Is there anything flying has to do with our taste bud?

The job of a flight attendant is completely different from the other types of jobs. When you will be in the profession, you will notice a substantial number of matters that you did not care about them in your past. The job is different in also some other sense. You are also supposed to know about various types of issues for the sake of becoming a skilled flight attendant. If you cannot show the skills or fail to apply them in the right place and at the right time, it is expected that you would be unable to stay longer in this profession. In fact, the position of a cabin crew is challenging and requires some extraordinary skills for the people engaged in this profession.

When you will be serving at the aircraft, you need to be well mannered and know every detail of the flight plan, foods, security, and many other issues. Accordingly, you will have to deliver the information or the service to the passengers. The matter of foods is an important issue here. You are to know about foods served in an aircraft. You also should know why the foods are tasted different than the ground and more other relevant issues.

Generally, people take foods to live on. But there are some people who love to take food and they enjoy the foods very much. So, a wide variety of food is available in everywhere. A notable number of restaurants are doing their business and making a huge profit. In fact, the business of foods is a very good one and profitable than any other business in the world. People need foods and the need is never ending. Hence, the business will go on until the last day of the world.


[Image Source - flybe.com]

But one thing should be considered regarding foods – the taste. Usually, a food becomes popular when the taste is good. People start liking the food for its unique tastes. But if the taste is not up to the mark, the food loses its fame. It cannot sustain for a longer time. Therefore, this is an important matter to care about while preparing foods. But as a cabin crew, you do not need to know the food preparation process.

To make the matter clearer, foods are tasted through the taste buds in our tongue. In simple words, we have sensors in our tongue that helps to determine the tastes. When the foods come with some sweet flavours, we feel sweet. When the foods come with the sour flavour, we feel the same. Why does it happen? Why do we feel the exactly as like the food tastes? Yes, this is an important question to discuss on.

Many of the people have no idea about the taste buds and how they work. As a cabin crew or flight attendant, you might need to know the facts about taste buds for many reasons. If you know the exact reason, it would help you to control the situation. There might be situations that the passengers are against the foods that they have been served due to the tastes. If you have the knowledge about the taste, you may explain the matter to the passengers.

Further, it will also help you to know about the real issues regarding foods during a flight. If you know why the tastes are changed, it would be effective for you to adjust to the foods. It is essential for you as a cabin crew as you might need to stay at the flight for over 14 hours. So, you will need to take foods despite the weird tastes. But when you will know the reasons behind the tastes, you will not feel uncomfortable to have them.

The article will explain the reasons behind the foods being of different tastes during a flight. Hope it would be beneficial for the aspiring flight attendants and they will come to know about the real secrets behind the food tastes during a flight.

What is the taste bud?

Before we move on the key issues, it is wise to know about the taste buds. The matter could be made complicated but I think I should follow the simplest way to make it clear for my readers.

A taste bud is a type of sensor that is installed on our tongue. We can differentiate the tastes through the taste buds. This is the sensor that makes us exactly feel the same taste as it is supposed to be. The taste buds are located at the palate and pharynx. They help to identify basically six types of tastes. When we intake foods and chew them, we feel the secrets. The taste is made of the integration and concentration of various substances. But we feel the specific taste when the food ingredients are broken into pieces, the flavours are transferred to our taste buds and then we feel how it tastes. 

But all the tongue parts are not able to get the taste of all the ingredients. Some of the parts might not respond immediately. Besides, the taste buds are not the same for everyone. The feeling might vary to people. Moreover, when you are older, some of your taste buds will be lost. You may not feel the taste like before. So, if you are a passenger, your taste might not be the same like the other passengers if you are senior to them.  

The way of testing the tastes is based on the components present in the food ingredients. If the food tastes sweet, it points that the food is filled with sugar. If the food tastes salty, there are salts in plenty in the food. On the other side, the food flavours can also be changed by adding extra flavours. But all these are the components that help to make the food tasty.  

The difference of foods on ground and flight:

But there is a basic difference between the tastes of ground and the tastes of a flight. This is a great issue to consider. Many of the people are unaware about the matter and thus they cannot enjoy the foods in the flight. The tastes appear different to them. It happens for many reasons.

