THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408100051
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RUTH FANTASIA, VIRGINIAN-PILOT/LEDGER-STAR STAFF
LENGTH: Long : 130 lines
COOKING AND washing dishes for a couple of hundred people is a challenge even for restaurateurs and caterers. But consider this: You are required to work from recipes someone else has developed. The food is served hours after it's prepared by servers you never talk to. The kitchen is 1,000 miles from the dining room and the dining room is 30,000 feet in the air.
Such is the airline catering business - where restrictions and regulations are the norm for the people who provide the fare up there.
``We try to present food that is flavorful, attractive and tasteful,'' says Victor DeRenzo, United Airlines' senior planner for international food and beverage planning. ``To do that we have think-tank sessions and work with a consortium of master certified chefs on a consultant basis,'' he says.
American Airlines, which serves 200,000 in-flight meals and snacks daily, counts Wolfgang Puck among its consulting chefs, says company spokeswoman Teresa Hanson.
In addition, both airlines conduct consumer surveys to find out what passengers want.
What they want are light foods.
``We found people don't want a big, huge, heavy breakfast laden with eggs,'' says Hanson. ``So we've changed our menus to include muffins and fruits and cereals and that sort of thing.''
United's DeRenzo agrees: ``It's not that we're eating sprouts and carrots all day long, but we are getting away from the heavy, roux-based sauces. We're getting away from high sodium content and adding more wines. The desserts are taking on more fruits - although there is still some chocolate.''
Trends such as fusion cuisine, the art of combining the flavors of two different regions, also are echoed in airline food. For instance, on some flights United Airlines serves a Mexican couscous salad, which combines Mexican and North African staples.
``But there's a limit to that,'' says United's DeRenzo. ``We fuse foods from various regions that are acceptable to those regions. But we have to be careful not to combine foods where it would be a faux pax.''
For instance, we wouldn't try to fuse Oriental and American dishes on a flight originating in the Far East, DeRenzo says. ``You'd receive purely authentic Oriental cuisine on those flights.''
Regional cuisines play a role in airline offerings as well, especially on international flights.
``We try to include as one of the entree choices a regional cuisine from the destination,'' says American's Hanson. ``For instance, there would be German cuisine on flights bound for Germany and French cuisine on flights to France.'' INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
There's a lot going into international flights because they are such long-haul flights, Hanson says. ``Obviously on a 30-minute flight you're not going to serve a four-course meal.''
The size of the plane also may determine what you'll be served.
The bigger the plane, the more galley space available, says Hanson. Larger planes may have a center galley with an elevator to a space below, where a flight attendant prepares the trays, Hanson says.
While some airlines own their kitchens, most depend on the services of a few major airline catering companies operating nationwide.
Locally, Dobbs International Services provides food and beverage service for flights departing from Norfolk International Airport.
Located near the intersection of Military Highway and Robin Hood Road, Dobbs is almost 2 miles from the Norfolk terminal.
``We're a pretty small operation down here compared to some,'' says Michael Godek, general manager of Dobbs' Norfolk office. ``We handle about 55 flights a day, about 9,000 a year.''
Within the small brick building is a kitchen filled with steel preparation tables, carts, and refrigerators marked United, American, Delta and USAir. Men and women dressed in blue smocks and hats or hairnets clean vegetables, saute meats and fill plates.
But unlike restaurant cooks and other food service employees, these workers aren't encouraged to be creative with the food or the presentation. Everything is specified right down to where the salt and pepper will sit on the tray.
``If the airline says for us to make the chicken broth by hand for a certain dish, then we make it by hand,'' says Godek.
The reason for such discipline is consistency, says United's De-Renzo.
``The customer doesn't know which caterer is purveying our meals, they just know it's United. And that food needs to be of the same quality and style they would receive on any United flight.''
The philosophy is similar to that of a chain restaurant.
But the Dobbs kitchens are similar to having several chain restaurants under a single manager. Since Dobbs has to take orders from different companies, steamed carrots for one airline may have to be prepared al dente for one airline and cooked thoroughly for another. FROM KITCHEN TO PLANE
Once the food is prepared, it's sealed in plastic wrap and chilled until shortly before departure time.
About 2 1/2 hours before the flight leaves, Dobbs receives a final count of how many meals are needed on a specific flight. This is much shorter notice than most catering operations receive.
Then the food, trays, silverware, napkins and other items are transferred to the finalizing area where everything is assembled into carts. Included in each cart is a pouch of dry ice.
Since each airline has its own china pattern, keeping enough tableware on hand for each airline could be a logistical nightmare. But, says Godek, Dobbs ships the same number of table items as there are seats on each plane. Plates that aren't filled are boxed and sent with the rest of the food. As long as the plates stay with the plane, all the different catering centers should have enough to supply each aircraft.
As the planes ready for departure, the meals are loaded onto trucks with hydraulic lifts that rise to the side of the plane.
The carts are then wheeled from the truck into the galley. Trays of hot-serve food are loaded into ovens in the plane galley to heat until serving time.
In addition to having to be proficient cooks, Dobbs employees also have to be straight-arrows.
``We not only have to follow all the city and state health board regulations and the (U.S.) Department of Agriculture rules,'' says Godek, ``but we are required to follow Federal Aviation Administration rules as well.''
That means all Dobbs employees are required to pass a five-year background check before they are hired.
They also have to know how to direct traffic on the tarmac.
``We place a lot of emphasis on safety and accident prevention,'' says Godek. ``After all, a fender bender with an airplane is no small thing.''
As they load carts of food into the plane, Dobbs employees also unload the used tableware and truck it back to the kitchen.
``We think of food service as a three-way partnership between the airline planners, the caterer and the flight attendants,'' says American's Hanson.
But the caterer gets to wash the dirty dishes. ILLUSTRATION: MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff color photo illustration
by CNB