BEHIND THE SCENES
On July 9, 2002, Andy and I were received by American Airlines and AviaPartner, in Brussels. On this 'behind the scenes' page, you get an idea of what happens before you receive your inflight meal.

001
First, Business and Economy Class products on display, before the actual tour.

002
First, Business and Economy Class products on display, before the actual tour.

003
The laundry, for the used dishes and plates.

004
Trolley storage.
In Brussels, Aviapartner caters for 39 Airline companies.

005
Cleaned glasses & dishes, ready for the next flight.

006
Cleaned plates, ready for the next flight.

007
Inflight Comfort Kit (Amenity Kit), for First and Business Class.
Contains ear plugs, gels, creams, parfumes, a mask to cover your eyes, tissues, tooth picks and a pair of clean socks.

008
The kitchen.
Here, an Indian curry was being prepared, together with large quantities of rice.

009
The kitchen. Preparing the curry.

010
The quick-cooler.
After preparation, the food is cooled and kept here.

011
Everything has to be the same, therefore digital scales are used
to ensure equal amounts of peppers and rosemary in these Hors d'oeuvres (L). Eventually, the meals are wrapped and cooled (R).

012
First Class / Business Class provisioning cups. bb

013
Compiling the meals

014
Plates from all the companies, waiting to be used.

015
Trolleys in a cooling cell (2°C / 35.6F) ready to be taken to the planes.

016
Trolleys in a cooling cell (2°C / 35.6F) ready to be taken to the planes.

017
Trolleys in a cooling cell (2°C / 35.6F) ready to be taken to the planes.

018
The drinks department, sodas, water and wines.

019
The drinks department, sodas.

020
The drinks department, alcoholic beverages.

021
After the tour of the production area, we went back to the VIP room where we were offered the Business Class flights lunch.

022
Puff pastry tart topped w/fresh tomato slices, kalamata olives, caramelized onions and fresh basil. Fresh seasonal salad greens, offered with creamy caesar dressing and balsamic vinegar.

023
(L) Key West Chicken, mango marinated grilled breast topped w/pineapple-mango relish, rice. (R) Filet Mignon, sun-dried tomatoes and a caramelized onion demi-glace, potato wedges..

024
Warm goat cheese, offered with roasted red bell pepper and extra-virgin olive oil, accented by cracked black pepper and fresh rosemary, served with crostini.

025
Carrot / koreander soup.

026
A scoop of Ben&Jerry's caramel fudge ice cream.

027
Coffee.