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Best. Airplane food. Ever.

by Annie Scott (RSS feed) on May 1st 2009 at 2:30PM

So, remember the Airplane Food vs. Army Food Gadling challenge, where you had to try and guess which photos were of airplane food and which were of army food? I totally failed. It was 50/50 and I totally failed.

Well, on a related note, Lufthansa has teamed up with The Ritz-Carlton to bring you the best airplane food ever. How do I know this? I tried it at their party on Monday.

The Ritz-Carlton and Lufthansa held a fete in downtown NYC on Monday, just hours after the outrageous Air Force One photo op disaster. Everyone had calmed down and was ready to tuck into a glass of wine and, surprisingly, airplane food.

The night was catered by none other than the Ritz-Carlton chefs who were called upon to create Lufthansa's new First and Business Class menus. I spoke with chef Andres Jimenez (above, center, photo by Atom Lark), the executive chef from the Ritz-Carlton Denver, about how much like a cooking show challenge the assignment was! Keeping the ingredients fresh, making sure they taste right at high altitudes, being able to mass produce them well, and staying in budget were all concerns. And what to serve? "It's not really the place to take a risk," he said. "They want something that will appeal to everyone."

Presentation is a difficult issue on an airplane, too. Senior Vice President of Product and Brand Management for the Ritz-Carlton added that there's the whole problem of gravity. "You could arrange these dishes perfectly, but then when the airplane takes off, they're all sliding to the back of the cooler at 45 degrees." I asked Chef Jimenez if they train the staff on presentation. "We trained the staff who trains the staff," he said and smiled.

Everyone seemed quite proud of what the chefs had come up with, and as they recreated it for us there in the Financial District at the three level loft home of Barry Appelman (who I understand is the father of AOL Instant Messenger and the buddy list -- and thusly the grandfather of Facebook and Twitter) and Ildiko Sragli, I think we were all very, very impressed.

Wolfgang Mayrhuber, Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of Lufthansa German Airlines was one of the first to take the microphone from the cool post-mod cover band and welcome the guests. "Life is too short to eat bad food, and life is too short to drink bad wine."

For pictures of Mayrhuber and also Simon Cooper, President and Chief Operating Officef of The Ritz-Carlton, as well as pictures of the food, the guests, and one amazing apartment, click through the gallery (photos by Atom Lark).