In the lead up to the 2025 World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo in Hamburg, Germany our dietitian Melissa Adamski shares a leading article on travel nutrition and the future of healthy food onboard in her role as Travel Nutrition Ambassador. In a follow up to her 2024 article which discussed the dichotomy of expanding nutritious foods onboard, this 2025 article explores the common question – why should the travel and catering industry bother to increase nutritious foods onboard?
There continues to be much debate about whether people want healthy food onboard flights and so this is a timely article expanding this discussion and highlighting important considerations for the industry.
Travel nutrition and the future of healthy food onboard – why bother?
Melissa Adamski APD BSc MND
Travel Nutrition Ambassador WTCE
Food and nutrition are popular topics, especially since the advent of the internet and social media. There are 67 million results for #nutrition on Instagram alone and typing nutrition into Google yields 1,100,000,000 results (as of beginning December 2024).
And while many assume the large interest in food and nutrition suggests everyone must want ‘healthy food’ this is not always the case with the pathway forward for the travel industry where it is less clear as to the role nutrition should play in onboard catering. As travel nutrition ambassador for WTCE, I wrote an article for the 2024 expo exploring this dichotomy of nutrition in the travel industry and how we can begin to explore integrating more nutritious food concepts onboard.
However, with conversations (and debates) about the role of nutrition and diets in the wider travel industry continuing to get louder there is then the question on many in the industry’s minds… why should we bother?
As a dietitian working within the corporate and business sectors for most of my career this is a common question – why should businesses bother considering nutrition in their strategies and offerings? In this follow-up article I explore considerations for the travel industry, particularly airlines and onboard catering, in regard to nutrition playing a more prominent role in food and beverage services.
Innovation and culinary nutrition
Nutrition science is constantly evolving. While the thought of nutrition brings to mind images of green smoothies and pretty Instagram pictures, nutrition science is actually a hard science just like physics or biology. Advances in nutrition science research are beneficial for innovation within the airline industry in assisting passengers feel their best after travel. Jet lag and diet, gut health, hydration, immunity and inflammation are exciting areas of nutrition science just ripe for innovation in the industry.
In the hospitality industry nutrition science is your friend, not a handbrake to food development and innovation. After being hijacked by the diet industry for so long, mentioning nutrition can send shivers down the spines of many in the food industry with the assumption that dietitians and nutritionists want to strip out taste and enjoyment in the pursuit of balancing calories and macronutrients. However, nothing could be further from the truth.
Consuming nutrient rich foods are important, and anyone who has spoken to me will know I like to talk about getting ‘bang for your buck’ when it comes to foods, as some foods offer much more in terms of nutrition than others. However, only thinking about calories and nutrients is not what healthy food is all about. Pleasure and enjoyment with eating is also important – food needs to taste good. Enter the area of culinary nutrition – where nutrition, food science and culinary arts all intersect and produce a powerful, innovative food and meal development team.
In fact, the Taste of Travel Theatre at 2024 WTCE had a lively discussion on culinary nutrition led by the fantastic Steve Warpol. Leveraging nutrition science can provide exciting opportunities for innovation within onboard services.
To read the rest of the article on travel nutrition and the future of healthy food onboard – why bother, visit the World Travel Catering and Onboard Services Expo industry article.
