Flight attendants are the least likely people to ask for recipes. But hold on: American Airlines is so proud of their inflight meals that they've published a cookbook, A Taste of Something Special, now in its second edition. (Order at 800/810-5423; $5.95)

The recipes are contributed by celebrity chefs from American Airline's Chef's Conclave, including Dean Fearing (Mansion on Turtle Creek, Dallas), Larry Forgione (An American Place, New York) and Boston's own Jasper White (Legal Seafood).

The following cold dish, designed by Jasper White and adapted for airline service, appears in the American Airlines cookbook:
 
 

Vietnamese Slaw with Shrimp Serves 8 1 head green cabbage 1 bunch cilantro (2 oz.) 1 bunch scallions (2 oz.) 2 carrots 1 red bell pepper 1/4 lb. Cappicola ham 2 Tbsp. sugar 1/2 tsp. chili paste 1/4 c. rice wine vinegar 1 Tbsp. fish sauce 2 Tbsp. peanut oil 1 Tbsp. lime juice 1/2 tsp. salt 2 limes 1/2 c. unsalted peanuts, chopped 40 medium shrimp, cooked, peeled and deveined (2 lb.) Core cabbage and shred fine. Reserve 8 sprigs cilantro for garnish. Chop remaining cilantro leaves and scallions. Julienne carrots, pepper and ham in fine strips. Combine above ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine sugar, chili paste, vinegar, fish sauce, peanut oil, lime juice and salt and mix well. Pour over vegetables. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Cut limes into 8 wedges. Serve salad on 8 individual dinner plates. Place 5 shrimp around each plate. Sprinkle salads with peanuts and garnish with cilantro sprig and lime wedge.

Airline Food as Art
Take a self-styled "32-year-old conceptual thinker (advertising) -slash- graphic designer -slash- web designer from Rotterdam, Holland" named Marco Hart, put him on a Turkish Airways flight to Istanbul, serve him lunch and voilà... you get the delicious "smorgasbord" of airline meals he's created at www.airlinemeals.net.  We couldn't stomach counting them all, but Mr. Hart claims to have logged in photos of 1,374 meals from 176 different companies. He welcomes donations of all your captioned airline meal photos for his site. Of course, many of you flying on short haul domestic US flights in 2004 will not have the pleasure of any meal service and thus far, fast food takeout portraits are not being posted.
 

Janet Strassman Perlmutter works with FTF's contributing editor Kaleel Sakakeeny as a regular writer for N.E.  Booming. Her travel writing has appeared in publications nationwide.