and clothing. Initially, it was difficult for vegans during long trips due to lack of vegan meals in flights. But now things are easing out for them. And some prominent airlines are now serving plant based meals in flights to cater to this rising population of vegans.
Vegan lifestyle and vegan meals on flights
Vegan lifestyle or veganism means excluding all animal products from diet and clothing materials. This is for animal welfare mainly. But it serves other two purposes as well namely for health and to save the planet.
Vegan meals (Source: The almond eater)An increasing number of people are taking up plant based eating for their health benefits and to reduce the carbon footprint and the climate change effect. Veganuary is a charity that helps people to transit into this lifestyle. It has been doing this since 2014. And last year January, 629000 people from 228 countries participated in this switch over.
The various airlines of the world are also changing the inflight meals to cater to this growing population of vegans. These airlines have recently begun vegan meals for its customers.
Emirates
The world class air carrier, Emirates has 180 different food dishes for plant eaters. These include Arabic-styled roast capsicum with dried fruits and rice, Mediterranean vegetable ravioli, Tofu jalfrezi, etc. And some dessert options are dark chocolate custard cake with fresh strawberries and zesty lemon tart with coconut cream.
Emirates (Source: Executive traveller)China Airlines
This Far Eastern air carrier introduced plant based meals on its flights in December 2022. The airlines has the ‘Clean & Green Plant-based Cuisine’ menus that they developed in partnership with the restaurant Yang Ming Spring. This eatery has won the Michelin Green Star award for two consecutive years.
For the business class, the airlines serves starters such as okra along with black bean and sesame sauce and also stone flowers with orange and apple sauce. Moreover, the main dish is the truffle risotto with vegan fish fillet and wholegrain mustard and ‘Shou Wu’ nourishing soup. The soup has ten healthy traditional herbs in it.
And in the economy class, vegan meals include curry with rice and king oyster mushrooms. There is also braised plant-based meat with turmeric rice. Their statement read:
“We are setting trends on plant-based foods in the global airline industry by promoting low-carbon in-flight catering and zero waste.”
United Airlines
This is the first US carrier to serve vegan options on flight. This includes Impossible Meatball bowl or an Impossible Sausage in breakfast. But the latter comes with an omelette. Hence it is not totally vegan. However, meatballs bowl are with broccolini and couscous with topping of an herb-infused tomato sauce. Aaron McMillan, the United Managing Director of Hospitality and Planning commented at the launch last summer:
“We want our food offerings to evolve and change along with people’s preferences – we’re proud to work with Impossible Foods and think our customers are really going to love these new options. To many travelers, the quality of food choices at the airport and in the sky are a really important part of the customer experience, so we’re invested in making sure our menu items exceed their expectations.”
Delta Airlines
In its vegan options, it serves Impossible Burger, or plant-based lamb meatballs from Black Sheep Foods with spinach rice and feta (not totally vegan) or roasted button mushrooms, fresh broccolini, grilled red onions, grilled heirloom carrots and roasted cherry tomatoes with herb-scented Israeli couscous, or cauliflower cakes with toasted hazelnuts, pesto orzo, and roasted tomatoes.
Air Canada (Source: ET Travelworld)Read here: Qatar Airways to recruit a new cabin crew nutritionist to ensure healthy eating habits in them
But there is parmesan again with it thus making it a vegetarian rather than vegan option. Kristen Manion Taylor, SVP for In-Flight Service stated:
“Not only are plant-based meats like Impossible Burger delicious to eat, but they’re also often better for the environment, using far less land and water to produce. These new options are one part of Delta’s broader mission to promote a wellness-focused travel journey.”
Air Canada
The Airline started vegan options last December. These include spiced chickpea wraps, with wild rice and farro salads, and also chocolate chip blondies.