Emirates Dishes Up New Delights For Healthy Eaters

Travellers jetting off to Europe from Dubai are being invited to eat healthy and touch down feeling fit for their visit -- with the launch of a new range of low-calorie meals from Dubai’s Emirates Airlines. 

Health-conscious travellers face an awful dilemma -- having to choose between a First Class seven-course dinner, and an equally tasty light meal with less than 300 calories. 

Grilled fillet of beef in tomato coulis, with parsley potatoes and steamed vegetables - only 267 calories -- fit for any weight-conscious gourmet’s (healthy) heart. Or poached salmon and hammour fillet, the Gulf’s version of cod, with pepper herb sauce, baby corn, sugar snap peas and steamed Parisienne potatoes - at 286 calories, it will barely cause the calorimeter to click over.

Different light recipes will make their debut every three months, and feedback is being collected on the new meals, which feature on First and Business menus and can be pre-ordered in Economy.

Emirates has already increased the number of low-cal meals it provides, and the trial will be extended to all flights to and from Europe in November. If the new dishes continue to attract bouquets, they will appear on Far East and Australia routes too.

Bob Ferguson, who heads the airline’s in-flight catering operation, says: “More and more customers say they don’t want big multi-course meals, but ask our crews for light, nourishing and tasty recipes which won’t pile on the pounds and ounces.

“Comfort in the Air also advises careful preparation to help to make travel as relaxing and stress-free as possible,” Mr Ferguson said.

“On long flights the body is much less active than usual and digestion slows down. We suggest sensible eating, lots of water or juice, avoiding sitting for long periods, and light in-flight exercise for a few minutes every hour to stimulate blood flow.”

The good news for hearty, rather than healthy, eaters is that traditional Emirates favourites like Gulf lamb curry, or chicken with Arabic spices, tomatoes, cauliflower, rice and onions will remain firmly on the menu alongside their lighter cousins.

“Our chefs are proud of their expertise with every style of meal,” Mr Ferguson said. “Customers expect the best cuisine in the sky, and our dishes would not disgrace the tables of a top restaurant - from smallest snack to seven course supper.”

As a truly international carrier, with employees from 100-plus countries, and serving more than 11 million meals a year, Emirates has won industry awards for its cuisine -- and was the world’s first airline to gain ISO9002 accreditation for it, in 1996. 

A typical five-course Business Class lunch offers choice of hors d’oeuvre; three entrees; hot and cold dessert; five cheeses; fresh fruit; tea, coffee and friandise.

Entrées are served on bone china, and tray tables are laid with linen tablecloths and an attractive flower arrangement.

Customers can pre-order special meals from a list of more than 20, tailored to a wide range of religious, medical or ethnic diets, including high fibre, low sodium, Hindu vegetarian, low cholesterol, low fat, low protein and many more.

Cabin crew training includes intensive courses on food and meal service, helping Emirates to win more than 200 ‘Best Airline’ awards since its 1985 launch, despite meteoric annual growth which has never fallen below 20 per cent.

The airline now has 3,000 crew, with twice as many needed by 2006, prompting on-going recruitment across the world to attract another 120 a month.

Its standards are extremely demanding, and candidates who meet them will be mature, friendly and courteous team players, with a well-developed sense of responsibility, able to show initiative, culturally aware and sensitive.