United Airlines Spices Up the In-Flight Menu With New Plant-Based Options

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Major U.S carrier United Airlines, from this week, will be offering its customers new plant-based options on the in-flight menu. 

The new options come from Impossible Foods, a California-based company that produces plant-based substitutes for meat products. The company has been a huge success in increasing the availability of plant-based alternatives in popular fast-food chains like Burger King. 

On 15 June, United Airlines announced a new collaboration with Impossible Foods in order to provide more plant-based vegetarian and vegan options to its catering offerings in flight and in its selected Polaris lounges in the UK. 

United passengers can enjoy the Impossible Meatball Bowl in flight and the Impossible Sausage in United’s Polaris lounges in Chicago, Newark, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. 

The bowl is available to passengers in first class on all of United’s domestic flights of more than 800 miles in the continental U.S.

The Impossible Meatball Bowl contains three meatballs made from a mix of the brand’s Impossible Beef and Impossible Sausage and broccolini served on top of couscous and a herb-infused tomato sauce.

Some eligible United customers can pre-order the Impossible Meatball Ball through the carrier’s website or its mobile app. 

In United’s Polaris lounges, passengers can enjoy a breakfast featuring Impossible Sausage breakfast patties in the buffet or ground Impossible Sausage mixed into an omelette.

Some may consider it interesting that the new plant-based option is only available to passengers in first class. It goes without saying that, considering how popular vegan or plant-based eating has become in recent years, numerous passengers in the economy or business classes would appreciate this new item on the menu. 

The Chicago-based carrier has said that it does want its food offerings to evolve along with people’s preferences. It refers to a Nielsen report that demonstrated that more than half of U.S consumers have been increasing their consumption of plant-based foods as demand for vegan alternatives increases. 

United’s Managing Director of Hospitality and Planning, Aaron McMillan, said that adding more plant-based meat options is “the first of many updates we look forward to sharing in the months ahead.”  He continued:

“To many travellers, the quality of food choices at the airport and in the sky are a really important part of the customer experience, so we’re invested in making sure our menu items exceed their expectations.” 

Impossible Foods was launched in July 2016 and has taken the world by storm since then – many consider it to be one of the most realistic plant-based alternatives to meat around. 

The company’s Senior Vice President, Dan Greene, commented on the partnership and its exciting possibilities, sharing how Impossible Foods and United Airlines share a vision of offering the highest quality customer experience:

“It’s exciting to see the airline bring new options to consumers that are better tasting and better for the planet. We think United flyers are going to love having access to Impossible dishes in the air and the lounge.”

What do you make of United Airlines’ new partnership with Impossible Foods to increase the amount of plant-based options available? Would you like to see more airlines increase their offerings? Let us know in the comments below!