Eight finalists, all of whom were cockpit and cabin crew, battled it out in this third edition of the KLM Cooking Contest. Folkert Stikvoort’s winning dish will be served to World Business Class passengers from January 2020, probably for a period of three months.

The panel of judges included Roel Verwiel, head of the panel and chairman of KLM Foodies; Jonnie Boer, chef at the Librije; Bart van Olphen, cooking book writer and founder of sustainable fish brand Fishtales; and Miriam Kartman, executive vice president of KLM Inflight Services.

Partnership with De Librije

KLM has a longstanding partnership with Jonnie en Thérèse Boer of three-star restaurant De Librije in Zwolle for World Business Class meals and the selection of appropriate wines. Jonnie en Thérèse also own Librije’s Winkel, Librije’s Hotel and the cooking and wine school Librije’s Atelier.

Taste
People experience tastes and aromas differently during flight due to factors including cabin pressure and humidity. One’s ability to taste and one’s sense of smell diminish by an average of 20% when flying in an aircraft. For this reason, the meals served on board by KLM are spicier and the wines selected more full-bodied. Wines with a high tannin content taste less pleasant at a high altitude and therefore don’t feature in KLM’s wine selection. Read more in KLM Blog.

Meals and wines by Jonnie and Thérèse Boer
Even Jonnie Boer joined the KLM flight to San Francisco. Until 26 October 2015, KLM will be serving meals created by this leading, three-star Dutch chef in World Business Class on flights departing from Amsterdam. Jonnie told passengers how he developed the meals with KLM and what factors he had to take into account when creating the recipes. KLM not only serves meals: from this month, KLM has been giving away the ‘Kiss of Thérèse’, a Ken Forrester (Old Vine Reserve Chenin Blanc 2014) white wine selected specially by Thérèse. This wine tastes just as good on the ground as in the air, only with a more full-bodied flavour. The ‘Kiss of Thérèse’ and all other KLM World Business Class wines can also be ordered via specialbite.com/klmwines.

KLM invests in its inflight products
KLM continually invests in its inflight products. For example, the World Business Class cabin interior was completely revitalised across the Boeing 747 fleet. At present, the Boeing 777-200 fleet is being updated with a new cabin interior in both World Business Class and Economy Class. What’s more, KLM has been serving World Business Class meals created by leading Dutch chefs for several years now. KLM continues to invest in its service on board by working with leading chefs and sommeliers.

Past menus have been created by Sergio Herman, Richard Ekkebus, Mario Ridder and Richard van Oostenbrugge.On commencement of the new 2015 winter schedule, new Economy Class meal trays will be introduced: Tasty Blue. KLM will be the first airline in the world to introduce trays made of polypropylene. Not only is this material lighter and easier to recycle, it also has less of an impact on the environment.

New lightweight trolleys will also be introduced when the new winter season starts. These trolleys harmonise with the Delft Blue design of the trays.