Tour the Internet and you’ll find numerous articles, Instagram photos, tweets and websites, such as AirlineMeals.net, sharing photos, descriptions and reviews of the meals — good and bad — served to airline passengers in economy, business and first-class cabins on airlines worldwide.
Soon there may be a documentary film about how airlines source, prepare and deliver those tray-sized meals to passengers in the sky.
The project is the brainchild of in-flight food expert and InFlightFeed.com founder Nik Loukas, who is teaming up with producer/director James Mellor of Rainbow Trout Films.
They are currently trying to raise funds for the project through a just-launched Kickstarter campaign that this morning had raised $2,764 dollars from 31 backers and had just 15 days to go to reach the $74,000 production budget goal.
According to Loukas, the proposed 90-minute, feature-length documentary will tell the backstory of airline food, including the history of the first meals served on airplanes (back in 1919) and how technology and tastes have evolved to make the meals fliers are served today.
“The stars of The Inflight Food Trip will be airlines, in-flight caterers, cabin crew, frequent fliers and the general public,” said Loukas. “Whether one thinks a particular meal is good or bad, what can't be denied is the level of planning and precision that goes into creating these menus. We want to show people what they've probably always taken for granted,” he said.
InFlightFeed.com was created in 2012, “when I realized there wasn't much information for passengers in terms of what food you could buy, or what meals you could possibly order,” said Loukas.
The site now includes a large database on airline food and now Loukas wants to show others “actually how difficult it is for airlines to serve you something decent in-flight” and to highlight some of the airlines that are doing it right.
For the film, Loukas and Mellor plan to show how Cathay Pacific creates their first-class meals by filming in their first-class cabin simulator in Hong Kong and recreating a four-hour flight service. They also plan to film during a low-cost airline flight on Pegasus Airlines from London to Istanbul, where they will distribute free meals to passengers to get their honest feedback.
Hungry yet?
As with other Kickstarter campaigns, those who pledge money are being offered perks and rewards ranging from downloadable photos from the filming adventures to film credits and opportunities to participate in filmed food tastings.
Via email, Loukas said if the Kickstarter goal isn’t met by the May 4 deadline, “we will try again, but perhaps fund it on a smaller scale and try to complete the European portion of the documentary at least.”
Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based airports and aviation writer and USA TODAY Travel's "At the Airport" columnist. She occasionally contributes to Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. Follow her at twitter.com/hbaskas.
