From cold snacks and sandwiches to afternoon tea or a hot three course meal, British Airways’ customers always enjoy something to tuck into onboard. But most have no idea how the items served on board are chosen, prepared, developed or what the biggest trends are. Chef Mark Tazzioli, based at the airline’s headquarters at Heathrow Terminal 5, explains how much our taste buds change in the sky, talks us through the foods you can’t serve at 30,000ft and lifts the lid on the airline’s most popular meal…and no, it isn’t chicken!

Is it a myth that food tastes different in the sky?

No, it’s true! In the air you lose on average 30 percent of the ability to taste so we do a lot of work focussing on every individual ingredient that we pick. We look for suppliers who will give us great provenance and we can work with and develop ideas with. For example, with our salmon this year, we went for a special dry cure of salmon which was full of flavour. My team has completed a lot of work on the sauces for the same reason, to achieve more depth of flavour and more body in the air. We’ve worked a lot on different recipes to make sure what we end up with is the right flavour of sauce and viscosity.

How many dishes are available at any one time on British Airways?

There are 250 dishes on a cycle in all classes – but throughout the seasons we’re constantly developing and refining dishes. We have kitchens in every city we fly into where chefs develop ideas and feed back into me. We change the menu four times a year, so we change all the route specific dishes, all the standard menus and the afternoon teas.

Do all flights serve the same menu?

No, not at all – we cater for around 18 regional menus, such as for China and India. We spend a long time making sure our recipes are authentic and pay close attention to sourcing the right ingredients and concentrate on what our customers want. For example, with Japan we spend a lot of money on the rice and even put the brand on the menu so our customers know we’ve bought the right ingredients. On flights from the UK, we try to use British produce as much as possible, so if we’re doing cheeses we’ll use something like Croxton, for lamb we use English lamb and in First we use Aberdeen Angus beef. We’d love to put English asparagus on the Club menu but we struggle to find suppliers that can produce the 80/90 kilos a day we would get through.

How much involvement do crew have in cooking meals?

Originally in Club World, our business class product, everything was sent out in a kit and heated up and all crew did was take the foil off. Now, in Club World, British Airways is spending a lot of time and money on new plates and ensures the food is warmed up and plated by the crew, like in a restaurant. We make what we call ‘chef’s chats’, which are step-by-step guides on how to put the dish together. The guide includes pictures so the crew know how to present every dish to ensure consistency. Right now, we’re doing a lot of work to understand what our cabin crew struggle with to ensure we aren’t getting over-elaborate with our future dish ideas. We can’t give the crew too much to do or the service will last hours!

How do you come up with new ideas for foods on board?

We do lots of workshops so we’ll come in for a day, pick a subject and spend the whole shift concentrating on it. This year we wanted to focus on two things in particular: presentation and taste. Presentation has come a long way from where it was 18 months ago – and we’re working and developing that all the time. We’ve worked a lot on taste, all sorts of details on what we’re buying. It’s important to us because it makes a difference in the air. The team here also worked a lot on vegetables this year. Boiled veg, especially at altitude, is going to lose a lot of its taste. All our vegetables are marinated so they has more flavour and depth and are not just a roast carrot – it’s a roast carrot with cardamom or other spices, just so it brings everything to life a little bit more.

Do you test new dishes in the air first?

Yes, we do sometimes, but most of the time because of our experience it isn’t necessary. We know how tastes change in the air and what flavours do and don’t work well. We also really value our customer feedback and look at what dishes are most popular in the sky. We have a new device called the viscosity meter which measures how much a sauce will run, depending on time and heat, so we can test them first on the ground.

What is British Airways’ signature dish in the skies?

Our traditional signature British afternoon tea, which is served in Club World, includes sandwiches, cakes and Cornish clotted cream and English strawberry jam. We also offer a similar afternoon tea service in World Traveller.If you go to any hotel or tea shop in the UK, that’s what you’ll get, so it’s only right that we serve it on our flights!

What are the biggest trends in terms of dishes served on board?

About 10 percent of our total dishes served are ‘special meals’, where a customer has a particular dietary requirement and pre-orders a meal to suit their needs. We offer a range of different options on board including gluten-free, diabetic, lactose-intolerant, vegan, halal, kosha and a child’s meal. Of those, gluten-free is by far the biggest climber in terms of popularity. I think it’s becoming more of a lifestyle-choice for some people.

Which country’s dishes will change most in the coming years?

I think India. A certain age group are still looking for authentic Indian cuisine, but in the next three or four years the age demographic will change slightly and so will the taste. In India now, the younger generation are far more into Indo-Chinese food and looking at other cultures and flavours so, at some point our menus will have to mirror that. It’s our job to get that timing right.

What is the most popular meal on board?

On our transatlantic routes it’s definitely steak. It’s also the most pre-ordered item.

How far ahead do British Airways create new menus?

We develop our menus six months ahead, so we work very closely with procurement to keep an eye on the markets and to get the best products for the best price we can. We completely change the menu four times a year for seasonal changes and within that season we may change 50 percent of those dishes within those three months. We’re currently evaluating to see how much we’re changing and how much we need to change.

You can now pre-order your in-flight meal between 30 days and 24 hours before your flight departure to guarantee your choice once on board. This service is available at no extra cost for many of our flights from London Heathrow, when you’re travelling in First, Club World and World Traveller Plus. Furthermore, in World Traveller you can now pay for a wider choice of indulgent meals from the online menu between 30 and 24 hours before your flight.

What foods can’t you serve in the sky?

There aren’t many things we can’t do; oysters we can’t use, or anything raw, so no sashimi. Years ago we tried ostrich but that didn’t work – it went as tough as old boots! www.ba.com