As delightful as it is to travel, I don't think very many of us particularly look forward to airplane food. I appreciate that it is a tricky business serving so many people in a short time and in such cramped quarters, but often airplane food leaves a lot to be desired. I flew first class last year (probably for the first and last time, as I didn't pay for the ticket myself) and the food was quite excellent. Not only that, KLM gave me little china Dutch houses filled with gin, which was very nice, indeed. However, most of us travel in the back of the plane, without the benefit of gourmet meals served on china.

They don't address the issue of airplane food directly in Up in the Air, but there is an awful lot of travelling going on there, so you know it's there. I looked at a bunch of pictures on the internet of airplane food that travellers had photographed and an astonishing number of them involved green beans. The beans we had were pretty tired, and I think I would have been better off to open a jar of my pickled green beans instead. The chicken is my old standby cooked in lemons and capers. It's quite tart which appeals to me, but if you want a milder sauce, add a bit of chicken stock.

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