United Airlines is broadening its partnerships for in-flight catering, with them working with Chef’s Table for new options in the air.
Chef’s Table is a brand behind a Netflix series that spotlights the world’s most extraordinary chefs who are redefining the culinary landscape. It seems United is leveraging this to create 10 new, exclusive meal experiences for its United Polaris international business class menu.
The airline has enlisted 11 world-renowned chefs from four continents – representing United’s seven U.S. hub cities and key international gateways in London, Tokyo and São Paulo.
Partnerships include:
- Los Angeles – Nancy Silverton, Osteria Mozza
- New York/Newark – Fariyal Abdullahi, Hav & Mar
- São Paulo – Manu Buffara, Manu
- Chicago – Jenner Tomaska, Esmé, The Alston and Petite Edith
- Houston – Justin Yu, Theodore Rex
- Denver – Penelope Wong, Yuan Wonton
- San Francisco – David Barzelay, Lazy Bear, JouJou & True Laurel
- Washington, D.C. – Isabel Coss & Matt Conroy, Lutèce
- London – Tomos Parry, Mountain & Brat
- Tokyo – Tashi Gyamtso, Jimgu, Enowa Yufuin
Deployment
There’s going to be a bit of a wait for this, as this new menu won’t be flying until the 1st Augst 2026.
For the service, each chef will create complete meal experiences, including an appetiser, salad and entrée, for flights departing from the chef’s home city that inspired the recipe.
In Quotes
Andrew Nocella, Chief Commercial Officer, United Airlines.
“United’s network spans many of the culinary capitals of the world, allowing us to authentically bring together acclaimed chefs from around the globe,”
“Our collaboration with Chef’s Table shows how we’re leveraging our unique position as the world’s largest airline* to deliver restaurant-quality moments in the sky. Our United Polaris international business class travelers are going to love the new dishes coming later this year.”
Justin Connor, President of Chef’s Table Projects.
“This collaboration represents an unprecedented look at how we can elevate the inflight dining experience, bringing the culinary brilliance featured on Chef’s Table to the skies,”
“By partnering with United, we are turning a global culinary journey into a reality for millions of passengers. Many travelers around the world will be able to experience firsthand the artistry of these 11 world-renowned chefs on their plates at 35,000 feet. Together we’ll create incredible, regionally-inspired meals and unforgettable experiences for travelers from takeoff to landing.”
Transitioning to the air will be the hard part.
As we are all aware, food in the air tastes different compared to how we taste food on the ground, with both senses of smell and taste dulled thanks to cabin pressure (hence why we’ve seen the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 has a lower pressurisation compared to older aircraft (with the 787/A350 presurised to an equivant of 6,000ft, whilst 777s, A330s, 737s are presuried to 8,000ft).
As always, there’s a video to help, and here’s one from Weird History Food that explains it a little better.
Thus, the flavours are going to have to punch through the altitude barrier, as well as having the repeatability of being created and plated up.
It’s a challenge which has been addressed by airline caterers in the past, and they’ll be instrumental in the delivery of these menus, as well as developing them with the chefs (and of course, at a reasonable cost).
For United Airlines international passengers flying in the Polaris cabin, it could be something to look forward to in the future.
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