When you will have foods on the ground, you will enjoy them more. Certainly, the foods are freshly cooked and served. But when you will be on a flight, there will be slight changes in the food tastes. Even if the food is just cooked, you will not have the same taste. Why does it happen? There are several answers.

The most notable and acceptable answer is the flight altitude. Usually, the commercial aircraft fly through around 30,000 feet above the ground. In this altitude, the taste buds are unable to work properly. The environment does not allow all your taste buds to work and provide you with the usual taste like when you are on the ground. Besides, the environment is lower in humidity. The air pressure is low. There are noises around you. Your mind is distracted. In a word, the entire environment is not suitable to enjoy the foods. When you will be in a chaos, you will not have the exact taste of the foods you will take.

The taste buds are affected in this situation. The taste buds are made numb with the surrounding events. When people catch a cold, they cannot taste anything. The situation becomes almost the same when you are on an aircraft. Your taste buds will not allow you to feel the exact tastes of the foods you take during the flight. The perception of taste is changed completely.       

What happens with the food flavours?

This is an important issue to consider. When you are at a high altitude, you will be unable to feel the real tastes of the foods. Usually, the airliners reduce the taste of some of the specific foods and in some other cases, they add some extra flavours with the foods. Besides, the tastes of some of the foods are kept the same or unchanged, and it is mostly done with the bitter or sour foods. A substantial number of airliners use more herbs with their foods. They intend to compensate for the taste loss.

In fact, there are some food policies for every airline. Based on their policy, they decide what to do with their foods or how to increase the tastes and flavours. Some of them use flavour enhancers with their foods so that the foods be tasty. In this case, they add some special types of chemical flavours to the foods. When they use oils, they are also selective and use the best oils for cooking. Serving the foods is another important matter here. The airlines try to serve the foods in such a manner that the passengers will feel that they are in a restaurant.       

Moreover, there are passengers who are in need of special diets for medical reasons. The airline authority tries to support them with the required types of foods. But in that case, it is imperative to inform the airline authority before so that they can arrange for the special foods. They also provide with the special clinical advice too for the passengers who need medically prescribed foods. But the food flavours also get altered in this case. Even if you are to test wine, you will not get the exact taste of the ground.

Why does it happen?

This is the key point of discussion. The foods appear not delicious as they were supposed to be. So, who is responsible for the taste loss? Is it the airline authority, flight attendants or the environment? The answer is a bit complicated.

First of all, the airline authority is not responsible for the repulsive taste. It is entirely the environment that makes the foods to lose their quality. When you are travelling above the ground, certainly there will be some changes in your surrounding environment. You may not feel comfortable with the journey or you may have some breathing problem. Even you may need a blanket to cover yourself. All these are the signs that you are having trouble physically. The similar thing happens with the taste buds. They become unable to work properly.

The usual sense becomes ineffective in most of the cases for the altitude flavours and everything appears unusual above thousands of feet. You get food flavours with the combination of your smell and sense of perception. But when you are flying at a higher altitude, your sense will be dropped. The aircraft cabin is kept pressurised to keep balance in the higher altitude. Lack of humidity is another potential cause for the taste loss while the background engine noise also plays an important role here.   

In fact, an aircraft needs to control the inside temperature of the cabin. When it flies about 30,000 feet, it is a must to keep the inside temperature balanced for a smooth journey. The air pressure and humidity level are kept lower. The combination of lower pressure and humidity affects your sensitivity. With the dropped humidity, the environment becomes dry. As a result, your senses of testing salty or sweet foods also get a reduction.

But studies have found that it happens mostly with the sweet and salty foods. The other types of foods like spicy foods or foods with bitter flavour remain the same. Further, the smell is another factor here. Most of the cases, we are attracted to foods for the smell. When we smell foods, and if the smell is appetising, we desire to have that food. But in most of the cases, we also lose our smell sensitivity when we are on a flight.   

Aside from these, the environmental impact is another reason to lose the taste buds. When a person is on board at an aircraft, the noise from the engine attracts the attention of the passenger. The sharp and loud noise also helps to lose the craving for foods. They cannot enjoy the foods for the noise around. Sometimes there is a vibration too which makes them uninterested for foods.  

