为何飞机上的食品很糟糕？.

　　Everything is reheated

　　所有食物都被重新加热过。

　　The very nature of air travel, as well as how the plane is built and how it adjusts to high altitudes, make food preparation fundamentally more difficult.

　　航空旅行的本质、飞机的制作方式以及如何使机身适应高海拔这些因素，使得在飞机上准备食物，从本质上变得更加困难。

　　There are some technical limitations to being high in the air that make it far simpler to just reheat pre-made food, rather than attempt to actually cook from scratch — particularly in the pressurised air of the plane’s cabin.

　　处于高空时，一些技术性限制使得重新加热事先准备好的食物变得更加简单，而不是尝试从头开始真的做饭——尤其是在机舱的高压环境下。

　　Although planes routinely cruise at altitudes of around 40,000 feet, the pressure of the cabin is brought back down to more comfortable altitudes of between six and nine thousand feet above sea level. Even those lowered altitudes, though, are still enough to slow down cook times considerably.

　　尽管飞机通常是在40000英尺的高空航行，机舱气压却被下调回了6000到9000英尺这一更加舒适的海拔高度 。然而，尽管海拔高度降低了，仍然在很大程度上放慢了烹饪的时间。

　　"It’s actually very hard to cook at those altitudes,” explains John Hansman, who directs the International Center for Air Transportation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “They generally are just doing reheating.”

　　领导麻省理工学院国际航空运输中心的约翰·汉斯曼解释说：“在那样的高度下，烹饪实际上是非常困难的。他们通常只能重新加热。”

　　More passengers, bigger planes, less attention to individual meals

　　乘客越多，飞机越大，对个人餐饮的关注度越少

　　Today’s passenger planes are designed to carry well over 300 hundred passengers, all of whom expect to be fed on roughly the same schedule. Bore the popularisation of the jet in the 1960s, though, de Syon notes that passenger manifests were small, usually fewer than 50 people, giving flight attendants time to devote attention to each passenger’s meal service.

　　如今的客机，被设计用于搭载30000多名乘客，这些人通常都希望按照同样的时间安排进餐。然而，de Syon指出，在20世纪60年代喷气机普及前，飞机乘客规模小，通常少于50人，这给了乘务员时间，关注每名乘客的餐饮服务。

　　Designed for your entertainment — not your food

　　只为取悦你，而不是喂饱你

　　Passengers are offered music, often wi-fi, and, most importantly, a large menu of films and TV options served up on demand on personalised screens installed in their seat, instead of a single large screen up front. The installation of personalised screens has taken a lot of focus away from the food service, allowing airlines to cut back on food expenses as they spend more money on entertainment.

　　在wi-fi环境下，飞机向乘客提供音乐。更重要的是，他们的座位上安装有个性化屏幕，而不是前方装有一个大屏幕，提供大量电影和电视选择。个性化屏幕的安装，大大转移了对于食品服务的关注，使得航班在增加消遣性开销的同时削减食物成本成为可能。

　　How could new planes affect your next in-flight meal?

　　新飞机会怎样影响你的下一顿飞行餐?

　　In the earliest days of air travel, planes lacked the kinds of powerful engines that could generate enough spare electrical power to heat food. This meant passengers were largely restricted to eating boxed lunches of whatever could be easily packed from the ground, usually sandwiches or cold snacks.

　　航空旅行早期，飞机缺乏各种强大的发动机为加热食品产生足够的电力。这意味着，乘客被很大程度上只能食用盒装午餐，或者一切能在地面上轻松打包的食物，通常是三明治或者冷点心。

　　As planes got both bigger and more powerful, airlines began to include functional kitchens in their plane design, clearing the way for the hot meals we see today to be served. Offering more and better food initially gave airlines a way of distinguishing themselves from their competitors.

　　随着飞机变得越来越大越来越强，航空公司开始在飞机的平面设计中包含功能性厨房，为我们今天看到的重新加热的食品提供方便。提供更多更好的食品，使得最初的航空公司与其竞争者区别开来。

　　Today, though, ticket cost is the primary measure of competition and cutting out a meal or two can either add to the airline’s bottom line, or give it a little extra room to undercut a competitor’s price.

　　然而今天，票价是竞争的主要方式，减少一两顿飞行餐，可以抬高航线的底线，为削弱竞争对手价格提供一些额外的空间。