Live oysters mid-flight? Yes, please! In the late 1930s Qantas introduced Sydney Rock Oysters to its inflight menu. Qantas Empire flying boats transported trays of live Sydney Rock Oysters to Singapore before WW2 and passengers were also served them onboard, with 30,000 being consumed in the first year of operations from 1938-1939.

Post-war, Qantas began flying all the way to London along the Kangaroo Route with new US-built Constellation aircraft. Qantas introduced frozen food production to Australia when it opened its new flight catering department at Rose Bay in 1948. Female ‘flight hostesses’ also began flying for Qantas in 1948 and a greater variety of food was now served along the four-day trip between London and Sydney including gooseberry tarts and snapper soup.

The late Queen Elizabeth II flew on a Qantas Constellation during her 1954 tour of Australia and enjoyed a special Royal Tour menu of poached snapper with hollandaise sauce, grilled French lamb cutlets with fresh garden peas and potatoes, and Neapolitan ice-cream for dessert. A menu truly fit for a queen. First class service was just as exclusive with lobster and meat carved to order.

As Qantas extended its route network to fly around the world via both hemispheres by 1958, the variety of in-flight meals evolved to take in different cuisines with an increasingly French influence. Included on the menu were delicacies like kangaroo tail soup, roast turkey, pastries, cheese and crackers. Ooo la la!

During the late ‘70s meals began evolving into what we expect to see on flights today. Qantas introduced ‘cuisine minceur’ menus, a lighter style of nouvelle cuisine from France. The introduction of the Boeing 747 in the 1970s also required a new style of food service using a galley cart which could be pre-packed with meals.