If you think airline food is bland, it may not be the chefs' fault. At cruising altitude, your taste buds and sense of smell are significantly impaired, altering how food tastes. According to Russ Brown, director of In-flight Dining & Retail at American Airlines, 'Flavour is a combination of both, and our perception of saltiness and sweetness drop when inside a pressurised cabin.'
Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, explains that several factors are at play: lack of humidity, lower air pressure, and background noise. At about 30,000 feet, humidity drops below 12% – drier than most deserts. This dryness, combined with low pressure, reduces sensitivity to sweet and salty foods by around 30%, according to a 2010 study by Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics, commissioned by Lufthansa. The study found that sour, bitter, and spicy flavours remain largely unaffected.
Up to 80% of what we perceive as taste is actually smell. In the dry cabin air, nasal mucus evaporates, impairing odour receptors and making food taste twice as bland. To compensate, airlines add extra salt and seasoning. 'Proper seasoning is key to ensure food tastes good in the air,' says Brown. Gerry McLoughlin, executive chef at United Airlines, says he uses 'vibrant flavours and spices' to make meals taste 'more robust'.
Background noise also plays a role. The constant hum of jet engines (around 85db) can make food seem less salty and sweet, but crunchier. Spence notes that seasonings like cardamom, lemongrass, and curry taste more intense in the sky than salt or sugar. Additionally, all meals are cooked on the ground, blast-chilled, and reheated in convection ovens, further altering flavour.
