Cabin meals can leave a bad taste in your mouth ahead of your holiday, but Dr Karan Raj has shared a little-known trick that will improve the flavour of your plane food
With the summer holidays fast approaching, Brits have started counting down the days until their long-awaited breaks abroad – but many will have to brave the questionable airplane food first.
When flying 33,000 feet in the sky, your taste buds can be manipulated by the pressurised cabin, which can affect your perception of sweet and salty foods. According to Charles Spence, professor of experimental psychology at Oxford University, the lack of humidity, lower air pressure, and background noise can cause your taste sensations to go astray.
Fortunately, one doctor has shared a clever trick that will “improve the flavour” of your cabin food. Taking to TikTok, Dr Karan Raj responded to another video which said: “Ask for tomato juice next time you’re on a plane.
“Dryness, cabin pressure, and altitude messes with our taste buds. Tomato juice is strong while on the ground, but is so good and refreshing on airplanes.” Dueting the video, Dr Karan backed up this advice, adding: “Choose umami-rich foods like tomatoes, meats, and cheeses.
“This is because the low cabin pressure when you’re flying affects your taste buds, meaning that sweet and salty flavours are muted. But at the same time, the taste of umami is amplified.” According to Heathline, umami is one of the five basic tastes, alongside sweet, bitter, salty, and sour.
It is best described as a savoury or ‘meaty’ flavour, which comes from the presence of glutamic acid. The expert also shared some other top tips for passengers, including wearing earplugs or noise cancelling headphones to boost their sense of taste.
He continued: “This is thought to work because the constant sound of the engine as well as your ears popping stimulates the middle ear nerve, which negatively impacts your ability to taste sweet and salty.” What’s more, staying hydrated before meals can improve the taste, as well as using saline nasal sprays on long haul flights.
Dr Karen explained: “When you’re travelling at 35,000 feet in the air, the air humidity is very low. This combined with the constant air conditioning means your mouth and sinus cavities are completely dried out and both your smell receptors and taste buds require some degree of humidity to work optimally.”
Followers rushed to the comments to share their responses to the informative video, as one user penned: “This is so interesting! I dislike tomato juice on the ground but put me in an airplane and I’m craving it like crazy.”
Another wrote: “Nasal spray and eye drops are a must. So uncomfortable getting a dry nose on a plane with no way to fix it.” While a third added: “That’s why I always enjoy tomato juice on a plane!”
