Inflight appetite

From menu planning to logistics, we look at the behind-the-scenes process of catering onboard meals

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It's rush hour when I arrive at Gate Gourmet's airline catering centre near Heathrow airport. A number of transatlantic flights have just landed and it's time to offload the equipment. Cars are replaced by bumper-to-bumper aluminium carts, while beeping horns are substituted by the cacophonous clattering of crockery. Trollies are wheeled towards industrial-sized dishwashers, where containers of all shapes, sizes and materials are deposited onto conveyor belts, not dissimilar to those at airport security. Within five minutes, they roll out spick and span (if only I could have one of these appliances at home). This might sound like the end of a story, but it's just the beginning. Washed and ready, these containers are about to embark on their next journey, carried in carts labelled with airport codes TLV (Tel Aviv), JFK (New York) and PVG (Shanghai).

Gate Gourmet, a subsidiary of Swiss company gategroup, looks after clients such as Virgin Atlantic and joint venture partner Delta and caters to several visiting long-haul carriers. Outbound and inbound meals are often produced by different companies, as most airlines prefer to stock fresh produce rather than load an additional set of meals (and excess weight) for the return leg. Unbeknownst to me, I had already experienced Gate Gourmet's meals on board a Korean Air flight to Seoul, (ironically, on a visit to the Korean Air Catering facility - which in turn caters for 22 visiting airlines). In addition to food and alcohol, airline catering companies also take care of everything from toilet paper and amenity kits to pillows and blankets, with their facilities resembling a hybrid of Costco and Ikea.