Qatar Airways has created freshly curated menus for its North American flights, taking inspiration from the 13 gateway cities it serves in the U.S. and Canada and using local ingredients to enhance passengers’ gastronomic experience onboard. Mary-Jane Bonnaud, the first female head chef for Qatar Airways and the first female chef to design an in-flight menu for the airline, created the new menus to reflect Qatar Airways’ food philosophy of quality meals made sustainably. The menus are rolling out in phases across the North American network for both Business and Economy Class passengers and will be fully integrated into all flights from the continent by mid-April 2022.
The menus reflect the gateways’ local culinary influences and capture the cultural diversity across the continent, while bringing in elements of Qatar’s own Arabic cuisine. In line with the food philosophy of the airline, the menus feature the best fresh, local ingredients sourced from sustainable suppliers across the U.S. and Canada and rotate frequently to ensure that passengers are presented with a variety of food and beverage options. Menus on passengers’ outbound and inbound flights will be different to reflect the airline’s focus on serving local fare and ensure passengers’ taste buds experience an array of flavors.
Qatar Airways Chief Officer Customer Experience, Rossen Dimitrov, said: “Our passengers are passionate about food, and Qatar Airways took this passion into consideration when developing our new menus for the North American gateways. We crafted the dishes to pay homage to the unique and delicious foods that our gateways are known for and to bring the comfort of passengers’ favorite foods to the skies. We put an emphasis on the quality of food we are serving to our guests, always looking to provide an outstanding in-flight experience, including the menu. We continue to innovate and use local expertise and our global vision to create top class dishes and set the standard for in-flight meals.”
The airline conducted extensive research into the local culinary culture in each gateway to create one-of-a-kind menus highlighting local delicacies that passengers can enjoy sky high. Each of the 13 North American gateways is represented in at least one dish across the newly created menus.
A few examples include:
· Passengers flying from Seattle, Philadelphia or Washington DC will enjoy staples including American beef short ribs with jus, purple potato mash and sautéed vegetables; crispy duck leg confit with roasted fingerling potatoes, wild berry, lavender and braised red cabbage; and Kung pao prawn stir-fry with steamed calrose rice, baby bok choy and fried cashew nuts grace.
· Those flying from New York, Chicago or Los Angeles will have delicacies such as sea bass with black rice, bok choy and soy sauce; roasted courgettes stuffed with tofu tomato relish, toasted pine nuts and cream sauce; and philly cheese steak panini with jalapeno chimichurri and Provolone apple grainy mustard slaw.
· Canadian passengers flying from Montreal can enjoy favorites from the region such as a signature Canadian poutine with fresh cut potatoes, smoked beef, gravy and curd cheese; super niçoise green salad with fingerling potatoes, anchovy, quail egg and grapefruit; gravlax salmon carpaccio with dill, ginger, shallots and fried capers; and even a Montreal pastrami bagel.
Passengers with specific dietary requirements or restrictions can request special meals that do not sacrifice quality or flavor ahead of their travels. The special meals use high quality local ingredients that align with each passenger’s needs. The airline has created meals for every dietary need, including vegan and vegetarian, religious needs, medical needs and even children’s meals. Passengers flying in the award-winning Qsuite Business Class seat can dine on demand at any point throughout their flight.
KeiKei is a London-based award-winning journalist and videographer with a degree in Broadcast Media and Journalism from the University of the West of Scotland and an extensive reporting background in news, entertainment, travel, and lifestyle.
KeiKei has travelled the globe interviewing, reporting and reviewing. Her work has been published in worldwide media outlets including, The New York Post, The Guardian, The Mirror, The Daily Mail, National Geographic and Conde Nast publications.
