Airport food

Larry and I went back east to visit friends and family in early September. It was too technically difficult for me to blog during our travels (11 days, 4 states, 7 beds) but I have plenty of stories to share with you over the next few weeks.

We were lucky to spend many nights with friends and family who understood my food needs.

But traveling was a different story.

My first food surprise was at Los Angeles International Airport. We were on an 8 a.m. flight, so we planned to pick up something in the terminal to eat on the plane.

(Back in the good old days, we complained about the bad free food on airplanes. I remember a vegan breakfast on an Air Canada flight from Moncton, New Brunswick, to Montreal - rice pudding topped with a stewed prune. Nowadays, the food airlines charge you for is execrable. I won't put it in my body.)

So I prowled Terminal 7 for a healthy food choice.

But the airport let me down. La Brea Bakery offered mozzarella sandwiches, but I wanted something healthier. It is so easy when traveling to let down your guard and eat too much fat and carbs. Baja Fresh Express had vegetarian options, but I couldn't imagine chewing on a cold burrito on the plane. Wolfgang Puck Express had $8 salads on the menu, but none were available at 6:30 a.m.

(The Los Angeles Times is writing about the intense lobbying involved in the proposed upgrading of food choices at the airport. I am not optimistic that the quality of the food will improve any time soon.)

It was a four-hour flight. No fear of starvation. And I had eaten granola (see post June 2010) at home, and had a few apples in my carry-on. So I was fine without picking up food. But it was still eye-opening to see how little is available for vegetarians in the health-conscious City of Los Angeles.

We did better at Washington Dulles on the flight home. It was an early evening flight, so I had a good salad at the Firkin and Fox pub in Concourse C. And before leaving our Rehoboth Beach hotel that morning, we had made sandwiches with the last of our picnic bread and cheese. Along with apples from a Pennsylvania farmstand, that was a good airline meal.