Food on the Move

Long the object of jokes and passenger complaints, meals on planes and trains are changing--in some ways for the healthier.

Whether healthy or not, the frequency of food service is declining on some air carriers. On United Airlines, for example, snacks used to be served on flights of 251 miles; now it’s 501 or even longer, according to a spokesman. Meals that were served on flights of 501 miles are now served on flights of 701 miles or longer. Airlines spent about $5 on meals per passenger in 1990, but that dropped to $4.38 in 1995, according to the Air Transport Assn., a Washington, D.C.-based trade group.

Train passengers, however, are being offered more choices, said Dominick Albano, a spokesman for Amtrak, and meal prices on long-distance trains have remained about the same for five years, with the average price for dinner about $8 to $14.

Here’s a sampling of recent healthful and not so healthful menu additions and changes.

United Airlines will add 2% (reduced fat) milk and Snapple to the menu by the end of October.

United also offers what it calls Heart Smart meals that contain no more than 30% fat, 10% saturated fat, 150 milligrams of cholesterol and 1,100 milligrams of sodium. All vegetarian and religious meals on United meet Heart Smart guidelines.

(Most carriers require advance ordering of special meals. On Northwest Airlines, for example, special meals must be ordered eight hours before a domestic flight and 36 hours before an international flight.)

New vegetarian menus were launched in August by British Airways, a response, officials said, to nearly 1 million passengers who requested the fare last year. Included are nearly 200 different choices.

On some international flights American Airlines’ first- and business-class passengers can eat whenever or if they are hungry, as part of a program called Dine Upon Request that also features dishes created by some of America’s most prominent chefs. In first class, fresh vegetables are being offered as a low-fat alternative to nuts.

On Continental Airlines to Hawaii, ice cream and macadamia nuts have just been added to the menu but so have nonfat choices such as Hawaiian Natural Spring Water and tropical fruit juices.

An a la carte dining system, instituted on Northwest Airlines three years ago, makes it possible to order as much or as little of a meal as passengers wish, said spokeswoman Marta Laughlin, helping them avoid excess. “It saved us money too,” she added.

The airline stocks both healthful foods and so-called comfort foods, Laughlin said. “A fairly large number of passengers are on diet vacations” while traveling, she said, and are not particularly interested in monitoring their food intake.

Regional cuisine was introduced on Amtrak after Labor Day. Some of it is not for fat gram counters, such as the White Castle hamburgers offered on the Detroit to Kansas City route. Dessert is mostly high-calorie too, including blueberry cheesecake and ice cream. But the breakfast menu has lower-fat options, such as nonfat yogurt.

The Healthy Traveler appears the second and fourth week of every month.