NoUFO From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 7802 posts, RR: 13 Posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 22 hours ago) and read 12130 times:
Dear Moderators,
Feel free to move this thread to non-aviation if you like. However, rest assured this is *not* an early April fool.
// --- snip snap
Why do airline passengers order tomato juice so very often, even if they wouldn't touch that stuff on the ground?
This last mystery of aeronautics was solved after Lufthansa asked Fraunhofer Institut (the people who brought you MP3 and improvements on telescopes among other things) to investigate into this question.
Flavor chemist Andrea Burdack-Freitag used the fuselage of an Airbus A310 standing in a huge pressure chamber, filled it (the fuselage) with randomly selected people and was playing around with the pressuration system. Such, she found that our taste depends on the atmospheric pressure. Under normal pressure, tomato juice was described as "moldy". A lower pressure changed the anticipation to the better, and the same juice was described as "fruity", "sweet" and "refreshing".
Burdack-Freitag also served airline meals while simulating different altitudes. At high altitude a priviously well seasoned meal tasted bland.
According to Burdack-Freitag, the taste of salt pepper and herbs dimmish "as if you have a cold".
Lufthansa announced they will adapt their servings to the new findings.
Airportugal310 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 3109 posts, RR: 2 Reply 2, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 11992 times:
mayor From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 9273 posts, RR: 13 Reply 3, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 11802 times:
"Last Mystery of Aeronautics"?
I would have thought Amelia Earhart would have topped that list.
"A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling, to do the unnecessary"----Fred Allen
BoeEngr From United States of America, joined Feb 2010, 315 posts, RR: 33 Reply 4, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 11728 times:
This makes me chuckle. First, I thought to myself it sounds pretty crazy. Then I remembered that I always order tomato juice on a flight and almost never get it on the ground. Hmmm...
mayor From United States of America, joined Mar 2008, 9273 posts, RR: 13 Reply 6, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 20 hours ago) and read 11562 times:
Quoting NoUFO (Reply 5): No, it's no mystery that she never ordered tomato juice.
Took up too much weight in the plane!
"A committee is a group of the unprepared, appointed by the unwilling, to do the unnecessary"----Fred Allen
BEG2IAH From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 840 posts, RR: 12 Reply 7, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 11486 times:
I thought this was nothing new. NASA conducted tons of research in this field and there's a show for kids they have been running for the last few years explaining just this phenomenon.
BEG2IAH
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Birdwatching From United States of America, joined Sep 2003, 3588 posts, RR: 52 Reply 8, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 11449 times:
Quoting NoUFO (Thread starter): fuselage of an Airbus A310 standing in a huge pressure chamber
Is it really necessary to put the fuselage in a pressure chamber? Can't you just pressurize the fuselage at ground altitude?
Soren
All the things you probably hate about travelling are warm reminders that I'm home
StealthZ From Australia, joined Feb 2005, 5448 posts, RR: 48 Reply 9, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 11096 times:
Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 8): Can't you just pressurize the fuselage at ground altitude?
You can but they actually wanted to reduce the pressure to simulate cruising altitude, this may have been easier done in a low pressure chamber. It is also likely they only had a portion of fuselage to work with.
Cheers
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tonymctigue From Ireland, joined Feb 2006, 1883 posts, RR: 9 Reply 11, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 11012 times:
Quoting BoeEngr (Reply 4): This makes me chuckle. First, I thought to myself it sounds pretty crazy. Then I remembered that I always order tomato juice on a flight and almost never get it on the ground. Hmmm...
You know that I've often wondered, why the hell is tomato juice even offered as an option on flights. The taste of tomato juice is quite upsetting. Now I know. Now I have one less thing to ask myself whenever I fly.
Next Flights CX178 MEL-HKG; CX257 HKG-LHR; EI387 LHR-SNN
DeltaMD11 From United States of America, joined Dec 2002, 1699 posts, RR: 37 Reply 13, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 10430 times:
Usually I like my tomato juice mixed with select spices, a celery stick, and some high quality vodka Always tastes good.
Too often we ... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
SolarFlyer22 From US Minor Outlying Islands, joined Nov 2009, 397 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 10221 times:
Yeah there has been some research into this type of phenomenon and it makes sense. When they test airline food its on the ground not in the air which doesn't help. I suspect I have encountered a similar situation at high altitude in the Swiss Alps. Certain tastes seem to be exaggerated.
NoUFO From Germany, joined Apr 2001, 7802 posts, RR: 13 Reply 16, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 9598 times:
Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 8): s it really necessary to put the fuselage in a pressure chamber? Can't you just pressurize the fuselage at ground altitude?
Wouldn't that result in a higher pressure?
