--- title: Anthony Bourdain Always Orders Scotch on Airplanes description: Anthony Bourdain has a bit of unlikely travel advice: sleep through dinner. canonical: https://time.com/4957157/anthony-bourdain-plane-order/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-09-26T14:31:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:57:56.748Z og:title: This Is What Anthony Bourdain Always Orders on a Plane og:description: Plus, his advice on how to avoid eating airplane food og:url: https://time.com/4957157/anthony-bourdain-plane-order/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418db6d455a877cd/6988df5b929fad42fdbedd25/anthony-bourdain-airplane-order.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: 2017 Turner Upfront og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is What Anthony Bourdain Always Orders on a Plane twitter:description: Plus, his advice on how to avoid eating airplane food twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418db6d455a877cd/6988df5b929fad42fdbedd25/anthony-bourdain-airplane-order.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is What Anthony Bourdain Always Orders on a Plane > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Sep 26, 2017 2:31 PM UTC  Anthony Bourdain attends the 2017 Turner Upfront at Madison Square Garden on May 17, 2017 in New York City. Anthony Bourdain attends the 2017 Turner Upfront at Madison Square Garden on May 17, 2017 in New York City. Daniel Zuchnik—WireImage/Getty Images by [Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure](https://time.com/author/travel-leisure/) ## Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure Sep 26, 2017 2:31 PM UTC Anthony Bourdain has a bit of unlikely travel advice: sleep through dinner. He’s spoken about his [reluctance to eat airplane food](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/celebrity-travel/anthony-bourdain-travels-with-hidden-knife) before, and when questioned, he elucidates: “You’re not digesting your food on the plane, which is why you feel like a horribly bloated beach ball when you get off,” Bourdain [told Travel + Leisure](http://www.travelandleisure.com/culture-design/tv-movies/anthony-bourdain-parts-unknown-season-10). “The food can’t possibly be that good. It can be edible at best, no matter how hard they try. The conditions that they’re working in, there’s not much they can do.” He also spoke about how [a taste palate changes in the cabin](http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/airplane-food-tastes-different). Chefs creating meals must work against altered senses of taste and smell to create something edible. “Every food tastes completely different than it does on the ground, so they have to make adjustments to it,” Bourdain explained. And then there’s the process of freeze-drying, sealing, and reheating the meals that also messes with the taste. **_Related:_** [_This Is Anthony Bourdain’s Biggest Airport Pet Peeve_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/celebrity-travel/anthony-bourdain-airport-pet-peeve) However that doesn’t mean he won’t drink on the plane. “Scotch on the rocks, they can’t f—ck that up,” he offered as his in-flight cocktail choice. “Maybe port and some cheese, if it’s a really long flight.” Although it’s unlikely that Bourdain will ever have to refuse food service. He has a handy trick for saying no to food: being unconscious when the meals come around. “As soon as I am on the plane, I am out,” he said. “I smell jet fuel and I feel a Pavlovian wave immediately.” [Gordon Ramsay has also spoken](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/celebrity-travel/gordon-ramsay-wont-eat-airplane-food) about his unwillingness to eat the food aboard airplanes, saying: “I worked for airlines for 10 years, so I know where this food’s been and where it goes, and how long it took before it got on board.” _This_ [_article_](http://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-tips/celebrity-travel/anthony-bourdain-airplan-meal-service) _originally appeared on_ [_TravelandLeisure.com_](http://www.travelandleisure.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4957157/anthony-bourdain-plane-order/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4957157/anthony-bourdain-plane-order/"},"headline":"This Is What Anthony Bourdain Always Orders on a Plane","datePublished":"2017-09-26T14:31:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:57:56.748Z","description":"Plus, his advice on how to avoid eating airplane food","url":"https://time.com/4957157/anthony-bourdain-plane-order/","keywords":["Living","Travel","airplanes","onetime","onetimetravel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418db6d455a877cd/6988df5b929fad42fdbedd25/anthony-bourdain-airplane-order.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cailey Rizzo / Travel + Leisure"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt418db6d455a877cd/6988df5b929fad42fdbedd25/anthony-bourdain-airplane-order.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2017 Turner Upfront","caption":"2017 Turner Upfront","creditText":"Daniel Zuchnik—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4957157/anthony-bourdain-plane-order/","name":"This Is What Anthony Bourdain Always Orders on a Plane"}}]}] ```