airline food

A tasty tour of airline history, in 7 courses

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150 curious and adventurous foodies and avgeeks gathered at Loyal Legion Beer Hall in Portland International Airport (PDX) over the weekend for a tasty event billed as “The Greatest Airline Meals of the 20th Century.“

Many of the diners had flown across country for the evening and had tickets booked to fly home the next morning.

The dinner is the brainchild of former Emmy-award winning “Simpsons” writer-turned culinary connoisseur, Bill Oakley.

His goal: to create a first-class tour of aviation history from the 1920s to the early 2000s told through an entertaining, illustrated presentation. And a meal that stretching out over seven courses.

Oakley dipped into decades of airline menus and in-flight offerings to identify some of the most iconic and unusual meals served in the sky. He worked closely with Marcus Hilliker, Loyal Legion culinary director, to work up the menu.

“It was really important that the dishes were historically accurate with respect to technology and the eras they represented,” Hilliker told us.

And that they were appetizing.

While many of most memorable airline meals were lavish (think lobster and caviar), “over the years some less-than-stellar dishes have been foisted upon passengers,” he added.

Here are the courses that landed on the menu.

1. Hamper Sandwich Duo

The first meals served on a commercial passenger aircraft are thought to be sandwiches sold by the Handley Page Transport service on flights from London to Paris starting in October 1919.

The amuse bouche for the evening was a duo of tea sandwiches: cress and cucumber, and pickled beef tongue, introduced by special guest Barry W. Enderwick of Sandwiches of History.

2 Kangaroo Tail Soup


Australia’s Qantas airlines served a signature Kangaroo Tail Soup from the late 1950s and into the 1960s.

And yes, real kanagaroo meat was sourced for this dinner.

3. Pretzel, cheese and “Jet Set” beer brewed for the event by Binary Brewing Company

In the 1960s, Mohawk Airlines offered “Gaslight Service” on flights marketed exclusively for men.

Aircraft interiors resembled a Victorian setting, flight attendants dressed in Gay Nineties costumes. Passengers were served beer, cheese, and pretzels and cigars could be purchased for 5 cents.

4. Caviar, Blini, Hard Boiled Egg and Crème Fraiche

Alaska Airlines (the event sponsor) flew commercial charter flights with Golden Samovar Service from Alaska to the Soviet Union for a few years in the 1970s.

Flight attendants wore Cossack-inspired outfits and served Russian-themed food. A signature drink of coffee, vodka and liqueur was dispensed from the very same golden samovar (urn) that was flown in and displayed during dinner.

5. Lobster salad

A take on Lobster Americaine, an iconic dish served by Pan American World Airways (Pan Am) from 1957 to 1972.

6. Chateaubriand with Truffled Foie Gras

(Credit: Barry W. Enderwick)

The entrée course for the evening was an homage to the chateaubriand Trans World Airline served to first-class passengers from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

The premium cut of meat was often carved at a passenger’s seat from a rolling trolley.

7. Buttermilk panna cotta with Berries

British Airways’ final Concorde flight few on October 24, 2023.

And the final dish served on that flight was a buttermilk panna cotta.

Drink menu

In addition to the specially-brewed Jet Set beer, the drink menu for the evening included Airmail, Arctic Service, Paper Plane and Aviation Cocktails.

The Greatest Airline Meals of the 20th Century event at Portland International Airport seemed to cruise along with no turbulence or bumps. In addition to key sponsor Alaska Airlines and host Loyal Legion Beer Hall, some of the other event partners included Straightaway Cocktails, Aviation Gin and Binary Brewing.

While this was a limited, two-night pop-up event at PDX, organizers hope to bring it to other airports. We vote for the next events to take place at San Francisco International Airport and the TWA Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

7 courses of classic airline meals – at an airport

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Airline food.

These days it’s not something many people would make a special trip to eat.

And, unless you’re lucky enough to be flying in the upfront cabins on the best airlines on their most competitive routes, it’s a good chance that you won’t even be offered anything more than a cookie and soft drink during your flight.

But in the decades before airline deregulation, during the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, airlines could only offer similar flights at similar prices.

“They needed to differentiate themselves by the services they offered in each class, said Dennis Sharp, Curator of Aviation at the SFO Museum at San Francisco International Airport (SFO).

And over-the-top inflight meals was one of ways airlines competed.

For example, says Sharp, a first-class TWA Royal Ambassador menu from the 1960s features scallops and mushrooms, sirloin steak and lobster Thermidor.

A Pan Am menu from 1973 includes hors d’oeuvres, grilled lamp chops, Kobe beef and braised salmon.


The Golden Age of airline meals returns. For 2 nights.

Portland, OR-based Bill Oakley, a former “Simpsons” head writer whose creativity is now focused on fun food events, has a hankering for the gourmet meals he never got to eat during what has been called the Golden Age of Air Travel.

So he pored over thousands of airline menus online and in museum archives. He located and read the few books written about early airline meals.

