How Cathay Pacific added more plant-forward in-flight meals with Hong Kong vegetarian restaurant Veda by Ovolo’s help: ‘The hard part is choosing the ingredients’
- When Cathay Pacific’s head of hospitality quarantined at an Ovolo hotel during Covid, he loved its plant-based dishes. Now they’ve teamed up on in-flight meals
- The chef of Ovolo’s vegetarian restaurant, Veda, describes the challenges of creating new plant-forward options for the Hong Kong airline’s long-haul flights
Health-conscious passengers on Cathay Pacific long-haul flights from Hong Kong will discover more plant-based dining options in the air now the airline has launched a collaboration with popular vegetarian restaurant Veda by Ovolo, in Hong Kong’s Central district.
Khao soi – Thai coconut curry noodles – with mixed vegetables, roasted vegetable tagine with halloumi cheese and pearl couscous, hummus with harissa roasted cauliflower and pickled onions, and Bombay carrot salad with cashews, raisin and cherry tomato are some of the innovative dishes on offer.
“He was staying with us at Ovolo Southside during quarantine and he really liked our food,” says Tronco, adding the Cathay executive expressed surprise at the quality and delivery of its plant-based dishes, and thought it would be good to discuss offering them on flights.
In an email to the Post, Georgakopoulos said that Veda aligns with the airline’s commitment to providing wholesome food with sustainability in mind.
“The [Ovolo] group is the first hotel brand globally to move towards vegetarian-led offerings. We were drawn by the breadth and variety of Veda’s dishes, and inspired by the restaurant’s ingenuity in cooking with plant-forward ingredients.”
Altitude adjustment: will plane food ever get past being plain food?
Plant-based eating gained momentum during the pandemic, driven by health concerns and disruptions in the meat supply chain, according to research firm Euromonitor.
Scientists say this type of diet has seven benefits:
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safeguarding heart health
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boosting energy
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aiding in weight loss
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warding off cancer, and
Tronco met Cathay’s kitchen team and learned how in-flight meals are prepared at its facility – and how taste buds are affected when flying at high altitude.
“Developing the menu [for in-flight] is not different from developing a menu for a restaurant at all. You just need to narrow everything down to one way of cooking, which is in an oven that is 30,000 feet over our heads,” he explains.
The most difficult thing for Tronco to conceptualise was the sheer volume of meals Cathay prepares; as a chef in a restaurant, he cooks meals for about 50 diners a day; the airline prepares meals for thousands of passengers daily.
“The hard part is choosing the ingredients that will make it easy to assemble, and at the same time, after the reheating and delivering, make it look appealing – and more importantly, flavourful,” Tronco says.
He started designing the menu by selecting dishes from Veda that could work on the plane, such as Bombay carrot salad and Panang dry tofu with cashews and coconut rice.
Tronco is aware that some passengers are concerned that plant-based meals lack essential nutrients. A vegetarian himself, he ensures that the dishes are balanced.
His goal is to present tasty and nutritious dishes that will enable passengers to feel satisfied and full.
“Traditionally, plant-forward options have been few and far between, especially in the back cabins, unless one orders a special meal.”
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Now even long-haul passengers in economy and premium economy will be able to order these new vegetarian dishes.
“Through our partnership with Veda, we sought to develop a more diverse and contemporary range of plant-forward fare. The ultimate goal was to deliver offerings that delight and intrigue, appealing to vegetarians, meat lovers and everyone in between.”
Spanish chef Tronco has worked at Ovolo Hotels since 2020, when he started working at vegetarian restaurant Komune at Ovolo Southside. He became vegetarian in 2017 when he was working in Jamaica and found he not only lost weight, but also feels he has more energy and heals more quickly after an injury.
