Comments
The way to test the extent and the intent of this decision is to pull out a ham sandwich next to a Muslim while loudly asking your friend in the next aisle, “Care for any of this pinched piggy platter?” The see the airliunes reaction. “Sir you need to put that sandwich in the trash bag right now!’ “Or what?!? You gonna put me in sandwich jail?!?”
On a related note, I just got off an airpalne the day before yesterday. I told my spouse quite softly but earnestly, ” I WILL NOT do this again on trips of less than 1500 miles. I refuse to submit to being told to be quiet, stand over there and take off my shoes and belt… For an eight hour airport ordeal where it`s rush, rush rush, instead of a leisurely 12 hour drive with a possibe overnight stay in a town I`ve never been to before.
Posted by Tim Mc Hugh at 6:35 PM on May 9
I find this policy offensive enough that I would now never consider flying BA. Airline food is usually pretty bad, anyway, but politicizing it isn’t going to make it better. Furthermore, British cooking has a poor reputation, but one thing they do very well is roast beef. I have flown all of the major US carriers of the last 30 years, plus Lufthansa, CAAC (the old mainland Chinese airline), BOAC and BEA, back before they merged to form BA, and All Nippon Air, and I think the only food that was actually up to restarant standards was on Lufthansa and All Nippon Air.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 7:01 PM on May 9
“That said, Hindus are tolerant of the beliefs of others and do not expect everyone to stop eating a food because they do not eat it.”
This is hilarious. Hindus do not even care this much, but BA is falling all over themselves to prove how egalitarian they are.
Posted by Some Guy at 7:47 PM on May 9
I have stopped using commercial airlines.
Everytime there is an announcement of this kind, I just smile to myself about having made a great decision.
Actually there is almost nowhere in the world that I wish to fly to anymore.
Posted by at 9:10 PM on May 9
All we need is a new religious group that considers chicken, fish and carrots to be unclean. Then we’ll be done.
Posted by DF at 9:27 PM on May 9
This is just plain silly. I’ve worked has a front desk clerk for the last 7 yrs. at a hotel owned by hindus who’ve seen me more than once eat beef and never seemed bothered by it. We’ve even had several christmas parties held at a steakhouse. I knew one hindu woman who managed a Texas Roadhouse. The guy I work for also owned a Quiznos shop and his brother owned a Subway.
I really doubt many Hindus are put out by beef being on the menu
but I guess it never hurts to be seen pandering to a non-white minority.
Posted by The Kentuckian at 12:09 AM on May 10
All we need is a new religious group that considers chicken, fish and carrots to be unclean. Then we’ll be done. — Posted by DF
Well, I don’t like fish, can’t stand the smell, and don’t want to sit next to anybody who’s eating it. Actually, on most airlines (American carriers, at least) it’s become either “chicken or pasta”. Those seem safe for every taste. That’s just standard now, since 9/11, so you know what’s coming even before they say it. They used to offer a variety of choices, but now it’s down to just two, even in first class.
American does serve beef on flights departing from Paris — and it’s really good! The food on flights out of Paris is always good.
“BA’s second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef”
Well, in this case, I can understand it — on that specific run. They have to please their customers, which is only to be expected.
Once, on a Northwest flight from Tokyo to Honolulu, very heavy with Japanese, they served eel. I thought the stewardess had said “veal” and I almost ordered it! I was praying that the Japanese couple next to me would not order it (they didn’t).
I presume Mr. Scott hasn’t flown Lufthansa lately. Their meals and service used to be very elegant. That was before 911 changed everything. Not so any longer. They’ve become a barebones airline. Last flight, they didn’t even give me an envelope for my ticket! They’ve done away with everything that they can. (Except the unlimited free booze — Europeans wouldn’t stand for that.) All the Oriental airlines are known for excellence. Thai is superb; and Singapore (which I haven’t flown) is said to be the best of them all.
Posted by ghw at 4:13 AM on May 10
“I have stopped using commercial airlines.
Actually, there is almost nowhere in the world that I wish to fly to anymore.”
Posted by 9:10PM
I have to agree with the above writer and with Tim McHugh that a plane trip has become an endurance test. It’s hardly worth the trouble. You used to be wined and dined from point A to point B. Now, you’re poked and prodded, barked at by bossy black female guards, told to turn around, lift your leg, take off your shoes, open your belt, and then get treated like cattle once you’re in the plane. Flying used to be a pleasure, now it’s an ordeal. Thanks GWB.
