Episode 7 - Jumbo Jet Feast
This episode follows the teams at the biggest airline kitchen in the world, making enough food to feed a country the size of Canada for a week, whilst working against the clock to keep Dubai’s gourmet fleet flying high.
The biggest facility of its kind anywhere in the World, Emirates Airline Catering facility is the size of ten American football pitches, and in its eight year history has served over 265 million meals!
Based in the heart of Dubai, like the airport itself, the Emirates Catering Facility runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Each day a team of 520 chefs turns out around 170,000 meals to cater for around 400 flights, and every ingredient is ordered by the ton.
Today, the team are facing a busy flight plan packed with sold out flights, with thousands of hungry passengers to feed. Flight Dispatcher Michael has his hands full making sure every one of the thousands of meals makes it to every flight on time. Tray setter Dean is also working up to the wire as last minute upgrades cause panic.
As if it isn’t busy enough, today is a big day for head chef James Griffith. It’s his new menu’s final exam, and nine months of hard development work hinge on the verdict of a tough team of taste testers. Executive chef Mike Borsdorf is also in the hot seat, as he unexpectedly gets a visit from the strict Emirates quality testers keen to sample his first class kingfish dish. Meanwhile chef Said has 650 pounds of hummous to produce, pastry chef Peter has to deliver 17,000 chocolate cakes and Syrian chef Fadi must make 5,000 baklava by hand.