Qatar Airways introduces new menus by airline’s first female head chef

The elevated culinary experiences will be available on North American flights from mid-April

Qatar Airways has created new menus for its North American flights, taking inspiration from the 13 gateway cities it serves in the US and Canada and made with locally sourced ingredients.

Available in both business and economy class, the menus were created by Qatar Airways culinary development manager Mary-Jane Bonnaud. 

Bonnaud is Qatar Airways’ first female head chef, and also the first female chef to design an in-flight menu for the airline

Bonnaud said: “When creating the menu, I wanted to remain true to our key pillars and make delicious foods that are authentic, contemporary, sustainable and locally loved. We worked to balance tradition and innovation to create a menu that will encourage travellers to rethink what dining in-flight can look like.”

Each of the 13 North American gateways is represented in at least one dish across the newly created menus. For example, passengers flying from Seattle, Philadelphia or Washington DC will be offered American beef short rib with purple potato mash and sautéed vegetables; crispy duck leg confit with roasted fingerling potatoes, wild berry, lavender and braised red cabbage; or kung pao prawn stir-fry with steamed Californian rice, baby bok choy and fried cashew nuts grace.

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Elsewhere in the network, passengers flying from Montreal can enjoy favourites from the region such as a signature Canadian poutine with fresh cut potatoes, smoked beef, gravy and curd cheese; super Niçoise green salad with fingerling potatoes, anchovy, quail egg and grapefruit; gravlax salmon carpaccio with dill, ginger, shallots and fried capers; or a Montreal pastrami bagel.

Passengers with vegan, vegetarian, religious or medical dietary requirements can request special meals ahead of their flight that will feature high quality local ingredients. 

In line with the F&B philosophy of the airline, the menus feature local ingredients sourced from sustainable suppliers across the US and Canada.

Menus will rotate frequently to ensure passengers are presented with a variety of options

Qatar Airways chief officer of Customer Experience Rossen Dimitrov said: “Our passengers are passionate about food, and Qatar Airways took this passion into consideration when developing our new menus for the North American gateways. We crafted the dishes to pay homage to the unique and delicious foods that our gateways are known for and to bring the comfort of passengers’ favourite foods to the skies.

“We put an emphasis on the quality of food we are serving to our guests, always looking to provide an outstanding in-flight experience, including the menu. We continue to innovate and use local expertise and our global vision to create top class dishes and set the standard for in-flight meals.”

For more information, visit www.qatarairways.com