Posted by ghw at 4:35 AM on May 10
Hindus have been flying BA for ages and it is very popular among Indians anyways. Nobody ever complained before as BA already serves an Indian vegetarian meal option on its Indian flights. It has all to do with price and being PC as possible.
Posted by Jasper at 5:30 AM on May 10
Strangely enough the ‘Indian Mutiny’ that broke out in Lucknow, India in the 1850s was triggered off by allegations (which were in fact true) that the paper cartridge cases for the new Lee-Enfileld rifles were smered with beef/pork fat.
Sepoys (indian soldiers) were required to tear-off the paper cartridge with their teeth.
Just how have the mighty fallen! From forcing Indians to put beef/pork fat in their mouths to supinely withdrawing ‘the roast beef of old England’ to please Indian passengers.
Posted by Kenelm Digby at 7:38 AM on May 10
I only fly commercial airlines on business when I get paid for every minute I am away from home, NEVER for holidays or “pleasure”.
All airline personnel ever does is LIE to passengers.
During my last two experiences I could have easily driven the distance in the time caused by up to 8 hours of delays announced in 45 minute intervals.
The food by-and-large was not too bad, but this nonsense by British Air takes the cake.
H.F. Wolff
Posted by H.F. Wolff at 10:55 AM on May 10
No, my Lufthansa trip wasn’t very recent. Even the All Nippon Air trip was in 1998 - LA-Tokyo-Sydney and then back the other way.
Unlimited free booze is normal on internatonal flights. The ANA folks were about the nicest airline staff I’ve encoutered. The ticket agent noticed I was tall and proactively asked me whether I wanted an escape-aisle seat for the extra legroom. When I ordered dinner, I was warned that most Westerners would probably not ike my selection. I smiled and told the stewardess I loved Japanese food except natto (which even many Japanese think is truly hideous).
As for the Indian Mutiny, yes, Mr. Digby, the cartridges were waterproofed with animal fats. The major component was beeswax, but mutton fat, pork lard and beef tallow was also added, depending on the batch of cartridges in question. Nobody was exactly clear on which cartridges had fat from cattle or pigs, and the Sepoys assumed the worst.
Posted by Michael C.Scott at 5:24 PM on May 10
“Unlimited free booze is normal on internatonal flights.
I told the stewardess I loved Japanese food except natto (which even many Japanese think is truly hideous).” - M.Scott
…………………………………….
No longer. That was back THEN. Since 911, all the American carriers now charge for drinks (except in 1st Class). Five dollars or five euros. With the euro now at $1.60, it’s a lot cheaper in dollars, but still not cheap for a beer at $5.00!
I flew with my mother once, to London, on the old Japan Airlines. It was superb. We were waited on and fussed over for the entire trip. We were practically the only ones on the plane.
PS. What is natto?
Posted by ghw at 7:52 PM on May 10
The topic reminds me a Russian joke.
The flight-attendant,
“Sir, will you have a dinner?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes, of course.”
“What is it?”
“Yes or No.”
I address the joke to the BA.
Posted by alex at 8:41 PM on May 10
One of my old Hindu co-workers said he tried not to eat too much beef. I informed him that cattle were either sacred or they were not, but there could be no middle ground. A nice woman I once met at an applied ferroelectrics conference told me she didn’t eat beef because she was a Hindu, while she ate a hamburger at Red Robin with me; she ordered it! I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the name “hamburger” comes from Hamburg, Germany, and not because the meat is ground ham. She’s happier not knowing.
I have the following opinions on food:
For fish, my favorite is salmon, raw. Bears have the right idea, but bears don’t have wasabi and soy sauce.
For chicken, with which one can do so many wonderful things, my favorite is chicken cordon bleu.
For beef, it would be beef Wellington. I’ve had it only once, but ever since then, for the last 27 years, my gums itch when I smell beef cooking.
For pork, it would be sausage Lyon.
For game meat, it is kangaroo, made up as spicy Italian sausage, served in toasted sourdough rolls with lettuce and marinara sauce for dipping, or maybe elk burgers with some egg stirred into the ground meat to keep the patties together on the grill.
For shellfish: mussels, shrimp, oysters, scallops and artichoke hearts “scampi” on linguini, with a sauce made of oilve oil, garlic, and a bit of mustard. (My wife loves my cooking).
Food is too important a part of the human experience to condemn any part of it, except cannibalism, though I do not fault those Uruguayan rugby players.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 9:14 PM on May 10
“The topic reminds me a Russian joke….”
