The air hostesses slowly move down the aisle, bending to hear passangers’ preferences for fish or pork.
They’re inching closer to us but all of a sudden from behind our meals sweep into view. Yes, the benefit of special diet meals on planes is that they arrive early on in the service.
And now, the unveiling to see what lies beneath the foil! Ow, whatever it is it’s piping hot!
Um, okay. It appears to be two circular hash browns next to a sea of large creamy tan irregular-shaped mushrooms which float in gelatinous gravy.
Asian fungi. Very inferior to good old button mushrooms, mostly because I can never bite through them. I don’t appreciate food that does not get smaller when I chew.
But – as always – I’m hungry and this is what’s going.
Trying the hash browns first. The two are stacked on top of each other, totally stuck together. Siamese fried potatoes. The outer skin looks crispy… and yes it does hold against my attack with the plastic fork for a moment… but is somewhat more chewy than crunchy in the mouth. Still, for a hash brown I have to assume has been reheated in a microwave it’s not bad. The inner white potato is a good texture.
So, hash brown definitely edible. Which is good, since the oriental mushrooms are next.
Some are the shape of french shallots. Let’s have one of those first. The thick part of the bulb has a slight bit of crunch, allowing me to actually crush it smaller with my teeth. It has no real taste of its own.
The gravy is a little sweet, with a healthful herbal overtone. I quite like it.
Too bad about the giant re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms. One is as big as my palm. Can’t ever chew through those. Try a smaller one… batter it between my molars… and have to swallow it largely unchanged.
I eat out the smaller mushrooms and fragments, enjoy the gravy and the hash browns, and leave out the giant indestructible fungi.
I miss eating meat already…
Rating: 
Specifics: Lacto-ovo vegetarian meal on Air China
Hash Browns and Fungii in Gravy
The air hostesses slowly move down the aisle, bending to hear passangers’ preferences for fish or pork.
They’re inching closer to us but all of a sudden from behind our meals sweep into view. Yes, the benefit of special diet meals on planes is that they arrive early on in the service.
And now, the unveiling to see what lies beneath the foil! Ow, whatever it is it’s piping hot!
Um, okay. It appears to be two circular hash browns next to a sea of large creamy tan irregular-shaped mushrooms which float in gelatinous gravy.
Asian fungi. Very inferior to good old button mushrooms, mostly because I can never bite through them. I don’t appreciate food that does not get smaller when I chew.
But – as always – I’m hungry and this is what’s going.
Trying the hash browns first. The two are stacked on top of each other, totally stuck together. Siamese fried potatoes. The outer skin looks crispy… and yes it does hold against my attack with the plastic fork for a moment… but is somewhat more chewy than crunchy in the mouth. Still, for a hash brown I have to assume has been reheated in a microwave it’s not bad. The inner white potato is a good texture.
So, hash brown definitely edible. Which is good, since the oriental mushrooms are next.
Some are the shape of french shallots. Let’s have one of those first. The thick part of the bulb has a slight bit of crunch, allowing me to actually crush it smaller with my teeth. It has no real taste of its own.
The gravy is a little sweet, with a healthful herbal overtone. I quite like it.
Too bad about the giant re-hydrated shiitake mushrooms. One is as big as my palm. Can’t ever chew through those. Try a smaller one… batter it between my molars… and have to swallow it largely unchanged.
I eat out the smaller mushrooms and fragments, enjoy the gravy and the hash browns, and leave out the giant indestructible fungi.
I miss eating meat already…
Rating:
Specifics: Lacto-ovo vegetarian meal on Air China