Flight delays at JFK

People have come to expect an airline food update from me, so here it is. I may be one of the only people on the planet who looks forward to a good airline meal. But this time, KLM airlines let me down with their mile-high kitchen.

KLM had two different opportunities to impress me - NYC-Amsterdam and Amsterdam-Nairobi, but neither will be remembered in the catalog of great airline meals. "Dinner" on the flight from NYC to Amsterdam was a serving of a sweet, boggy red goo slathered over what they called "chicken." I drank my mediocre red wine and lavished in the impossibly abundant leg room of the exit row.

Unbelievably, the Amsterdam to Nairobi leg saw a decline. The "sesame noodle salad" was composed of mushy noodles and tasted like it had been sitting in a can since before the start of the Cold War. While the entree was equally inedible, it did present a curious first for me. Next to yet another "chicken" dish with sugary red sauce was a heap of reconstituted potatoes. Nothing unusual here. But when I scooped in to try what would be my only bite of the dish, my fork struck skin. Potato skin. A bit confounded, I began to wonder, a. are these reconstituted potato skins or b. did someone actually cook a real red potato, peel off the skin and add it to the reconstituted potatoes. Or c. Maybe these potatoes aren't reconstituted at all. Maybe they were just prepared in a way that makes them tasteas though they are. Food for thought. When the kind KLM steward came around with cardboard packs of ice cream, I forgave them.

Kenya Airway's chicken was surprisingly delicious. It was a blend of rice and raisins, cinnamon and pepper. It actually tasted like, er, food.

In the greater scheme of things I have nothing to complain about. I arrived at my final destination on time. My luggage arrived. I was given my visa, even though it was after midnight. But that's the point. I like airplane food. I don't usually complain, so I'm irritated to find myself in this unusual position where I am.