Airplane Cheeseburger

Time: 6:30 pm Central

Date: October 2, 2010

Location: 36000 feet in the air

Offense: unhealthy airplane food

As we were flying home last weekend from Houston, TX to Seattle, WA, my flying partner was lucky she was asleep and I was surprised to hear that our Continental flight would be serving a complementary dinner.

Having prepared at Central Market off of Westheimer in Houston, we were stocked with delicious turkey sandwiches (pepper jack, lettuce, tomato, pesto spread, ciabatta roll) as well as fresh fruit and trail mix from the bulk section. However, I was lucky to be entertained by the guy next to me who hadn’t prepared and thought he’d give the “cheeseburger” a try. He took it somewhat warily, pinching the plastic bag enclosing the offending sandwich and dangled it above his plastic serving tray. I could understand his hesitation as I observed the inside of the bag was smeared with cheese and sauce that had melted into a soggy mess during the re-heating process. The burger looked sad: monotone color and not appetizing in the least bit. Surprisingly, I glanced around the plane as every passenger on the packed flight gobbled their mushy, plastic wrapped dinners.

The rest of the meal included: Fritos, M&M’s and a tiny bag of baby carrots. I am not against any of these foods in theory, but found it odd that this was the combination of foods they chose to serve for dinner that evening. In a nutshell, I consider this meal high in sodium, low in potassium (and many other vitamins and minerals), and very calorically dense.

This is not the type of food I choose to consume myself – and I urge you to start to recognize when food is downright unappetizing! You do not have to eat it if you don’t want to. You don’t have to eat it because it’s free. You have choices and options – do not settle for a melted burger, chips and candy. Please.