I really don’t understand why airplane food gets such a bad rep. I find it fascinating that airline companies have to somehow magically create a tasty menu for grumpy, sleep-deprived passengers with major restrictions such as high-altitude pressure and reheating procedures.

Unfortunately, several airlines such as American Airlines now charge passengers for meals and snack kits for all their domestic flights, but if you’ve ever flown first class to London (I always did as a kid…I guess that’s one of the perks of Mommy being a ticket agent) the food is amazing — lobster tails on a frisee of salad, smoked salmon and caviar on blini, filet mignon, freshly baked cookies and Haagen Dazs sundaes with raspberry coulee.

I’ve also had some bad meals…Malev Airways (a Hungarian airline) and EgyptAir consistently have disgusting airline food. I won’t get into details. You can see for yourself on this Web site: AirlineMeals.net.

The picture above is a Malev meal…shudder.