Airline meals for Euro 08 fans

German airline Lufthansa is introducing special gourmet meals with a Euro 2008 theme.

Celebrity chefs from Euro 2008 host nations Switzerland and Austria have been called in by the airline to create meals for First and Business Class travellers on long haul flights during May and June.

Swiss chef Reto Mathis runs La Marmite in the ski resort of St Moritz, which is widely regarded as the most exclusive restaurant in the Swiss Alps.

The menu Mathis has created for Lufthansa’s First Class passengers includes crayfish and avocado timbale with lime crème fraiche and escalope of guinea fowl Engadine style with air-dried beef and sage accompanied by pumpkin goulash and curd spatzle.

Business class passengers will be able to choose delicacies such as marbre of char served with sour cream and apple fennel salad and fried pike-perch with white saffron sauce, cream spinach and Camargue rice.

Representing Austria, the other host of Euro 2008, is star chef Mario Lohninger. He has worked at some of the best restaurants in Paris, Los Angeles and New York and is chef de cuisine at the Silk and Micro restaurants at the Cocoon Club in Frankfurt.

From May passengers on Lufthansa flights to the east coast of the USA including New York will be able to enjoy an exclusive sushi box created by Lohninger containing delicacies such as sushi in a sesame seed crust with cream cheese and crabmeat or a cream dessert made with green tea.

Lufthansa has been tempting First and Business Class passengers with its Star Chefs programme since 2000. Among the celebrity chefs to have featured have been Daniel Boulud from New York, Frank Zlomke from South Africa and Paul Bocuse from Lyon.

Written by: Nick Purdom