There are a small number of airlines that offer inflight chefs, who generally help with preparing meals in first and business class. In this post I want to talk about that in a bit more detail — which airlines have inflight chefs, and is this just a marketing gimmick, or is there some substance to it?
In this post:
Which airlines have onboard chefs?
To start, let’s talk about which airlines actually have inflight chefs. Nowadays you’ll find them on select flights of the following airlines:
- Austrian Airlines
- Garuda Indonesia
- Saudia Airlines
- Turkish Airlines
Back in the day, Etihad Airways and Gulf Air also had inflight chefs, but they’ve been eliminated in recent years to cut costs, so that’s no longer offered. For example, below is a promotional video that Etihad made back in the day about its inflight chef program (which is no longer available).
Are onboard chefs a gimmick, or what do they do?
Who are these onboard chefs for airlines offering this service, and how do their duties differ from those of regular flight attendants? Generally speaking, onboard chefs are specially hired based on their culinary experience, so they have different job experience than “standard” flight attendants.
However, they are also trained as flight attendants (in terms of safety and service), so you’ll usually see them in the normal flight attendant uniform for takeoff and landing, and then they’ll put on the chef’s uniform for the meal services. But is there really such a thing as an onboard “chef,” or is this all marketing?
The onboard chef is doing nothing that flight attendants couldn’t otherwise do. On airlines without onboard chefs, you typically have flight attendants working the “galley” position, meaning they’re not actually going to be in the aisle during the meal service, but rather will be in the galley preparing meals, so that the other flight attendants can serve them to passengers.
So there’s not some kitchen with open flames for the airlines that have onboard chefs. Most things on planes are just reheated, with a few exceptions. For example, some airlines prepare eggs onboard. But that’s even done on airlines without onboard chefs, like Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa.
Fundamentally, the onboard chef position is marketing, but I think the bigger takeaway is that typically when an airline has onboard chefs, they also invest more in the overall meal service. For example, all business class meals aren’t created equal.
On some airlines, it’s clear that food is catered as it’s to be presented, and all the crew does is heat it up (the below picture is from EgyptAir).
Meanwhile on other airlines, food is catered in aluminum containers, and then the crew plates it (the below picture is from Turkish Airlines).
As you can see, the presentation can be vastly different. So typically when there’s an onboard chef in business or first class, it means that food is plated onboard, and that they might be adding some cute touches to the presentation. Obviously food might also taste better if the individual ingredients are first heated and then separately plated together, rather than everything being heated on one plate.
I generally operate under the assumption that if an airline has an onboard chef, it also has top notch catering. However, there are airlines without onboard chefs that have excellent catering.
Bottom line
Several airlines offer onboard chefs, which is a unique concept that certainly gets passengers talking. Onboard chefs aren’t doing something that couldn’t otherwise be done. In other words, they’re not cooking with open flames or making your food from scratch.
Instead, it’s a cool opportunity for airlines to add a special touch to a meal service. The biggest takeaway from an airline having an onboard chef is that they invest more than average in their food and beverage offerings, so across the board I’ve found airlines with onboard chefs to offer among the best food in the skies.
I don’t think that’s specifically because of the onboard chefs, but rather because of airlines’ commitments to their soft product. Meanwhile there are also plenty of airlines that have exceptional catering despite not having onboard chefs.
If you’ve had an onboard chef on a flight, what was your experience like?
Cabin staff, if trained and with access to decent catering and onboard equipment can produce superb food.
Given my experience of soggy compressed goods advertised as croissants on US airlines, imagine my utter shock in an Asiana A380 in F when the buttery croissant was crisp, and at least as good as a Parisian one! Convection ovens, you see…
DELTA has the best food in the world!
Can’t wait to try out Turkish, but have flown J on Austrian (best brekkie ever, and the eggs were superb), and the F Apartment on Etihad many years ago, before they canned the chefs. The food and the chefs on both were very professional, and the food was sublime. It added a bit of theatre and made you truly think you were experiencing something special and a cut above (which, for the most part, you...
Can’t wait to try out Turkish, but have flown J on Austrian (best brekkie ever, and the eggs were superb), and the F Apartment on Etihad many years ago, before they canned the chefs. The food and the chefs on both were very professional, and the food was sublime. It added a bit of theatre and made you truly think you were experiencing something special and a cut above (which, for the most part, you were). All wonderfully presented also, of course.
Austrian won hands down, however.
Nobody is flying for the quality of the food or the presentation. It’s unique to find a flight attendant with chef experience. It also depends on the flight. Not every flight of the airlines you mention have the chefs especially the short haul flights and depending on the destination.
Perhaps because I am an Aussie, I inadvertently thanked my Delta First FA for the food on the way out. "I didn't cook it", he snarled. Nice. What gives with a lot of FA's in the USA? Over here they actually seem to enjoy themselves......
Many of us from the US have the same question about our FAs. After they announce "we are here primarily for your safety...", pride in the service part of the job is not a priority.
I think I remember, many years ago, flying in a KLM 747 with a weird galley configuration. It had the galley on the right half of the front of the economy cabin, with seats on the left half. I asked about it and was told that this main galley had a griddle and could cook steaks to order.
I was flying coach, so definitely can't vouch for the steaks personally. But did anybody else experience this? Or am I just imagining it?
Is the guy from the Etihad video and the Saudia photo the same guy?
I remember that when TK brought back the onboard chef right after the pandemic, I was so excited to see them "preparing" our dinner whilst having his tall white chef hat, and white apron. Then he brought out plastic covered pre-packed food, handed it over, then took off his hat and apron, then sat down. We were disappointed but laughed at the charade he put on.
I've had them twice, both on ultra-long-haul widebodies out of Istanbul, and therefore both on TK. (I reached IST by other means both trips, so no chefs on the inbounds.
Both were excellent flights, good eats, and friendly guys. On one of the two trips, a chef (dressed as such) was the first to greet me as I entered the boarding door, so I assumed they were FAs with extra training and special uniforms. But...
I've had them twice, both on ultra-long-haul widebodies out of Istanbul, and therefore both on TK. (I reached IST by other means both trips, so no chefs on the inbounds.
Both were excellent flights, good eats, and friendly guys. On one of the two trips, a chef (dressed as such) was the first to greet me as I entered the boarding door, so I assumed they were FAs with extra training and special uniforms. But then for all of the double-digit-hour flights that followed I noticed their duties appeared to be only culinary related, so I wondered if they really were trained FAs and could count as such for regulatory requirements. But now, reading your piece, I guess I know the answer and that they are.
Interesting. Thanks.
Back when EY had chef on Board, he was cute and best steak ever on plane.
Ethiad and Air France are best
Everytime they clear my tray after a meal in the main cabin on American Airlines I tell the flight attendant “give my complements to the chef “
Nice. LOL!
me after I get my pretzels and diet coke on an AA flight in Y from Cleveland