And that reminds me of a Russian flight: from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Upon takeoff, the plane began rattling uncontrollably. The tray fell down and the seat almost came apart. That plane seemed to be held together with safety pins and string. What a relief when we got up into the air. And what a relief when we got out of Russia.
Posted by ghw at 10:04 PM on May 10
Natto is fermented bean curd, as in “fermented until it is rotten.”
My first Japanese hosts played the usual games. The first was “Let us see how much alcohol this gaijin can take.” I am used to drinking at 6100 feet, so I can absorb a truly disturbing amount at sea-level with no ill effects. The second was “Let us find something this gaijin won’t eat,” after they looked completely wrecked the next morning. We went out for sushi, and my host asked for natto maki after I was enjoying myself eaing raw fish.
A maki roll is rice, with seaweed wrapped around it, and something good inside, like raw salmon. This pair were natto maki, and natto is bean curd fermented until it is rotten. My gag reflex was starting to go while I bit into it, but I ate it. There was another on the plate, and while I was with four Japanese, none of them wanted the second. Curious, that my host admitted he hated the stuff.
I know it was a prank, but my having eaten the whole thing and only then saying “That’s really bad” earned me some points with them.
I am probably the only white man in recent history who has actually eaten natto without vomiting.
Natto is the anti-food.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 11:04 PM on May 10
If Hindus don’t like beef they don’t have to eat it. I don’t see why that gives them the right to impose their religously sanctioned dietary choices upon others.
Posted by at 11:44 PM on May 10
I usually prefer chicken or fish anyway, because it’s healthier, but on the next flight I take I will definitely be carrying on my own meal - about 2 pounds of freshly cooked bacon. I’ll carry a fan with me, too, to help waft the smell back to all and sundry. If I’m not seated next to a pretty girl, it better be a guy named Mohammed.
Posted by Alan at 12:00 AM on May 11
I just spoke to a women who said she visited London, and that she rarely came across any “British” British all weekend. Sounds like visiting an American city and only meeting Blacks or Hispanics.
Posted by factualist at 8:47 AM on May 11
What!!!!!!! What about the 4.2 million followers of Jainism in India?????? There are significant numbers of them in Great Britain as well. Jains refuse food obtained with unnecessary cruelty. That rules out fish and chicken. They practice a lifestyle similar to Veganism. No dairy and no root vegetables so they may preserve the lives of the plants from which they eat. That includes potatoes, garlic, onions and carrots!!!!! Devout Jains do not eat, drink, or travel after sunset and prefer to drink water that is first boiled and then cooled to room temperature. That means you will need to accomodate their schedules accordingly, including layovers on international flights and paid lodging. Oh, and many Jains do not wear clothes so you will need to make the proper adjustments. What’s wrong with you British Airways? You don’t respect religious minorities? RACIST!!!!! RACIST!!!! RACIST!!!!!
Posted by at 10:00 AM on May 11
Natto is a fermented soy product that smells like rotten cheese. Some people really like it but I prefer tofu (as do most people)
Posted by Spartan24 at 11:09 AM on May 11
LOL… Reminds of the time I attended a trade convention in New Orleans with a Hindu guy who had recently joined our staff. The first night out, we decided to eat at a T.G.I. Friday’s in the French Quarter. Perusing the menu offerings, yummy, I thought, that NY strip steak with mushroom-butter sauce sure looks good! Just then, in a flash of cultural sensitivity, I remembered that Hindus don’t eat cow. Thus, when the waitress came by, I promptly (but reluctantly) ordered a grilled chicken dish. The server turned to my Hindu dining partner. Folding his menu snappily, he said, “Ah yes, I’ll take the Jack Daniel’s burger, extra Provolone, please.” Later, as he devoured his ground cow meat with gusto and I nibbled on my mostly-bland and dry chicken breast, I couldn’t help but suspect he knew I’d played the white liberal fool to the max. Especially when he remarked with a sly grin, “I hear the steaks at this place are pretty good.”
Posted by Francis at 11:51 AM on May 11
There is a more sound option. BA could serve cow and pork. Those who cannot eat them, could use another airline.
Posted by acc at 12:15 PM on May 11
“In the past three months world beef prices have risen from about £2,500 a tonne to more than £4,000 a tonne, largely because of the weakening dollar and rising feed costs.”
This is your answer to why beef is more expensive.
