Dubbed the 'Taste Team', these seven experts are pioneering a new approach to airline food for British Airways that focuses on seasonality, provenance and quality.

The experts include Cape Town-based restaurant consultant Liam Tomlin; Michel Roux, proprietor of the Waterside Inn, Bray; Shaun Hill, chef and proprietor of The Walnut Tree, Abergevanny; Vineet Bhatia, chef and proprietor of Rasoi, London; Cass Titcombe, the newest member to the Taste Team and chef and proprietor of Canteen, London; influential wine critic Jancis Robinson; and Nicholas Lander, food critic for the Financial Times.

Each season the team will task a number of ‘chef correspondents’ to produce a quality dish featuring seasonal food from local sources.

It will also invite food suggestions from industry critics and experts as well as British Airways’ customers, crew and caterers. This will help to build a menu of food tourism recommendations from the best restaurants to street food favourites.

But this will not mean that British classics will disappear from the onboard menu. Traditional afternoon tea and choices such as shepherds’ pie and warm blackberry and apple crumble with clotted cream will still very much feature. Menus will also continue to provide a choice between balanced, healthy food and the option of indulgent treats.

Sinead Ferguson, British Airways' catering manager, explains: "We love food and have long worked with in-house and world-renowned experts. We’re determined to break the traditional view of airline catering.

"The Taste Team reinforces our commitment to excellent food and drink and reflects both food and societal trends. The difficulties of catering onboard and aircraft are no reason our customers should have to suffer awful food — it’s about understanding what works best and giving some of the world’s best chefs the ingredients to produce mouth-watering meals." The changes aren’t limited to what’s on the menu, but also when and how meals are served.

As well as being able to choose from a seven-course a la carte menu or more casual bistro-style dishes, First customers also have a choice as to when they would like to see a menu and when they’d like to eat.

In Club World there’s been a shift away from the traditional airline service and a move towards a service style that reflects a top-class restaurant, rather than simply handing out meals from a trolley. The Club cabin also offers a Club Kitchen, where customers can help themselves to a range of hot or cold savoury snacks, sweet items and a selection of drinks between meal services.

In the World Traveller and World Traveller Plus cabins, families can pre-order children’s meals. Children are fed first, so parents can relax and enjoy their meals while the youngsters settle down to watch one of the kids’ channels on the in-flight entertainment.

The focus on quality food isn’t restricted to the onboard menus. In the arrivals lounges at Terminal 5 there is a choice of breakfasts from full English to Continental as well as healthy options. Similarly there is an extensive array of hot and cold snacks in Terminal 5’s Galleries departure lounges, as well as the option of pre-flight dining for First customers on certain routes. The Silver and Gold bars in the Galleries lounges offer a selection of some of the world’s best wines and spirits.

Folake Ani-Muminey British Airways’ marketing manager for Africa, says the airline’s association with the Taste events has stemmed from it challenging perceptions that airline food has to be bland and boring.

"It’s an association that works for us because many of the visitors to Taste are customers or potential customers and clearly people who care about what they eat and drink. We are the title sponsors for Taste of London and support Taste of Joburg. Our title sponsorship and involvement with the Taste of Cape Town continues to build on this and demonstrate our commitment to proving that quality airline cuisine needn’t be a contradiction in terms."

British Airways Executive Club members automatically qualify for a 50 percent discount on the ticket price to explore the different cuisines of 18 of Cape Town’s top restaurants at this year’s Taste of Cape Town festival from 2-5 April.

To take advantage of this great offer, British Airways Executive Club members should present their membership card at a Computicket box office when purchasing tickets. Each Executive Club member may purchase up to a maximum of 20 tickets per membership at this discounted rate.

Visit www.tasteofcapetown.com to find out more.