Gordon Ramsay says "There's no f*cking way I eat on planes!"

TALKING POINT | Gordon Ramsay knows plenty about food and quite a bit about how to stir the pot, too.

So what are we to make of the famously ill-tempered celebrity chef's proclamation that "There’s no f*cking way I eat on planes!"..?

"I worked for airlines for ten years, so I know where this food's been and where it goes, and how long it took before it got on board" Ramsay tells Refinery 29.

Ramsay's preferred form of inflight dining is actually on the ground, and if he can't visit his own Plane Food restaurant at London's Heathrow Terminal 5 he tries to "keep it light" with a continental platter from any decent airport outlet.

"A nice selection of Italian meats, a little glass of red wine, some sliced apples or pears with some parmesan cheese, I’m like a pig in sh*t," he says.

We're not sure how he handles long international flights, however – there's only so far that this admittedly delicious-sounding preflight snack can get you.

So is Ramsay a tousle-haired tosspot courting controversy because he know it works for him and his 'brand', or is he onto something: is grazing on lighter meals, both before take-off and perhaps up in the air, how you like to dine when you fly?

Oh dear! The precious Mr. Ramsey is at it again. Perhaps it would be a good time to remind readers that he was caught red-handed in 2009 by a methodical journalistic sting: pre-cooking entire meals off-site, and not actually in the restaurant itself! Meals were then carted in vans to his 'gastro pubs' to be simply heated up and served to unwitting diners, at a markup of 600% in some instances. At least one of the dishes was a 'boil in the bag' affair which he was happy to criticize on TV in his acidic manner when SOMEONE ELSE was doing it.

Pre-cooked offsite. Transported. Heated. Served. Hmmmmmm. Sounds suspiciously like the process of airline catering, doesn't it?

Mr. Ramsey is perfectly within his rights to choose whether or not to eat onboard. But for the sake of balance, let it be known that he was more than happy to pinch airline catering techniques when it suited him to make lots of money, before being exposed.

He is a tosser but I would agree that lightly 'grazing' is better than tucking into three-course meals when you are flying. As much as possible I have my 'main meal' in the lounge, this is very easy at the Qantas Sydney First lounge with such a great menu but no massive dishes and the ability to sample a few smaller dishes. On board with Qantas I have them put aside one or two of the 'small plate' meals for later in the flight. Best of all are 'dine anytime' options such as on Qatar Airways, so you can have a few smaller meals throughout the flight rather than one large main meal.

I'm very happy to enjoy my inflight meals. Never had a problem. Some are better than others but overall, pretty good. Singapore and Garuda are amongst the best, in my view.

"So is Ramsay a tousle-haired tosspot courting controversy"

It's not always that bad. The Japanese style chicken burger on my recece QF PE flight to LA was quite tasty and nicely presented. The satay onboard MH business class was one of the best satay I've had (including on the ground).

If Ramsay hates airline food so much, why would he have worked for airlines for 10 years? I guess the 'cash cow fillet' must have tasted better for him.

Meanwhile, I find airlines are getting better with catering, admittedly mostly in first & business classes (in some case PE classes like ANZ, QF, VA, etc). There are better technology (oven with better heat control) and more onboard equipment (rice cooker on CX, Nespresso on VA, etc.).

With such attitude if he had seen now meat and poultry processed on processing plant and how they handled later in restaurants he perhaps stop eating at all. Get it real! Stuff from McDonald also edible, though I prefer proper stake cooked at home.
And talking about inflight meat I only remember totally inedible meal on board of JQ (business class, BTW!) from BKK to MEL - it looks to me like they collect all left over from QF flights and reheat it third or forth time - it was totally disgusting and I handle everything back. Apart of this incident I have not got any problem with food on plane.

Sure airplane food might not be as good as you'd like, but then again just being able to eat at 40,000 feet above the clouds is something that holds onto its own

This is a needless article and takes ABT down a notch in the quality stories stakes.

Just in the process of booking some flights in UK/Europe and with most at about an hour in duration there is no reason to get excited about food on planes, however, I have had some seriously bad meals. Having flown Bus and First the meal I remember most for all the right reasons was roast lamb and veg with a really good gravy between Perth and Esperance on Sky West in an old Fokker. Worst was AKL - SYD and not on an Australian based carrier, a grey and cold mess with watery 'vegie stuff' scattered around in Bus.  I hear you Gordon...!