SKY DIETARY

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 December 1934, Page 5

SKY DIETARY

MYSTERY OF CAULIFLOWER. What should/he aeroplane passenger eat? (writes a contributor to the London “Daily Telegraph”). More important still, what should he shun? What food and drink may he —ho the weather never so “bumpy”—tackle with a light heart? These reflections arose as I talked to the man who probably knows more than anyone in England about gastronomic vagaries at various altitudes —Mr James E. Thorne, until a few weeks ago catering manager of Imperial Airways, and now at De Havilland’s Hatfield aerodrome restaurant. Aerial matters have recently bulked large in the public imagination. Speed, performance, reliability—-these things have been under avid discussion. But to the Ordinary Traveller, he who knows nought of retractable under-carriages, but stuffs cotton wool in his ears, hopes heartily for the best, and tries to persuade himself that the motion is not a bit like a Channel crossing—to him the matter of diet may become the sad and central fact, in a grey-green world. <lt is all old stuff to Mr Thorne. The litUo matter of cauliflower, for instance. To Mr Thorne the cauliflower .i—aerially speaking—is about as attractive as poison ivy. “I had it on the menu one day,” he said, ruminatively. “A beautiful calm day. No bumps. The cauliflower was simply and attractively cooked. Nothing wrong that I could see.” He paused, then added: “Out of 18

passengers the worst happened to all but one. .< “I couldn’t believe it. So the next day I took’ a trip myself, and had cauliflower served again. There were ten of us in .the machine. . . The worst happened to all but two and I was not one of the two.” “It was the smell, I think. The cauliflower odour is one of several that are definitely dangerous in the ail’.” Colour plays a big part in aerial catering, he maintains. Food must be pleasing to the eye. It must also be “simple and clean-looking. ’ An ideal meal for the queasy is a fresh lettuce and tomato salad. “The combination of red andgren forms a perfect colour scheme.’’ But not mayonnaise. Not only is it rich, hut yellow is almost always fatal. Custard is another spreader of woe.

“A nicoj’aw apple is usually safe. Apple tart, on the other hand, is more chancy. Ham is a safe bet—4f you take the fat off before serving. Tinned food is very dangerous.” “The worst, possible thing of all, and strangely enough, the one thing everybody asks for if they feel bad. is black coffee. It is absolutley fatal — the Germans and Dutch agree with me on that.”

AIRSICKNESS “INCURABLE." Alc&hol, too, is inadvisable. A “gimlet” (gin and lime juice)- is the best form.' Champagne is good it alcohol must be taken, “but much better net.” Soda-water should be shunned.' Nothing, says Mr Thorne, will, stop air-sickness if you are prone to it. He thinks it is caused by nervousness and is incurable.

Women passengers, he says, keep their colour much better than men, but get “much sicker.” Men, on the other hand, get “ashen pale” but keep better control of their internal economy. “I think we might well follow the example of the U.S. airlines and engage attractive stewardesses, for . it would obviate at’ least 75 per cent, of airsickness. , “People must not be allowed -to think flying is a great adventure. If they sec only official-looking uniforms they ’get excited —then- sick. Some pretty stewardesses chatting easily and cheerfully would soon put them in a beter frame of mind.”. Food plays strange tricks at various heights. Above 10,000 ft. many foods will “go off” in half an hour or less. At 7000 ft. tongue . becomes black, leathery and uneatable. At 2,000 ft, th’ermo-containers with tea, hot milk and other liquid often explode violently.