PLANE FOOD

My flight back to Nairobi from Paris involved two connections with a 12 hour layover in Geneva. I spent some time in the city, the rest, sleeping on the freezing cold floor of the airport, using my lumpy purse as a pillow. All the chairs had metal armrests in the middle, most probaby because they want to prevent people like me from sleeping on them. So you could say I was slightly cranky when I woke up, a little sore, and a lot hungry....the latter being a common trait.
I wasn't too worried though, because I was looking forward to a great meal onboard Swiss Air. On the flight to Paris, they served the most delicious beef and potatoes, with fresh, warm croissants for breakfast. The airline was definitely in my good books.
I was only made happier to find that my seat was near the front of the plane, which means we'd be served first! HA! Things were looking up already.
As they wheeled the cart down the aisle and parked it next to me, I could smell the aroma of fresh bread.
Waiting to hear what the options were, I opened my tray table.
The flight attendant looked up at my seat number and automatically pulled a tray from the cart.
"You have the Moslem meal, right?" she asked me.
I was a little stunned. They can just TELL by looking at me?
Then I remembered that years ago when I first signed up with the Expedia site, I had marked on my profile that I prefer meals without pork. I didn't realize it would apply to every single flight I booked on the Web site thereafter.
Oh well.
"Yes," I replied, thinking there would be little difference in the meals anyway.
She handed me the "special" tray and then offered a choice of meals to the girl next to me.
"Pasta or Chicken?" asked the stewardess.
I laughed to myself, thinking the special meal was pointless given that the other options were perfectly fine for me.
Must be the same meal anyways, I thought.
I looked over to my left and did a quick scan of the girls' tray contents: bread, chicken, potatoes, a perfect triangle of camembert and for dessert, a Swiss-made white chocolate cream pudding (This was all within a span of about 3 seconds; I have keen eyes when it comes to food).
I was truly excited to unwrap my own meal, based on what I saw of her's. Not to mention I was famished.
And then, utter shock.
On my plate: eggplant, dried up beef, a salad, and for dessert, a stem of purple grapes. No cheese. No wholegrain bread. No chocolate!
Since when do Muslims not eat chocolate, cheese or chicken???!!
No, no, no, this was just wrong.
Swiss Air and I were friends OFF.
I made my way through the boring, albeit healthy meal, as the girl beside me polished off her pudding and licked her spoon clean.
Then...sacrilege.
She pushed the cheese and bread away, finished with her meal.
As she handed the tray to the attendant past me, I'm not going to lie. I contemplated swiping the cheese. And the rest of the remains while I was at it. But didn't. We were still in European airspace after all, I had to maintain some sense of dignity.
But to add insult to injury, a little girl came running down the aisle to the attendant, asking for a SECOND dessert. The lady took her behind the first class curtain and the little girl came back with a chocolate pudding in her hand.
Any chance there were any more back there?
As another flight attendant brushed past me, I beckoned him to come closer and whispered: "Excuse me, you wouldn't happen to have anything sweet, would you? Maybe some cookies?"
Don't laugh at me! Well, I'm sorry, but I had a cup of tea and needed something sweet, ok?!
He shook his head apologetically, no.
Then a few minutes later, reappeared just as I was dozing off to my Ipod.
He held out his hand and said, "You wanted something sweet?"
There, in his hand, four mini Toblerone chocolates.
Swiss Air was back in my good books.