When I fly, I like to grab food at the airport to bring on board so I don’t have to eat the mystery meat. But did you know you can also bring your own food from home? Yes, you are actually allowed to take your own food on a plane, as long as you follow a few TSA guidelines. It turns out there are very good reasons to BYOPF (bring your own plane food)—and it’s not just because airline food is notoriously awful.
So should you do it for health reasons, to have food on hand in case you get stuck on a runway … or for some other reason entirely? Well, there’s actually a wild scientific reason we all should pack a bite for the flight.
To get the full story, I reached out to Abby Thiel, PhD, a food scientist in Madison, Wisconsin, and Angel Luk, a registered dietitian and the author of You Can’t Out-Train a Bad Diet. Read on for the details on what foods to pack from home or grab at the airport—and why you’ll be glad you knew this insider tip before that cart wheels down the aisle.
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Why should you bring your own food on a flight?
Being on a plane affects your senses, making food taste more blah. “Flying doesn’t actually change the food itself—it changes how your body experiences it,” Thiel says.
Worse, airlines know food tastes bland in the air—Lufthansa even studied this effect using a flight simulator—and as a result, they overcompensate when preparing meals (more on this coming up). Bringing your own food will give you something tastier and healthier to eat.
How, exactly, does air travel affect our senses?
Being miles-high in the air seriously alters our sense of taste in several ways. “At cruising altitude, most people have a harder time detecting sweet and salty flavors,” Thiel says, citing studies that have shown those tastes can lessen by as much as about 30%. Other tastes, like bitter and sour, stay relatively unchanged, and umami—that savory taste—can actually become more noticeable.
“That’s why food can taste flat overall,” she says, “but something like tomato juice can still taste surprisingly good.” Here’s what’s going on.
Being on a plane alters our sense of smell
Here’s a (fun!) science lesson: Our sense of taste is strongly influenced by our sense of smell, Thiel says. But planes do you no favors on this front. The cabin is extremely dry (typically around 10% to 20% humidity), and that sucks the moisture out of your nose and mouth. Meanwhile, changes in cabin pressure swell your sinuses and nasal passages.
That leaves you with a temporarily diminished sense of smell and taste. In the air, “your ability to detect aromas drops, and everything tastes more muted,” Thiel says.
The low humidity makes our taste buds less effective
On top of all that, the low cabin humidity directly impairs our ability to pick up flavors. “Dryness reduces saliva, which under normal conditions helps dissolve taste molecules so they can interact with your taste buds,” Thiel explains. “But with less saliva, fewer of those molecules actually make it to your taste receptors.”
Cabin noise (yes, noise) alters our taste perception
Weirdly enough, our sense of hearing plays a role in how foods taste. Ambient cabin noise warps our sense of taste, according to a Cornell study published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. The researchers had people taste sweet, salty, sour and umami flavors in a room with the background noise of a typical aircraft cabin (80 to 85 decibels) and in a quieter space. Eating in noisy conditions made umami taste stronger, while it made sweetness and saltiness less pronounced.
And, as it turns out, background noise can even dull our taste perception on the ground. “A loud, distracting noise, like in a busy restaurant, forces your brain to divert resources to processing that sound,” Thiel says. “The cognitive load can reduce the attention you pay to sensory input like smell and taste, making food seem less appealing or less flavorful overall.” Maybe that’s why you love eating in a quiet restaurant?
What does this mean for our food in the air?
Since flying affects our senses and makes food generally taste more blah, airlines tend to add excess sodium and flavoring, Thiel says. This can backfire, though, making plane grub taste too salty or faux-flavored (think: bad frozen pizza seasoning).
“The sodium content of airplane food may be higher to combat the altitude-related change in our taste buds,” Luk says. Still, no need to panic, she adds. “The portions are much smaller than a typical restaurant or even home-cooked meal, so the net difference in total sodium may be quite negligible.”
Is there any other reason to skip airplane food?
You definitely should BYO if you have special food needs (like food allergies) or want to make sure you get to enjoy something flavorful in the sky. But, you ask, if being in the air makes food seem bland, won’t your food from home taste that way too? It will … unless you tweak the flavorings.
“A good rule of thumb is that if something tastes perfectly seasoned on the ground, it’ll probably taste a little bland in the air,” Thiel says. So the trick is to bring umami-rich options (more on that below).
Bringing your own food on a plane also gives you complete control over your food. Airlines have gotten bad press on occasion for outbreaks of foodborne illness traced back to their water supply, and airplanes tend to be germy, so why not?
How can we actually enjoy what we eat in the air?
You have tons of options, though there are a few ground rules (or is it air rules?) to know about. First, on the TSA front: When it comes to liquid or gel food (jelly, peanut butter, cream cheese), you are limited to 3.4 ounces or less. And you can’t take fresh fruits and vegetables if you’re flying from Hawaii, Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands to the U.S. mainland, to prevent the spread of pests. Check in with your airline before flying to make sure it doesn’t have any further restrictions.
That still leaves plenty of choice. Overall, “umami-rich foods like tomato-based dishes, mushrooms or anything with soy sauce tend to hold up well,” Thiel says. “Adding some acidity, like lemon juice or vinegar, can also help brighten the flavor.” Another mile-high taste tip: Use grated ginger—it is umami, one of the reasons you may feel drawn to ginger ale on planes.
Don’t bother adding sugar, maple syrup, or salt to make up for the dull flavor—it won’t help much and will only make your food less healthy, Thiel says. Instead, lean in to savory. “You want foods that have a bit more intensity overall and are slightly tangy and well-seasoned, so that even after that in-flight ‘dulling effect,’ they still taste balanced,” Thiel says.
Homemade meals and snacks that will have great flavor in the air
- Pasta salad with lemon vinaigrette, olives and Parmesan
- Farro bowl with roasted vegetables, cubed cheddar cheese and balsamic vinaigrette
- Homemade berry and seed muffins made with almond flour or other high-protein flour
- Roasted chickpeas, crunchy edamame or broad bean (fava bean) snacks
Luk emphasizes that plant-protein snacks are “excellent options.” You can make them yourself or buy them in a variety of savory options.
Premade picks that will also be tasty on the plane
- Hummus with vegetables or whole-grain crackers
- Yogurt parfait packaged with granola and fruit
- Egg salad and lettuce sandwich on multigrain bread
- A boxed salad with chicken breast and vinaigrette
For that last one, Luk suggests pairing it with a bag of pretzels for some carbs if there are no croutons or dried fruit in the box.
If you don’t have time to prep a meal or buy one at an airport kiosk, here’s another tip: Order the diabetes or vegetarian option through the airline. “They can be good choices even for people who do not have diabetes or follow a vegetarian lifestyle,” Luk says. “They’re generally higher in protein and fiber, helpful in maintaining satiety and post-meal blood sugars, and lower in saturated fat, which is helpful if you’re watching your cholesterol levels.”
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Sources:
- Abbey Thiel, PhD, food science consultant who operates Abbey the Food Scientist; email interview, April 7, 2026
- Angel Luk, RD, co-founder of Food Mysteries and author of You Can’t Out-Train a Bad Diet; email interview, April 8, 2026
- TSA: “What Can I Bring: Food”
- Journal of Experimental Psychology: “A Crossmodal Role for Audition in Taste Perception”
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