Travel food

Now that Continental Airlines has stopped serving "complimentary" meals on domestic flights shorter than six hours, participants in the nickel and dime parade is complete. Passengers seeking food on planes either have to pay extra for a meal, or upgrade to First Class. Remember when they scoffed at how low budget airlines would charge for every single amenity?

But this is one cut which may not be so bad. After all, it's not like as if they served particularly good food. Most cases, it's some kind of industrially processed stuff (although I've seen folks wolf down the pre-packaged Cheerios on the some flights while discarding the banana alongside); I fear that the "food for purchase" will devolve further into "Snack Paks" and other synthetic ilk.

This does present an interesting problem of bringing home prepared foods that:

1. Pack easily
2. Keep without refrigeration
3. Require minimal utensils
4. Pass TSA regulations with regards to gels and liquids

Funny thing is, humans have had to deal with similar problems for many years living in a nomadic lifestyle, and perhaps modern day nomads can learn from their predecessors. Dried fruit and nuts are certainly an excellent choice to bring, although they do tend to become expensive. I think perhaps more apropos for when one is actually hiking or traveling with physical exertion. Meat cooked and then stuffed into dough before baking or steaming into bao or pies or manapuas are an excellent travel resource. Some fresh fruit travel well, cherry tomatoes, grapes, clementines, as well as home made fruit "leather".

Then again, perhaps I'll bring a tiffin next time, and just start dining on a warm rogan josh in an enclosed space.