Transport Catering

Introduction: there are different reasons for people to move out of their houses. With the increase in urbanization, industrialization and tourism, more and more people have learnt to move out of their houses. We can categorize them into five different groups.

1. Tourism & Travel2. Education3. Employment4. Social obligation5. Medical ground

Considering the above groups, we can then break each of these into smaller units which give rise to volume feeding in some way or the other. The only thing that is common in all the above groups is that it requires feeding smaller or large groups of people ready to eat food in a short time. Tourism & Travel: More and more people arriving in the country as tourists and even domestic tourism is on the increase, which result in people commuting from one place or one country to other and hence the need to feed.Education: This group includes schools, institutions, colleges, and may be hostels. Here one has to fulfill the dietary needs of school going children or even college going youngsters.Employment: Every individual in the course of his normal employment has to have at least one of his meals outside his home and as his place of work which give rise to industrial canteen, office canteen or mess, tiffin or lunch box provisions or even fast food or ready to eat meals in a short period of time.Social Groups: This group mainly deals with the people who socialize and are regular out goers to either parties, functions, receptions, clubs, sports complexes or to hotels & restaurants with a view to meet and enjoy with people and to sometime dine out for a total meal experience.Medical: This group includes –

a) Hospitals which needs dietary feeding to a large number of patients with different types of meals.

b) Nursing homes which again require special diet and meals to be prepared in accordance to the patients requirements.

Grouping of Transport Catering: People in transit give rise to transport catering that can be divided into four major groups-

a) Railway cateringb) Shipping cateringc) Airline cateringd) Road catering

Airline Catering:

The average airline dinner typically includes a meat product (most commonly chicken or beef), a salad or vegetable, a small roll, and a dessert. Caterers usually produce alternative meals, e.g. kosher and vegetarian. These must usually be ordered in advance, sometimes when buying the ticket.

Cutlery

Initially first-class passengers were often provided with full sets of metal cutlery. But now both first-class and coach-class passengers are provided with plastic flatware.

Other non-food items

Condiments (typically salt, pepper and sugar) are supplied in small sachets. For sanitation, most meals include a napkin and a wet wipe (also called a moist towellete), often moistened with scented water.

Breakfast

During morning flights, a smaller, continental-style or 'hot' breakfast may be served instead. For the continental-style breakfast, this may include a miniature box of breakfast cereal, cut fruits, a muffin or pastry. Some airlines offer the choice of 'hot' breakfast meals to the passengers (usually on long haul flights, or short/medium haul flights within Asia), which includes an entrée of pancakes or eggs, and there are muffins or pastry, fruits and breakfast cereal on the side. Coffee and Tea are offered as well, and sometimes hot chocolate.

Quality

The quality of airline meals varies from one airline to another. Prices charged to the passengers for food onboard the flight ranges in price from free (many airlines, especially those in Asia and all airlines on long haul flights offer complimentary meals) to as much as ten dollars (Midwest Airlines). Quality may also fluctuate due to shifts in the economics of the airline industry. On the longest flights in first class and business class, most Asian and European airlines serve multicourse gourmet meals, while airlines based in the US tend to serve large, hearty, high quality meals including a large salad, steak or chicken, potatoes, and ice cream. The low taste of airline food can be attributed largely to a consequence of the limited space available on aircraft, and the pressure on airlines to keep costs low. Meals must generally be frozen and heated on the ground before takeoff, rather than prepared fresh. It has also been suggested that the taste buds are less sensitive at higher altitudes, making everything taste bland.However, most airline meals are bland beause they are designed to be that way. They are so designed because of two factors: food safety and passenger comfort.

Food Safty and hygiene

Food safety is paramount in the airline catering industry. There could be little worse than a severe case of mass food poisoning amongst the passengers on an airliner. When designing a meal service for a passenger flight it must be kept in mind that the passengers have no other sources of food except what the airline is offering - they cannot buy a meal elsewhere when stuck in the air. Accordingly, the food must be palatable to almost everyone onboard. Any particular strong spice is likely to be disliked by some percentage of the passengers, who will make their dislike well known if there is no other option available. Chili, mustard and coriander (cilantro) are all herbs and spices that airlines avoid for this very reason. Further, onions lead to bad breath, and in the confines of economy class (coach) this is not usually welcomed by the people close by. Fibrous vegetables lead to flatulence - again very unpleasant in the small aluminum tube of an airliner. This is why most western airline meals consist of a large serve of protein (chicken, steak or fish), a small green salad (usually without onions and more tomato and cucumber than lettuce), some potatoes (carbohydrates), and a dessert (cake or pudding). None of these items causes bad breath, flatulence, or intense dislike to most palates.

Technical crew meals

Food safety with technical crew meals (pilots and flight engineers) is even stricter than for passengers. Many foodstuffs are banned completely from tech crew meals, including all egg products and often any dairy that has not been ultra heat treated. The meals supplied are labelled in advance with the position of the crew member for who they are intended and no technical crew member will eat any of the same products as his colleague - this is to ensure that each pilot eats a completely different meal to the other so as to minimise the risk of all pilots onboard taking ill.

Galley

The galley area is related to the kitchen system and is designed for dry storage, cool storage, preparation and cooking of foodstuffs and dishwashing.

The spaces and volumes of both areas are exploited with rationality in order to ensure easy, organic use and movement, both for the clients and for the operators.