OK, aside from being insipidly named, I mean “Above and Beyond†â€” oh please! — the thought of cooking up those mystery dishes they feed you in cattleclass up at 30,000 feet is not just amusing but downright revolting! We’re talking serious bellyache! As one of our illustrious Bellyache team mused, “I wonder if they teach how to make the dinner rolls rock hard?â€Â
But wait, hold the presses, we’ve been premature in our assault on the SQ cook book. The book actually covers the first and business class meals, which have in typical SQ style, been lovingly created specially for the carrier by a gaggle of award-winning chefs from around the world, including Georges Blanc, a Michelin three-star chef from France. Of course we only fly first class wherever we go, so here at Bellyache Central, we are oh so familiar with the fine food of these upper classes. And if you believe that, have we got a ‘classic’ freighter to sell you! We’re still awaiting that elusive complementary upgrade, but judging by how quick the esteemed carrier is to downgrade our Krisflyer status and how many hoops you have to jump through to actually redeem air miles…we’re not holding our breath on the upgrade.
We’re reckoning the idea of the book may have a more democratic root, in the sense that the average Joe who could never afford SQ’s rather exorbitant business/ first class fares can at least get a taste of the ‘high life’ (you see, there’s a better title for the book!), by whipping up some of the “sumptuous gourmet meals in the comfort of their own homesâ€Â. Hoorah!
But we must give credit where credit is due and believe-you-me we don’t like doing that when it makes us look the least bit bad. The S$68 (US$49) book is actually for a good cause, as compared to fattening the pockets of the carriers’ shareholders, with net proceeds going to Singapore’s Community Chest, a nonprofit organisation that assists the “less advantaged†in the community. You can’t say ‘poor people’, because officially there are no ‘poor people’ in Singapore.
And we have to be fair about one other point. The food in economy class aboard Singapore Airlines has, on a number of occasions, been quite a bit tastier than the so-called ‘food’ we’ve been fed in business class aboard some *unnamed* European and American carriers. Singapore Airlines you’re (still) a great way to fly…shameless promos aside, can we have our upgrade now…?