Air fare

The quality (or lack thereof) of airport food has recently come to the forefront of my culinary view. The last few weekends I’ve been in and out of 10 different airports, and the only thing unifying them all is a motley collection of shitty places serving shitty food. Whether it’s Chinese to go or “fresh” pasta salads, they all result in food so bad you only swallow for sake of calories before tossing the bulk of it away.

There are the rare exceptions—my most recent find in the Houston airport is the barbecue joint in Gate C, which has some amazing pulled pork—but, overall, the options are depressing. Chili’s Too tosses out portion after portion of deep-fried depressions, while Wolfgang Puck’s terrifyingly ’80s-style pizzas are schlepped out of vending machines.

Sac flyers, I propose we set a trend: Let us prepack our airport food. We have fresh produce galore! Pack a Corti Brothers sandwich. Bag some berries or cherries, which are available from the spring and summer fruit stands that line the roads. It’s healthier, way cheaper—a venue at the San Francisco airport dared to charge $12 for an omelet—and far more flavorful.