Acidic beverages:

In line with the foods, the beverages also get changed. The fruit juice or the wine that had fruity flavour may taste like acidic. This also happens for the same reason as like the foods. When the beverages are at a higher altitude, they become thinner and lose the quality. Despite the menu designed from a renowned restaurant or bar, the wine loses its real flavour when it is on board. Their contact with the atmospheric pressure reduces the taste and the taste buds are unable to get the fruity tastes due to low humidity. 

The airliners are also careful about the matter. And they select the wines which have low acid or low tannin. But the selection of such wines and other beverages is really a matter of time and expertise. Often the cooks and chefs or bartenders are in trouble to select the best wine for the passengers. They know that the taste buds change in the high altitude and the bodies adapt to the changed situation which decreases the sense of testing. Studies have found that our senses of taste are decreased by 30 percent. And thus we cannot taste even the fruity flavours.    

Hence, the best way to taste the wines is to take them early when you are on the aircraft. Besides, there are some other passengers who also prefer to take meals flavours and this is too usual with the people who travel a lot by airplane. They know that if the body dehydrates, the foods will appear less tasty than they actually are. 

How is it neutralised?

The process is a bit complex. The airlines follow different measures to control the situation. There is a common solution of this problem to bring it under control. When the airline authorities understand about such issues, they take preventive measures. They add extra flavours to the foods to make them delicious. The food recipes come with some additional ingredients or they increase the amount of salts or sweets than the usual preparation recipes.

But the additional ingredients are not added above the clouds. In fact, all the foods are cooked on the ground and processed before mounting them at the aircraft. So, the idea that the additional salts or sweet flavours are added during the flight is wrong. The airline authorities have their own cooks and associates to prepare and preserve the foods for the flights. Food safety standards are followed before preparing and packing the foods for the flight. They also consider the food preparation and delivery time while preparing the foods.

They also take precautionary measures before re-heating the foods. Ordinary microwave ovens are not suitable to operate in a pressurized cabin. So, the aviation industry uses convection ovens. The ovens are enabled to blow hot and dry air. Recently sous-vide is becoming more popular among the chefs of airlines. In this process, the foods are cooked in a sealed plastic bag. But the cooking is done at a lower temperature and for a long time. After the cooking, the taste improves to a great extent than the other ordinarily cooked foods. 

What’s your role?

This is another important aspect to consider. When you will be playing the role of a flight attendant or cabin crew, you will have certain roles and responsibilities to execute. You might have nothing to do with the taste buds but you can certainly play an assistive role to make the situation comfortable for the passengers. When they will complain about the different tastes, you will be able to make them realise the actual matter.

In fact, as a flight attendant, you have nothing to do to regain the taste buds for the passengers. They lose the taste buds temporarily and regain that once they landed on the ground. So, your role should be to control the situations. On the other side, as you are directly connected with the passengers, you are able to make them clear about the matter.

There are some passengers who turn aggressive about their foods. There are even some incidents where the passengers were displeased about the food tastes. The cabin crews failed to explain the secrets behind the taste loss. If such matters continue during the flights, it may affect the reputation of the airline. Thereby, the airline authorities try their best to make the matter as much flexible as they can. They try adding external flavours to the foods. But the cabin crews are responsible for handling all the situations.

Final words:

This is a very complicated matter. But when you can make the passengers feel that the foods are not responsible for the bad taste rather the surrounding environment, the situation become neutral. Then there are fewer chances from the passengers’ part to create any trouble. It may happen that the passengers might allege against the airline authority for serving wasted foods. But when they will know the real facts, they will appreciate the attempts undertaken by the airline authority to make the foods tasty as much possible.

Besides, when you are moving to your flight, you should know all the matters related to the flight and food is one the important issue here. You might not be related to the foods directly but certainly, you are able to play an influential role here. The airline authority wants you to handle all the matters and make a comfortable journey for the passengers.

But it should be considered that the air pressure and altitude play the crucial role to change the taste buds. The human body is engineered to adjust to the situations. So, the body adapts the changes when it experiences fresh conditions. Accordingly, our body adapts to the changed conditions inside the aircraft cabin. As a result, we experience the changed taste.

Therefore, there is nothing to worry about the matter of altered tastes. As a cabin crew, if you explain the matter to the passengers who make complain, it is expected that all the troubles will vanish. The flight will be comfortable for all the parties.