I didn't realize that I'd have such bad jet-lag when I got back, but I've been feeling really exhausted! I think the Korean summer humidity is also getting to me... Anyway, before I forget, I must blog about the vegan airplane food I got on my flights from Paris to Seoul! My first flight from Charles de Gaulle airport was with Air France , but it was delayed about three hours, so by the time I boarded and was up in the air, I was quite hungry.
Luckily, they were quick to serve snacks, which was a package of mini cracker biscuits with bits of olives. For my drink, I got some tomato juice.
Not long after that, the flight attendants came around with our first meal. As usual, I got my VGML tray before anyone else and it was quite an impressive, diverse spread: rice, salad with tofu, french baguette with vegan butter, applesauce, chocolate cake, and a piece of dark chocolate!
The main dish was a kind of Spanish-Mexican style rice dish with bell peppers, button mushrooms, and pine nuts. Truthfully, it was kinda bad... bloated rice, dry, and overall quite bland. However, there was plenty of other yummy things on the tray to make up for the sad rice.
For instance, this side salad of some kind of root vegetable (jicama? radish?) with cubes of black olive-tofu was really nice. The special 'gourmet' tofu was a surprising touch.
I was also impressed with the dessert, which was a chocolate cake/brownie! Usually, most airlines just give vegans a bowl of fruit which is healthy and all, but let's be honest, it kind of sucks when everyone else gets to finish their inflight meal with special desserts like tarts or puddings, while you are stuck with fruit- something that you eat every day at home. So anyway, Air-France gets extra props in the vegan dessert department with their delicious, dense, moist chocolate cake.
And for double-chocolate delight, there was also a small dark chocolate treat! Air France may not have their vegan main dish figured out, but they sure know how to win you over with chocolate.
Then a restless 10 hours later, we were served breakfast before landing. To my amazement, they served a vegan croissant. I was feeling a bit guilty about not getting a vegan croissant at the Raspail organic market since it was one of the foods on my bucket list, but then I got one on the plane anyway! Amazing.
It was a bit over-browned on the outside, but it had that characteristic flakiness and buttery taste.
I think my seat neighbors were wondering why I was snapping so many photos of my food. I wanted to explain, "it's a vegan French croissant! On an airplane!" Some other items on the tray included syrupy preserved fruit, orange juice, coffee, strawberry jam, and butter. There was also an Alpro soya caramel pudding cup, which was so creamy and delicious, I think it even upstaged the croissant.
So that was the vegan food scene on my Air France flight. I have to say, I was impressed! Save for the dry, bland rice dish, everything else was surprisingly tasty and specialized.
Then I got to Narita airport and had about 6 hours til my next flight, which was spent internet surfing, reading, walking around aimlessly, and browsing the souvenir shops. I didn't have any food on me so I headed to one of the snack shops and bought some edamame beans and wasabi peas! Is anyone else into wasabi peas? They have such great crunchiness and I love it when you get an especially strong one that sends the wasabi particles shooting right up into your sinuses and gives you a great burning pain in your nostril. It's kind of like drinking coke til it hurts. Love it.
Anyway, then I finally boarded the Japan Airlines flight to Korea, where I was served a sad snackbox of fruit and two small pita pockets. It was perhaps the most pathetic of all the meals and snacks I had with JAL.
One (quarter) pocket was stuffed with kiwi slices and red bell peppers (what a bizarre combination), and the other was filled with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber slices.
I was... not so... impressed... Especially because everyone else got cute wooden bento boxes with various tasty-looking components. C'mon JAL, I don't ask for too much. Just something simple like this should suffice:
source
Well, overall, I was rather well-fed on my trip back to Korea, and I shan't complain, especially after eating so well in Paris & the Netherlands. Sigh, I miss my vacation... but it's high time I snap out of vacation-mode and hit the ground running here in Korea! There are many art projects that need attention, people to catch up with, and even some baking orders to turn out. Ready, set, go go go!