The Extremely Interesting Reason Why Airplane Food Tastes so Bland and How You Can Easily Make It Taste Better, According to an Expert

It all comes down to "sonic seasoning."

After the stress of airport check-in, security, and boarding, there’s nothing better than finally getting to kick back, turn on a movie, and relax in your seat while cruising at 30,000 feet. And, of course, doing so with a delicious meal and cocktail in hand. But, if you’ve ever ordered your favorite meal and, upon the first bite, thought to yourself, “Hmm, this isn’t quite right,” you’d be correct. Because, as it turns out, flying does a lot of funky things to our taste buds.

Flying, even short distances, can wreak havoc on our bodies. From dehydration to exhaustion, and even inner-ear swelling, flying changes many body mechanics, so it’s natural to assume it changes our sense of taste too. But how it changes your perception of taste is perhaps the most interesting part.

In 2014, Professor Charles Spence, the head of the Crossmodal Research Laboratory at Oxford University, along with a team of researchers, published an opinion piece, which gathers additional findings on how airplane noise can affect the taste of foods and drinks in the air.

Related: The 5 Best Domestic Airlines for Food

“Flying a lot for work got me thinking — why focus only on restaurants [and dining] on the ground,” Spence shared with Food & Wine. “That then led into the observation that there are a whole lot of people who order Bloody Marys [and] tomato juice in the air who would never think of doing so on the ground.”

According to Spence and the team’s findings, it comes down to the dry cabin air, the change in air pressure, as well as the constant hum of the engine.

“It turns out that the 80-85 DB of the engine noise while flying negatively impacts our ability to taste sweet and salty — hence why airline meals need so much more salt and sugar — to make the taste the same as they would on the ground,” Spence explained.

However, in contrast to the sweet and salty, Spence added that the noise seems to enhance the taste of umami, making those savory Bloody Marys all the more delightful. “One might even think of it as a kind of sonic seasoning to bring out the umami taste.”

As for how you can make your meals and drinks taste better while in flight, Spence suggests trying noise-canceling headphones as they “cancel the sound of the engines.” Then, pick a track you really like, because “given that the more you like the music, generally speaking, the more you like food.” And that’s not just his opinion. Listening to music you like can really make food and drinks taste better, according to science.

Want to fine-tune that meal? Spence added that you can try “high-pitched sounds to bring out the sweetness and lower the pitch of the music to bring out those bitter notes.”

However, at the end of the day, Spence says you should still order what you like most. Just like he does. “I must admit I am partial to a G&T,” he says, “though I should really be ordering a Bloody Mary.”

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