Now it has been explained, the controversial question of why millions of people worldwide drink tomato juice on planes, but never in real life. It is not the nutritional value, nor the color, nor feeling thirsty in the dry atmosphere of an aircraft. It is not a ‘me too’ urge, nor the domino effect, nor skilful marketing by the tomato juice industry. It is a matter of physics and the imperfection of our sensory feelings.
Lift-Off – but Keeping Facts Down-to-Earth
Commissioned by Lufthansa, Germany’s largest airline, the famed Munich-based Fraunhofer Institute had aircraft food tested so as to monitor changes in perceptions of smell and taste on short-haul routes. 100 test persons reported to a flight laboratory for the purpose, a low-pressure tube in which a section of an A210-200 ensured authentic ambience, and a typical flight environment was created in respect of air pressure, light, vibration air circulation and other factors. The goal for these efforts was by no means to free the world of a myth – but quite simply to optimize the taste of in-flight food.
Millions of people worldwide drink tomato juice on planes, but never in real life. © ExQuisine - Fotolia.comSensory Weakness in the Cabin
Dishes from the airline’s normal range were then tested – once at normal pressure, and once at low pressure or as at an altitude of several thousand metres. A juice to the standard recipe was also compared with one given an optimized mixture of herbs. Red wine, white wine and tomato juice were also sampled. The result was crystal clear – and once more proves that in cabin conditions people’s sensory perception is weak. The feeling of taste for salt, sugar and herbs is considerably weaker at low pressure than at normal pressure: Salt is 20 to 30 percent less intensively felt, sugar by 15 to 20 percent less. By contrast, feeling for fruit aromas, acids and bitter substances remains stable – and these dominate sense of taste up in the air.
Strong Aromas Favored
The test series also revealed regional differences – fish or poultry prepared in western fashion need to be more strongly flavored if they are still to taste good at a great height. Asian dishes with a heavy aroma, by contrast, remain stable at great altitudes. Thanks to the new tests , a choice could also be made of the optimal wine, strong aromatic wines remain stable, but at lower pressure lighter wines lose quite a lot of flavor. And as far as tomato juice goes, it displayed maximum aromatic qualities at cabinet pressure. Its fruity, sweet aromas only truly emerge then – and this olfactory experience helps make the juice popular up in the air. At low pressure, by contrast, or in ground conditions, the test persons described it at best as earthy and musty.
Optimizing In-Flight Cuisine
Lufthansa, with high-flying culinary ambitions in any case, now aims to incorporate the findings of the investigations in the recipes for its in-flight menus – to be enjoyed unreservedly in the cabin. As with so much in life, some things simply boil down to a question of taste, this time that’s absolutely literally so. Yet the real lesson to be learned from the Lufthansa investigations is quite possibly this: If our senses deteriorate when we are up in the air, then maybe we are not for made flying.
Tomato (juice) Highlights
- The tomato originates from Central and South America and there are said to be more than 2,500 official varieties worldwide.
- In purely botanic terms, the tomato is a fruit – and not a vegetable.
- Apart from the high quantities of vitamins C, A, K, etc., the most important element is lycopene, which functions as an anti-oxidant, among other things, and protects cells. For a long time it was thought to be only the colorant for tomatoes.
- Lufthansa annually serves approx. 1.7 million liters of tomato juice on its flights.
- Tomato juice was declared the official state beverage in the US state of Ohio in 1965. However, a 2006 attempt to declare the tomato the official state fruit failed.