Plane Food

With humor and detail, Sadovnik pairs candid airline meal photos with unscientific ratings of his high-altitude culinary adventures.

This colorful guide gives plane food the spotlight it deserves, serving up sky-high in-flight meal critiques in a hilarious global travelogue with a side of wanderlust. Every year, Sadovnik, celebrated producer and electronic music DJ, logs tens of thousands of flight miles circling the globe on dozens of airlines to play DJ gigs and festivals—and, in the process, has written a wry travelogue from airline meals, which he’s obsessively chronicled. This humorous catalog captures the sky’s most brilliant culinary creations—and its near-misses. Ranging from bleak to inspired, photographs of the oft-inventive personal-tray tablescapes from around the world are paired with simple, wholly unscientific meal descriptions, airlines, and rankings—from “inedible” to “gourmet”—a gift book and illustrated memoir that truly captures the adventurous spirit of flight and the pleasures and perils of eating on the wing.

With an estimated 700 million individual passengers annually, air travel is an experience shared by an ever-growing slice of humanity. No matter where you’re from or where you’re headed, the ritual of deciphering mystery meals is a strangely universal one, uniting us all in midair moments of curiosity, delight, or dismay. Capturing this shared slice of sky-high culture, Plane Food is a hilarious and oddly heartfelt tribute to the global quirks of in-flight dining—proof that the real adventure begins with whatever’s served at cruising altitude.

Dori Sadovnik, former pro tennis player, tours globally with Red Axes. Belgian chef Paul Delrez is renowned for his innovative approach to European cuisine.