And after sifting through his favorites, he created a 7-course culinary event to be held over two nights in the pre-security beer hall, Loyal Legion PDX, at Portland International Airport on Feburary 20 and 21, 2026.

Loyal Legion culinary director, Marcus Hilliker, worked with Oakley to create a menu where each course draws on airline meals from the 1930s through to the final flight of the Concorde in November, 2003.

And by the end of the evening, guests will have “a nostalgic yet modern look at how inflight dining has transformed over the decades.” said Todd Traynor-Corey, vice president of guest experiences and products at event sponsor, Alaska Airlines.

Oakley is looking forward to serving as host of the dinner and sharing a humorous slideshow about what he’s learned about airline meals and in-flight menus.

He didn’t want us to share too many details about the specific dishes and special guests before the event so as not to ruin the surprise and drama for those who have purchased tickets for the sold-out event.

But the Stuck at the Airport food review team will be attending the event Friday night and we’ll share more details later.

What’s on the menu?

We can tell you that the 7-courses will include a very unusual soup, the snacks ‘stewardessess’ dressed in Gay Nineties costumes served passengers flying on Mohawk Airlines’ men-only “Gaslight Service” flights in the early 1960s and, of course, lobster and caviar.

And one course will also be based on the meal service that Alaska Airlines offered during a brief period in late 1960s and early 1970s when the carrier operated commercial charter flights between Alaska and the U.S.S.R.

Stay tuned for food…

(Photo credits include SFO Museum and Alaska Airlines Historical Archives)

Coffee news: Alaska Airlines to swap Starbucks for Stumptown

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For years, Seattle-based Alaska Airlines has been brewing and pouring Seattle-based Starbucks coffee on Alaska and Horizon Airlines flights.

But on or around December 1, 2023, the in-flight coffee will switch over to a custom roast from Portland-based Stumptown Coffee that’s a spinoff of Stumptown’s best-selling Holler Mountain.

Alaska says its custom Stumptown blend was specially crafted to be enjoyed at 30,000 feet, where tastebuds react differently. And that it was approved only after months of development and in-flight testing.

That’s how serious Alaska Airlines – and travelers – are about coffee.

“Alaska’s medium-dark blend uses the same clean and sweet base as Holler Mountain, but with a primary focus on a roast that mellows acidity and introduces just enough toastiness to please a wide range of palates,” the airline said in a statement. “It’s exceptionally smooth and balanced, with aromatic notes of toasted marshmallows, browned butter, and toffee with delicate hints of citrus and cherry. Additionally, Stumptown dialed in this roast to be delicious when served black or with the addition of creamer or oat milk” which is also offered on Alaska flights.

We’ll reserve judgment until we taste the coffee for ourselves. With and without those tiny Biscoff cookies.

Travel Tidbits from Here and There

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As another month of being grounded kicks in, here are some travel tidbits that got our attention.

Delta Air Lines’ “No Mask- No Fly” list is growing

If the rule is “Wear a mask when you’re on the plan,” then we’re all for passengers being put on no-fly lists if they don’t comply.

Delta Air Lines says it now has about 130 people on its “no mask – no-fly” list.

Miss airline food? This company will sell you some

Tamam Kitchen, which provides in-flight meals for Israel’s El Al airlines, Turkish Airlines and some other international carriers that fly out of Tel Aviv, is selling its meals to people on the ground.

The Future of Business Travel

We found some interesting insights about what business travel might look like in the future in a new global survey from SAP Concur, a company that tracks business expenses for companies.

96% of business travelers surveyed expect their employer to make critical changes when travel resumes.

Those changes include mandatory personal health screenings for traveling employees (39%), limiting business travel to only the most business-critical trips (39%), and easier access to PPE like gloves or facemasks (33%).

What is the plan if employers do not make changes?

65% of respondents intend to act if their employer does not make these changes:

Nearly one in five (18%) plan to look for a new role inside or outside the company that does not require travel. That number is higher in the U.S., where nearly one in four (23%) plan to consider new roles that do not require travel if their concerns are not addressed.

Where do you stand on these questions?

Edible coffee cups on Air New Zealand

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Edible cups on your airplane?  Air New Zealand gives it a try.

Airlines are joining the waste reduction movement with aggressive recycling efforts and sustainability campaigns that include avoiding plastic straws and single-use dining items.

Now Air New Zealand, which currently serves, more than eight million cups of coffee, is running a tasty test: edible coffee cups.

Air New Zealand’s current cups are compostable, but they still end up in landfills.

So, the airline is doing a trial campaign of serving coffee and desserts in vanilla-flavored, leakproof, edible cups made by New Zealand company ‘twiice’.

Customers on the ground and in the air are being served coffee and ice-cream in these edible cups.

Sounds yummy, right?

The ‘twiice’ edible cup trial goes with Air New Zealand’s recent switch to plant-based cups on board all aircraft and in lounges. Those cups, made from paper and corn instead of plastic, can break down in a commercial composter and are expected to keep about 15 million cups from going to landfill annually.