This spring, Cornell University reported that the constant loud jet noise inside airplane cabins affect passengers' taste buds, causing them to crave tomato juice over other beverages.
In noisy environments, it turns out, sweet foods just taste duller. Savory foods, also called umami foods, takes better and richer.
But if this is so, what else should you be eating or drinking in flight? Keep drinking that tomato juice, or choose green tea. If you are offered a meal, aim for anything that includes ingredients with umami savory richness. That includes foods like roasted tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms, aged cheeses, bacon, beef, chicken soup or broth, roasted squash, soy sauce or other savory foods.
(New moms, here's a bonus: breast milk is very high in umami taste, so hopefully baby will nurse better in the air.)
Researchers did not find any effect of airplane noise on passengers' sense of sour, salty or bitter foods, but previous research commissioned by Lufthansa Airlines showed that passengers' sense of salty and sweet tastes diminished by 30 percent when exposed to low cabin pressure.
