A vegetable component of an airline meal served on a Qantas flight traveling from Sydney to Brisbane has drawn a lot of attention for its phallic appearance.
The shriveled vegetable, served with six dumplings, was the epitome of food “porn.”
“I asked the server what it was… and he told me that it was a root vegetable,” said the passenger, News.com.au reports. “I asked him to pass me my phone so I could take a photo … I never take photos of food but this was too funny to pass up.
“He blushed and was very apologetic, I don’t think he had ever seen anything quite like it … the lady next to me was cracking up,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous.
The Qantas passenger did not touch the vegetable but ate the dumplings, which she described as “delicious.”
She later posted the picture of the dark-colored rod on Facebook.
One follower asked: “Is that food, or in-flight entertainment?”
Another stated: “Did you ask for a stiff drink to accompany it?”
“Definitely a root vegetable they couldn’t serve on Virgin,” a third commented, The New York Post reports.
The vegetable appears to be Japanese eggplant.
In a statement, Qantas described the meal as: “Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings with Chilli Black Vinegar and Soy Dressing. The dumplings are accompanied with steamed Japanese Eggplant, which is used commonly in Asian meals. Based on this picture, we may look at renaming it Dumpling Surprise.”
The Qantas domestic business class menu is developed by celebrity chef Neil Perry, who works with Australian restaurant group Rockpool.
“The cornerstone of good cooking is to source the finest produce,” the Rockpool site says. “Rockpool Consulting endeavors to deliver above and beyond in-flight, bringing restaurant quality to the skies with one eye always cast on consistency, seasonality and quality of food.”
The woman, who will be flying to Los Angeles on Qantas in late December, found the whole experience amusing. She reportedly has “high hopes” for her next in-flight meal.
Max Tucker