Not eating meat doesn't mean you get a business class meal

[notalwaysright]

I do have to wonder why people believe that those with dietary requirements get better food on the planes overall.

I think it has to do with people deciding that not eating specific things makes them sound cool. Like people thinking gluten is evil and refusing to eat it because... Because. I know several people who can't eat gluten who would kill for a piece of toast.

[AccountingDrone]

I do have to wonder why people believe that those with dietary requirements get better food on the planes overall.

<shrug> Diabetic, low sodium and low fat meals are seriously BORING. Last time I flew Lufthansa, the diabetic meal was a naked baked skinless boneless chicken breast, plain white rice [no butter, margarine] plain lettuce with a couple cherry tomatoes and a slice of onion with some fat free all chemical faux vinaigrette dressing, and dessert was a little thing of sugarfree jello. No salt, pepper, dressings, sauces, nothing. Thankfully I always travel with a few of the little salt and pepper packets, some splenda packets, and oddly enough, a couple ducks sauce and soy sauce packets.

It really is not difficult to cook low sodium, low fat or low sugar foods. I could do the exact same main components and have the result suitable for all 3 diets. You can cook the chicken in a poaching medium of water, diced carrot, celery and onion with garlic, parsley, thyme and black pepper. You can cook the rice in a vegetable broth of roughly the same ingredients and it will be vegan friendly. You can tart it up with curry powder, or chili powder and still remain low sodium and get a different flavor profile. Neither of them have added fats or sugars. Can't do much with a basic vinaigrette - but if you don't want real dressing because of the fat, just ask for a packet of lemon juice, or a packet of balsamic vinegar, wine vinegar or malt vinegar fer gosh sakes - don't sentence all of us to chemical dressing.

[brucetiki]

Who the hell doesn't like pasta???

I don't

Having said that if I copped a pasta dish on a flight, I'd just not eat it and politely return it to the crew when they come to collect the tray (with a polite 'thank you' when handing back the tray), and make a beeline for a fast food outlet when I land, or just politely decline the meal when they offer it.

'No thanks', 'Please', and 'Thank You' are not that hard to say - oh wait, just realised where I am

[fireheart]

<shrug> Diabetic, low sodium and low fat meals are seriously BORING. Last time I flew Lufthansa, the diabetic meal was a naked baked skinless boneless chicken breast, plain white rice [no butter, margarine] plain lettuce with a couple cherry tomatoes and a slice of onion with some fat free all chemical faux vinaigrette dressing, and dessert was a little thing of sugarfree jello. No salt, pepper, dressings, sauces, nothing. Thankfully I always travel with a few of the little salt and pepper packets, some splenda packets, and oddly enough, a couple ducks sauce and soy sauce packets.

Sounds like the last hospital meal I had...I downed it readily as I was nil per mouth for about 24 hours prior in case they wanted to do exploratory surgery to determine what the hel was wrong with me (it was nothing major)

[AccountingDrone]

Sounds like the last hospital meal I had...I downed it readily as I was nil per mouth for about 24 hours prior in case they wanted to do exploratory surgery to determine what the hell was wrong with me (it was nothing major)

I have done an [involuntary] NPO from Oct 3d to Dec 28th... and at least 3 1 week medical induced NPOs. After about 48 hours if you are doing plain unflavored ice water the average person will lose the hunger reflex until you give them something with flavor. <shrug> while I love flavorful food [and the difference between gourmet and gourmand is flavor vs quantity, a definition that I have read, heard and seen in media misused.] I am just as apt to tolerate bland food as long as there is a reason. A special needs diet on an airplane or in hospital does not need to be bland, just low in at, sodium or sugars.

It does not take much to put an emergency food salvage kit into ones purse, pack or briefcase - just use the fast food condiment packs and put them into a zippy bag or recycled candy tin.

[Mr Hero]

I think it has to do with people deciding that not eating specific things makes them sound cool. Like people thinking gluten is evil and refusing to eat it because... Because. I know several people who can't eat gluten who would kill for a piece of toast.

According to South Park, it makes your junk fly off, and that's bad.

[Ironclad Alibi]

I was going to be a vegetarian, until I found out they didn't eat meat.

Instead I now eat vegetarians, like cows, pigs, lambs and chickens.

[wolfie]

Diabetic, low sodium and low fat meals are seriously BORING. Last time I flew Lufthansa, the diabetic meal was a naked baked skinless boneless chicken breast, plain white rice [no butter, margarine]

White rice in a diabetic meal? Couldn't they have served something with a lower glycemic index (even brown rice)? As for the plain chicken, I agree with you - a few herbs (fat-free, sodium-free, and beetus-friendly) would significantly improve the taste.

[AccountingDrone]

White rice in a diabetic meal? Couldn't they have served something with a lower glycemic index (even brown rice)? As for the plain chicken, I agree with you - a few herbs (fat-free, sodium-free, and beetus-friendly) would significantly improve the taste.

