Getting Corny (Why Don’t Airlines Pop Popcorn On Board?)
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This story was originally published in the March/April issue of APEX Experience magazine.
While you won’t find potato chips on many diets, there’s one snack food that somehow gets away with seeming like a total indulgence while also getting approval from fitness fanatics: popcorn. Gluten-free, low-calorie and infinitely crave-worthy, popcorn has been satisfying snackers since its appearance at carnivals and fairs in the mid-1800s. In the United States alone, popcorn has grown so popular that over 10 gallons are consumed per person every year. Since 2011, annual popcorn sales have steadily risen and now total more than a billion pounds, which explains why airlines are happily jumping on the popcorn bandwagon as the next big in-flight snack.
A quick survey of onboard menus shows popcorn taking hold all over the globe. Virgin America touts two varieties of low-cal air-popped popcorn, while United has had so much success with its organic Buddha Bowl popcorn in economy class that the airline will soon be rolling it out to its premium short-haul customers, too. Internationally, British budget carrier easyJet has partnered with UK artisanal brand Joe & Seph’s to offer gourmet handcrafted popcorn that’s 100 percent natural, with a rotating menu of boundary-pushing flavors like Camembert cheese and orange marmalade.
Packaged popcorn may have already started to climb aboard in-flight menus, but will we ever see the day where popcorn is actually popped on airplanes? Sadly, the answer appears to be no. As anyone who’s ever overcooked a bag of microwave popcorn knows, the smell tends to linger for quite some time and the popping sound may be a bit unsettling with today’s security concerns top of mind for most travelers. “While popping popcorn on an aircraft sounds fun,” says United PR manager, Karen May, “for our customers’ safety – our number one priority – it’s not something we would do on board.” A popcorn lover can dream, though…