Posted by kent at 2:59 PM on May 11
What bloody idiots! Yes, Hindus do not eat beef. They do not eat chicken either. Nor do they eat fish. I suggest they serve only lobster on their flights to Saudi Arabia, they may just be stupid enough to fall for it. On the subject of Saudi diet, does anyone know that the sale of dried lizards, essential diet during the pilgrimage, was a monopoly controlled by the sharrif of Mecca.
Posted by ciccio at 6:16 PM on May 11
“In the past three months world beef prices have risen from about £2,500 a tonne to more than £4,000 a tonne, largely because of the weakening dollar and rising feed costs.”
This is your answer as to why beef is more expensive. — Kent
— — — — — — — —
No doubt. But I was reading just the other day that eggs have more than doubled because of the soaring cost of chicken feed. So doubtless that would influence the price of chicken as well. And everything else too. Cows, chickens, pigs — they all have to be fed. Only ocean fish don’t need feeding — and they are growing scarce too.
I read too that China, with its new prosperity is developing a taste for formerly unaffordable luxuries like beef. It is going to take take a lot of beef etc. to satisfy a billion plus people.
Furthermore, I suspect that with the ever-rising population of the world (and the imminent collapse of the dollar), we have not seen anything yet. In another five years or ten, I fear that we will look back with nostalgia on the good old days of 2008 when life was affordable and when we could even discuss the price of beef. By then it will be irrelevant.
Posted by browser at 6:33 PM on May 11
I just spoke to a women who said she visited London, and that she rarely came across any “British” British all weekend.
— — — — — — — —
Unsurprising. The last time I was in London (which was some years ago), the hotel was run or owned by “subcontinentals”. I remember the desk clerk (son of the owner) making a comment that, “You will have to get used to our weather here in Britain”.
I was tempted to ask just whose weather was meant by “our”, but didn’t.
Posted by browser at 6:45 PM on May 11
“If I’m not seated next to a pretty girl, it better be a guy named Mohammed.”
Posted by Alan
LOL. MY own preference (short of having the adjacent seat empty) would be a little kid between about 6 and 10. They’re old enough to sit still and keep their shoes off my clothing, but not big enough to take up much space. They are also old enough to have a good attention span; and if they have a coloring book or video player they can be kept preoccupied. My worst dread would be to find myself between two fat black ladies, who are talking back and forth across the top of me — a nightmare that came true last month!
—————
As I understand, observant Hindus don’t avoid just beef, but all meat. However, I was told by an Indian (a Brahmin) that there are many people who do eat meat anyway - indeed, anything at all: snakes, rats. etc. According to him, these are the lower classes, who are only nominally Hindu.
Well, the same is true with Moslems. Many of them consume pork and alcohol, even though they’re forbidden to. It was reported that in Saddam’s underground hideaway they found canned ham and pork products. (Although it occurred to me that this might have been propaganda to discredit him with Moslems. But probably not.)
Posted by browser at 7:11 PM on May 11
I worked with a guy called Simon, some years ago, in California. He was from England and had been here about 11 years. He told me that as a teen he and his buddies would make bacon and eggs in the morning and the Muslim fellow that owned the apartment they were renting would start knocking on the door and get all upset. Needless to say, this was Simon and friends cue to make bacon and eggs more often. I guess they were followers of the creed, when in Rome do as the Romans do. Now someone should tell this to the whimps who run England. It could start with the English youth.
Posted by Bobby at 8:52 PM on May 11
The fact about India is that some higher caste guys abstain from meat and fish completely but a lot of Hindus including some upper caste guys enjoy chicken and lamb. Jains are pure vegans. Buddhists theoretically are supposed to be veggies but do enjoy their meat. The Christians there eat both pork and beef. The Muslims there eat everything hallal other than pork. The Sikhs do not eat hallal meat. So Muslims eat only hallal but Sikhs are forbidden to eat it. Muslims eat beefs and sacrifice them at their eid festivals which pisses Hindus off. There have been riots on this issue in the past.
The joys of multiculturalism coming near you.
Posted by at 8:49 AM on May 12
“That said, Hindus are tolerant of the beliefs of others and do not expect everyone to stop eating a food because they do not eat it.”
This is another case of guilty whites causing a mess over multiculturalism, which makes me madder than if Hindus had actually demanded beef stopped being served.
Posted by Karl Alfred at 10:47 AM on May 12
This is hilarious. Hindus do not even care this much, but BA is falling all over themselves to prove how egalitarian they are.
Nah. That’s the cover story. The truth is (probably) that it helps their bottom line. Now they have a convenient excuse for why they’re saving money by only carrying chicken.
Posted by at 6:32 PM on May 12