Yup. Though in their defense, it actually was one measured half cup serving, so they actually managed portion control. <shrug> There is nothing essentially wrong with white rice [I prefer brown rice, to be honest.] If you allow for the portion in your overall meal plan, it is just fine. My nutritionist said I could dig into a bag of sugar with a spoon as long as it wasn't every day and too much, I actually have a 185 cal 'freebie' every day. LOL that is why I asked about the sugar, she told me that if I really wanted to eat 185 cal of straight sugar as a freebie snack, silly as the idea was, it was just fine. I much prefer to do something a bit more nutritionally dense, so my freebie might end up being some extra fruit especially in winter for the vitamin c boost.

Tonights dinner was shakshuka [simmered tomatoes, onions, garlic, spices and sriracha instead of peppers, with 1 egg per person cracked in to poach] with manti [effectively meatballs wrapped in wonton skin pasta.] Tons of flavor, and other than the nontraditional use of manti vegetarian and reheat friendly.

[fireheart]

I think it has to do with people deciding that not eating specific things makes them sound cool. Like people thinking gluten is evil and refusing to eat it because... Because. I know several people who can't eat gluten who would kill for a piece of toast.

You can't toast gluten-free bread?

At my work, we average around 20-30 children a day. Our allergy breakdown looks like this (not all children are there on the same day and some of these refer to multiple children):

5 are on gluten-free diets. Only one of them is actually coeliac, while another has a wheat allergy. One has a behavioural reaction while the other two are on a gluten-free diet because it supposedly helps their behavoural issues (one is autistic, the other has ADHD)
4 are dairy-free: As far as I know, three of them are actually allergic to dairy (or lactose-intolerant), while the fourth is simply dietary.
3 are egg-free: all three have another allergy as well (one is allergic to nearly everything, one is allergic to dairy as well, the other is allergic to nuts, bees and mosquitos and also has a ton of food intolerances)
Around 8-10 are allergic to nuts to varying degrees.
3 cannot wear sunscreen
1 is allergic to tinned fish
1 is "allergic" to chocolate (apparently in small doses, it's OK)
1 has contact dermatitis from grass among other things.
1 is also allergic to sesame among most dietary things. oddly enough, he's NOT allergic to soy.
1 also has a corn allergy, but it's not severe.

The kid with the sesame allergy brings his own food in, we just prep for the others. Sometimes this means substituting food to ensure that EVERYONE gets something.

This of course, means that we'll occasionally get kids who throw fits over...wait for it...RICE CRACKERS. (They're gluten-free so if we don't have the bread availale, they get that. Our kid with the corn allergy/intolerance also gets them when we do nachos)

[notalwaysright]

You can't toast gluten-free bread?

Well, the person who told me has Celiac, and (to her! I have no experience with this) she doesn't consider gluten-free bread to be actual bread. It's just something to build a sandwich on, in her words. Again, I've never tried gluten-free bread.

But over the years she's become intolerant of many of the ingredients that go into gluten-free stuff. The stuff that messes her tummy up the most are tapioca and almond flour. I also know someone who had acid reflux and took antacids for so long that it killed the good bacteria*, and now he can't eat sugar or gluten or uncooked fruit. It's not forever, because the good stuff will grow back, but he's also allergic/intolerant of everything. Milk, nuts, eggs, to list a few.

*please excuse my lack of actual medical knowledge, I just have some general info not specifics

[ladyjaneinmd]

White rice in a diabetic meal? Couldn't they have served something with a lower glycemic index (even brown rice)? As for the plain chicken, I agree with you - a few herbs (fat-free, sodium-free, and beetus-friendly) would significantly improve the taste.

Yeah, I'm a diabetic in my 20th year, and it seems that the world at large thinks that 'diabetic' food needs to be devoid of anything that makes food worth eating at all.

[AccountingDrone]

Yeah, I'm a diabetic in my 20th year, and it seems that the world at large thinks that 'diabetic' food needs to be devoid of anything that makes food worth eating at all.

Since 1981. I have more practice cooking diabetic for myself than being able to sugar binge I really miss chocolate in other than dainty portions, I adored the post Halloween candy binges of my youth.

I do have the feeling that if I ever get diagnosed with something fast and terminal, I may check into hospice care with about 10 pounds of really good chocolate, a few pounds of other candy and my insulin, and tell the nurses to push insulin at need and have a good gorge. Hey, if I am terminal, I don't need to worry about the negative impact of a sugar gorge, do I =) I could arrange for friends to bring me all the foods I normally am stingy with and spend my last months pigging out til I explode. I bet I could get to 500 pounds if I try!

[the lawsmeister]

Well, the person who told me has Celiac, and (to her! I have no experience with this) she doesn't consider gluten-free bread to be actual bread. It's just something to build a sandwich on, in her words. Again, I've never tried gluten-free bread.

Some them are ok, really depends on which brand/flavour you get and they seem to toast up ok.
My wife gave some of her gluten free bread to a baker friend of ours.
He didn't consider it to be bread either.

[mhkohne]

Some them are ok, really depends on which brand/flavour you get and they seem to toast up ok.
My wife gave some of her gluten free bread to a baker friend of ours.
He didn't consider it to be bread either.

My mother-in-law is Celiac, so I've had a little experience. The store-bought gluten-free breads that we've tried are truly god-awful. We've had some luck, however, with mixes for our bread machine. We've had luck with one of two of the mixes that show up at Whole foods. I've done our stuffing with GF bread more than once, and I've used it for toast for her in a number of breakfasts.