On Sunday morning Andy and I left Sydney for Oslo, the first stage in our six month travel odyssey. Thanks to the whimsy of Qantas, we went via Mumbai, where we had a sub-18 hour stopover.

This route reminded me why I love flying in Asia - the inflight menu. There was a vegetarian and meat option at every meal, so with one exception the “special” meal I’d ordered was unnecessary and I was served along with everyone else. Andy had asked for the vegan option, so was still brought out a special meal as the standard vegetarian version came with dairy food.

Allowing for the fact that this was economy class plane food, the standard was high. I couldn’t contain my excitement when I saw that dinner was palak paneer on fragrant rice with curry leaves. Earlier, lunch was a chickpea curry in a tamarind sauce on cous cous. Swinging like trapeze artists from one international timezone to another, our final meal was given the non-time specific label of “refreshment” on the menu. This was because it was midnight in Sydney, early afternoon in Mumbai, and breakfast by the internal logic of of our flight. The meal of soft, lightly fried chickpea cakes and raita suited all of these occasions, and was my favourite of the trip. 

The decent vegetarian vegetarian food so readily on offer erased the unpleasant memroies from our last international experience with United Airlines, where their best vegetarian effort was “sweet and sour” frozen vegetables, circa 1983. If the airline food is this good, I can’t wait to come back to India and experience the real thing.

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