Mediocre In-Flight Meals from Korean Air

During the 13 hours and 50 minutes flight to Korea via the Korean Air, I was served two meals of mediocre quality. The Korean Air is known as an airline with one of the better in-flight meals. About 90 minutes after boarding, the stewardess served us lunch. I had a choice among bibimbop, beef, and chicken, and of course I--craving some Korean food--went with the good ole Korean food.

The meal consisted of Korean pickles, pineapple pieces, sticky rice, a bowl of ground beef, spinach, bean sprouts, mushroom, and squash, and seaweed soup. I started with the instant soup, which was surprisingly tasty. It warmed my body. I then had the pineapple, except I spitted it out because I got the hard pieces without any sweet taste. Instead of putting the rice into the bowl and mixing all the ingredients together with the red paste, I mixed the rice and the vegetables separately. I am a huge fan of bibimbop, my favorite Korean food, so the meal itself tasted pretty decent. I prefer the bibimbop served in a hot stone pot, but of course that won't be feasible 10,000 feet above ground.

Five hours before arrival, we had dinner. This time there was no Korean food on the menu. Instead I was left with the choice among beef, chicken, or fish. I eliminated fish right away because I didn't want some old dry piece of fish to ruin my love for it. I also wanted to eat rice, so I chose the beef dish, which had a side of rice with some sesame seeds. Sadly, this was one of the worst airline meals I have ever had. The beef was extremely high in sodium and the rice tasted bland without any flavors. The orange pieces were smothered in mayonnaise so I didn't even touch it, while the chocolate cake was 3/4 cream and 1/4 super dry chocolate cake. The pretzel bread was nice because it was warm and tasted like it just came out of the oven!