Gordon Ramsay's Opinion On Airplane Food Is Just What We Expected

Gordon Ramsay is one of the most famous figures in the culinary world. The celebrity chef boasts 88 restaurants worldwide, 17 Michelin stars throughout his career (the third highest of any chef in history), and appearances on multiple food-related reality shows. It's not just Ramsay's talent in the kitchen that has made him a household name, but also his notoriously grumpy personality and penchant for telling it like it is. This is why we trust him when he says he would never eat airplane food. In a 2017 interview with Refinery29, Ramsay stated that because he'd worked in the airline industry for a decade, he did not trust the meals that were served in the sky.

While he didn't give specifics, the chef did reference his insider knowledge about how old the food was and the places it had gone through. It's no secret that most of what we eat on a plane has been reheated in a microwave after being frozen for who knows how long. But his statement does make us wonder where exactly the food has been. Experts have pointed out that flight attendants don't always wash their hands before touching food items (like ice) and that certain foods have questionable high-altitude food safety. To make matters worse, hygiene might not be the only problem related to airplane meals.

Even if you take the risk of getting sick out of the equation, eating while flying isn't great for your health. Up in the air, our taste buds lose their ability to do their job by as much as 15 to 20%. To counteract this, airlines often add a ton more salt or sugar to meals — sometimes 30 % more! This is obviously not great for our poor bodies, especially since increased pressure makes our digestive system unable to work properly at high altitudes. We're not only consuming food incredibly high in sodium that is often kept in less than ideal storing conditions, but we're also doing this while we can't even digest it. No wonder we often feel so bloated on planes.

So, what's the solution? While some airlines have been improving their food offerings, many people opt to eat before getting on a plane. Selecting quality airport food has gotten harder as choices keep increasing, especially at large international hubs. For instance, Munich's Franz Josef Strauss Airport has a Michelin-starred restaurant, the Mountain Hub Gourmet, and even Gordon Ramsay has respected airport restaurants, like Plane Food at London Heathrow. If you're taking a long-haul flight that requires you to eat before hitting the ground, taking your own food is still better than eating the reheated, high-sodium in-flight meal.