They wanted to simulate a cruise at altitude, not a dive with a submarine.
kingFriday013 From United States of America, joined May 2007, 1278 posts, RR: 10 Reply 17, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 9313 times:
I like tomato juice both on the ground and in the air (it does taste better in the air, though ). Since just before Thanksgiving, on my US Airways Express flight, I tried the bloody mary mix for the first time, and that is now my choice for inflight beverage (3 more years until I don't have to ask for just the mix... I still don't ask for just the mix but that's all I get).
rcair1 From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 950 posts, RR: 25 Reply 19, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 9179 times:
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For me, tomato juice taste just the same at home as in the airplane..... Oh - I live at 7000 ft - higher than many "cabins"
elpinDAB From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 458 posts, RR: 5 Reply 20, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 12 hours ago) and read 8901 times:
Quoting NoUFO (Reply 16): Quoting Birdwatching (Reply 8):
s it really necessary to put the fuselage in a pressure chamber? Can't you just pressurize the fuselage at ground altitude?
Wouldn't that result in a higher pressure?
Quoting StealthZ (Reply 9): You can but they actually wanted to reduce the pressure to simulate cruising altitude, this may have been easier done in a low pressure chamber. It is also likely they only had a portion of fuselage to work with.
As StealthZ said, certain types of pressure chambers can create low pressure environments to simulate an airliner's cabin at cruise, and even lower. The US Air Force even has special chambers that simulate high altitude environments to train flight crew members on the effects of hypoxia. These can simulate altitudes of at least 25,000ft.
Interesting experiment too! I've wondered the same about tomato juice myself. The huge number of passengers who order it in the air probably don't drink it that much on the ground. Even I've never bought any at a grocery store, but I find myself playing with the idea of choosing it as my inflight beverage.
tharanga From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 1792 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 8626 times:
Quoting BoeEngr (Reply 4): Then I remembered that I always order tomato juice on a flight and almost never get it on the ground. Hmmm...
That's me, too. Would never think to order it on the ground, but it just feels like a standard option in the air.
sralfalo From Germany, joined Nov 2005, 66 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 8503 times:
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On my last BA flight LHR-HAM I asked the purser for my favourite in-the-air-drink. To my big surprise he replied "I'm afraid we don't serve tomato juice on BA flights anymore". Is that true?
I really was disappointed. How can you ignore such a huge demand by your costumers?
ACKattack From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 59 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (3 years 4 months 1 week 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 8454 times:
Besides foods tasting different at cruising altitude, I have heard that foods also look blander and the caterers pump up the colors to make it appear normal at altitude.
While I don't like tomato juice or bloody marys, my fraternity little loves it. He once chugged about 1.5 L of it faster than one of the brothers could chug the same about of apple juice.
25 PPVRA: That still doesn't solve the mystery of why people order it. Surely they would know they do not like the stuff from the ground and therefore never ord
26 ikramerica: The best sauerkraut I ever had was at altitude in the Alps. Now I know why. It did taste sweeter and less bitter, but it was at 10,000 feet or so, so
28 WildcatYXU: Hmmm...I beg to differ; it does taste better with a shot (or two) of nice Vodka That said, I'm a tomato juice drinker too. At any altitude.
29 BoeEngr: I drink it on the ground, but not that often. It's not something I usually keep in the house (bloody mary mix notwithstanding). So when I'm on a flig
30 trigged: Why would Amelia Earhart drink tomato juice in an A310 anyway? [Edited 2010-02-11 19:19:19]
31 sandyb123: I love tomato juice in the air or on the ground! I new a guy once who's job it was to fly (for BA IIRC) at altitude and to food and wine tasting. He u
32 RIXrat: The airlines that serve Mr. & Mrs. T's bloody mary mix get my nod. I take it without the vodka. Very refreshing. BA never carried it, but the flig
33 pylon101: As it used to be SQ knows such things without any experimental basis. They always have tomato juice available no matter how long the flight is.
34 TheCommodore: I love tomato juice, on the ground or in the air... However, one of the reasons I best like tomato juice in the air is that it is usually the only non
35 birdbrainz: Here's my theory: You see someone else order it, and think to yourself, "Hey, that's not a bad choice. I'm tired of sodas loaded with corn syrup, and
36 Bennett123: Airportugal310 As you are no doubt aware, LH do not operate the A310 any more. Hence, I do not my question as unreasonable.
37 trigged: I do not think he was saying the question was unreasonable, just that the story about tomato juice tasting better at altitude elicited a question abo
38 Bennett123: It will be interesting to read the outcome of this study. And yes, guilty as charged
39 Breiz: From an A310 which was scrapped. Don't remember which one. The fuselage section was trucked to the Institute. When flying, the pressure is lower outs
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