Special Meals on airlines - should you order them? What you get - or don't get!

Problem
I often forget to order a special meal.

Solution
On my most recent flight I ordered a special meal. That was a mistake.

Special Meals
I had ordered a special meal, no fish. I won't do that again. I don't eat crustaceans nor molluscs. But I love smoked salmon. Once I ordered the no fish meal and was denied a meal with a smoked salmon starter!

Another year went past. I didn't order a special meal again. However, every now and then I'm on a flight where everybody gets prawns in the starter, and sometimes shellfish in the main course too. So I think, I must remember to book a special meal.

What's the advantage? You can be sure of getting what you need if you have an allergy.

Your meal should come up slightly quicker!

On the other hand, you have only one set meal. If you stick with the regular menus you have a choice of two or three main courses, and two types of breakfasts.

What was wrong this time (November 2017)? I had chicken plus a spicy sauce or puree vegetable. Hey, man, woman, chef, those of us who are allergic to shellfish are sensitive types. We are likely to be sensitive to spicy food as well.

The rest of the passengers, the uncomplaining, easygoing no-fuss passengers, who accepted regular meals, were offered the opportunity of Chicken Kiev - my favourite!

Luckily I was travelling as one of a couple, so I did a bit of nifty shifting, food swapping. I said, "I'll give you half my food, which is early, if I can have half of yours later?"

What was good? My special meal ended with a fruit salad. I have become a fruitarian. Fresh fruit. When I was a child I considered that dull. Now, I'm careful, after two members of my family have been on special diets. One late relative was on a diet to combat late-onset diabetes, no sugar in desserts. Another relative is in remission from cancer, no processed foods.

Speaking of which, as a mid-flight snack, I was offered crisps, pastrami - which is a processed meat. No chocolate or cereal bar. No piece of fresh fruit.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Fruit desserts when travelling? Chopped fruit? Spoon or cutlery?

In war time (WWII) Britain it was hard to get fresh fruit and rationing continued until 1952. I recall my late mother telling me how she met a new friend chatting in a queue for bananas.
   In the late fifties and sixties in the UK it would have been normal for a restaurant on its own or in a hotel to serve fruit salad as one of the options after a meal, especially through summer, when strawberries would have been considered a treat in June.
    In the winter restaurants in London served apple crumble or fruit pie in winter. In the summer the sweet trolley would have a bowl of fruit salad.
    Then along came ice cream. It was originally an extra, an alternative to hot custard or cold runny double cream.
    By the year 2013 fruit salad had become a rarity. I can name the one restaurant I remember serving it. The Blue Check in Bushey. By now an increasing number of people in the USA and UK were living longer and being diagnosed with late onset diabetes. Every weekend we would go to dinner in England with my widowed late father and he could not eat dessert because no fruit was available. Sometimes sat a buffet we were able to save orange slices from the vegetable salad bar, or ask the servers to find us some fruit. Chinese restaurants such as Imperial China on the Watford Way near Watford serve slices of orange after the main course, often a greasy duck, so the acidic fruit is good in the mouth - was well as the face and hands!
   Now, ironically, the fast food places are more likely to offer a fruit option than the proper restaurants. You can get a small packet of fruit in fast food outlets such as McDonalds and other burger places as well as most major supermarkets and Drug supermarkets with a sandwich stand, which offer fruit as one of the side options in the meal deals consisting or a sandwich, fruit pack and bottled juice. Large branches of Tesco, and the smaller branches of Tesco Express and M & S similar stores on motorways offer the fruit to pick up. Some ice cream, yogurt and fruit packs have a spoon in the lid.
   It is handy to have your own spoon with you in your bag or car.  If you need cutlery to eat your fruit from a supermarket, save one from a lunch time fast food purchase for your later in the day meal. Or ask a supermarket assistant for advice and help.
   Marks and Spencer often has a separate plastic knife and fork supply at the service till, or nearby, or back on the dessert kiosk area, which you may have to ask for. In the days when you could take a Swiss Army Knife on a plane I used to travel with a folding knife which also had a folding fork and spoon. You needed a second Swiss army knife to use a knife and fork, or a spouse or companion with a second set.
    Another option is to have fruit at breakfast. If you order breakfast in your hotel room you can save any spare fruit. Most railway food kiosks have an apple or piece of fruit for sale. If you carry your own bottled water, whether a branded water or refilled from a drinking tap at home, you can use your water to wash the fruit later in a wash basin in a cloakroom.