It is also at pains to maintain high hygiene standards

Boston lobster thermidor, wagyu sirloin and red Thai curry duck are on a menu created by celebrity chefs including New York's Alfred Portale, Kyoto's Yoshihiro Murata and Sydney's Matt Moran.

But to taste some of these dishes you may have to pay as much as $6000 for a fold-out table for one. That's the price of a sleeper suite on board an A380 superjumbo with Singapore Airlines from Australia to Singapore return, and the menu is part of the luxury offering for premium passengers.

Portale, Murata and Moran are on the airline's nine-strong global culinary panel of celebrity chefs who have a kitchen cabinet full of Michelin stars between them and who are at the forefront of creating the airline's menus, not just for first and business classes, but also more basic dishes in economy.

Qantas has Neil Perry on board, Heston Blumenthal consults with British Airways, Air France has Michelin superstar Joel Robuchon, and Peter Gordon has his seatbelt fastened with Air New Zealand.

Wherever you are sitting on the plane, he says, the food is a welcome distraction, especially on long-haul flights. "People get bored and look forward to the food and movies. Any interruption is welcome.

"Although our customers are flying with us to get from A to B, the inflight experience is a significant part of why they choose to fly with us. If you think back to your recent flights, more often than not great food is the most memorable part of the experience.

"Our customers have ample time to reflect on their meals and, as the popularity of cooking shows has demonstrated, expectations have only increased."

Within the Singapore facility, which I was able to tour recently,Find more quality yet inexpensive prescription sportsglasses. there are several specialist kitchens for different cuisines,Read Breil Milano Flowing Polished lasermarker. such as Indian, halal, Japanese, vegetarian, and even dim-sum. The airline is at pains to point out that all the meals are made from fresh,Learn how to make beautiful organza headbandssuppliers. seasonal produce, and all the meals are less than 24 hours old when served inflight.more and much more hoganscarpe outlet come in the current market.

It is also at pains to maintain high hygiene standards. During the inspection of the kitchens I was outfitted with a white coat, hat and face mask. Visitors also need to remove jewellery and scrub down at sinks like surgeons before passing through a wind tunnel designed to blow away any dust remnants.

Among all this super cleanliness, there's also an omelet station where 5000 of the egg dishes are made each day and a test kitchen that simulates an aircraft's cabin pressure, which can lead to the deprivation of a person's taste sensation by up to 30 per cent.

Apart from the volume of dishes that airlines need to turn out daily, one of their biggest culinary challenges is to overcome this distortion of the flavours of food and wine, and therefore they are careful to select meals that will reconstitute well and wines that are bold.

Freidanck says the main issue is serving meals that are moist and full of flavour. "This is why we always feature soups and salads for starters, and our ICP [international culinary panel] chefs have certainly developed a good sense of what flavours and textures are robust enough to be served on-board. The same principle applies with our wine experts, and explains why our wine selection aims for a primary fruit character.Visible difference between the hermesbirkin and Hermès Kelly handbag."

Other factors considered are the weight of the dish, and cabin crew and galley space constraints for plating up.

William Angliss food expert Felicity Fraser says that at altitude our taste buds are not as receptive, therefore it is harder to detect flavours. "The compression effect on our sinuses at altitude deadens the salt and sugar and all those things that bring the flavours out of food," she says.

One solution is to overseason the food once it arrives on your tray table, but Fraser says it also pays to keep an eye on what reconstitutes better in the aircraft kitchen.

"For example, pre-cooked chicken fillets that are reheated are not going to be as good as chicken thigh, but chicken is going to be better than beef," she says. "A lot of people order vegetarian and keep away from protein because it can be very tough. And the reason that there are casserole-type dishes with a rich tomato sauce is that liquidy dishes will reconstitute better."

She says advances in kitchen technology, such as blast chillers, have improved the quality of airline food.

The airline serves at least 15,000 of them each day. The sticks are marinated for 18 hours in tumeric, garlic, galangal and lemongrass, and grilled on charcoal at Malaysian Airline's inflight kitchen at Kuala Lumpur before being warmed and smothered in sauce on the plane.

The Skytrax award for best economy catering was won by Singapore Airlines, best business-class catering by Swiss International Air Lines, and best first-class catering by Etihad. Despite the improved standards, indiscretions of the past are never far from the mind.