The Impact Of Being At High Altitude On Peoples Taste Buds

There has been much talk recently about airlines making a big effort to improve the quality of their inflight meals. Inflight meals are notoriously bad and many people dread being given awful food, especially on long haul flights.

Our taste buds are affected at high altitude making our food taste dry and tasteless. In their quest to improve their food quality, airlines have sought the assistance of scientists to try to determine how they can make improvements.

Research shows that before taking off, the cabins atmosphere starts to impact upon hydration levels due to the low humidity level and when airborne, approximately 30% of taste buds cease to function as they should. Food can be injected with extra flavour through adding more seasoning than usual. To handle issues affecting the flavour of wine at high altitude airlines stick to the full bodied varieties which taste much better than others. 

Recent research has added another aspect to issues surrounding taste, by proving that noise can also affect the way we taste our food. White noise produced by engines can impact on the taste of the food too. This could be the answer to why airline food is so bad.

Aside from the scientific stuff, when it comes to presentation, the majority of airlines fail miserably. Yes, providing a decent meal that can be microwaved and dished up to passengers in a small space presents a challenge, but many airlines have excelled at making food look awful.

The way we perceive food is affected a great deal by appearance. If individuals are presented with a tray full of sloppy stuff that looks like it is the sort of thing you would feed a prison inmate, their mind is going to be telling them already that they are not going to enjoy it, regardless of the taste. Terrible food preparation can put a person completely off their meal leaving them with no appetite.

Despite all of the issues they face, several airlines have managed to excel at providing passengers excellent quality food. Others airlines can use this research to hide the reality that their food is simply horrendous!

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