Meals on board Mau. Sky Food Services: new UIA in-flight catering. Ukraine International Airlines

What and how to feed the Egyptian Mau?

Egyptian Mau belong to a kind of cat elite, so you shouldn’t feed them anyhow. An unbalanced diet will not only have a bad effect on the appearance of the Mau, but will also weaken your health and may even cause various diseases.

The food can be dry or canned and only super-premium and premium class. Among the foods available today, you can choose a food specifically formulated for this breed, or for cats with a similar coat type, or choose a food based on your pet's health (after consultation with your veterinarian). The amount of food is determined by the manufacturer and indicated on the packaging.


Photo by Nickolas Titkov

What foods should not be given to Egyptian Mau?

The list of dangerous foods for cats of this breed is the same as for other cats:
- onions (in any form) and garlic (contain the substance N-propyl disulfide, which destroys red blood cells, causing anemia),
- green tomatoes, potato tops and greened tubers (contain a dangerous alkaloid - solanine), ripe tomatoes are not dangerous for cats,
- chocolate (contains theobromine, which is dangerous for all animals, especially cats),
- grapes and raisins (causes increased fermentation in the intestines and, as a result, increased gas formation),
- avocado (leaves, seeds, tree bark and the fruit itself contain persin, a fungicidal toxin that can cause vomiting and diarrhea),
- cow's milk (adult cats lack enzymes that break down lactose, which can cause gastrointestinal upset, diarrhea and even cramps), if you really want to give milk, give goat milk, lactose-free milk or a small amount of cream, but not more than 2 -3 times a week (the higher the fat content of the milk, the less lactose it contains),
- sweeteners, or xylitol (although its danger has not been proven, it is better not to give it),
- tuna (a small amount of tuna will not harm, but constant feeding of it can lead to mercury poisoning, which is contained in the muscles of the fish),
- river fish (it contains a large number of helminths and bones; the enzyme contained in raw fish heads destroys vitamin B1), if the cat loves fish, then give sea fish, lightly boiled, without bones and no more than twice a week,
- alcohol (beer, wine, liquor, etc. - have a detrimental effect on the liver and brain of cats, for example, just two teaspoons of whiskey can cause a coma in a cat weighing 1.5 kg),
- enough caffeine large quantities can be fatal to cats (found in tea, coffee, cocoa, Coca-Cola, stimulant drinks like Red Bull, medications and painkillers),
- bones and fatty trimmings (fat, whether cooked or uncooked, can cause intestinal upset with vomiting and diarrhea; a cat may choke on a bone; bones can splinter and cause intestinal obstructions or ruptures),
- raw chicken eggs (possibility of poisoning coli or salmonella; The protein avidin, found in raw egg whites, interferes with the absorption of biotin, which can cause problems with the cat's skin and coat).
- dog food (this food contains a large amount of carbohydrates, lacks fatty acids and taurine),
- raw liver (with frequent feeding of raw liver, vitamin A poisoning can occur, which sometimes leads to the death of the cat),
- sweets (sweets, cookies, etc.), leads to obesity with all the ensuing health consequences,
- yeast dough (before baking, the dough is left to rise so that it rises, the same thing can happen in the stomach of a cat that has eaten it - swelling, the dough can stretch the stomach and cause severe pain),
- pork (in any form),
- fatty (cheese, chips, popcorn, etc.), sour and spicy foods,
- mushrooms and nuts (not digested).

Photo by Erik Dunham

What food should I choose for my Egyptian Mau?

The food should contain a large amount of protein (26-30%), an average amount of fat (no more than 15%) and a small amount of carbohydrates (up to 10%). The food should not contain artificial colors or preservatives, no processed meat products (only high-quality animal protein obtained from muscle meat and offal), grain and legume content should be minimal (unlike dogs, cats’ intestines are not designed to digest large amounts of fiber ). It would be optimal to feed your cat both dry food and canned food, as this reduces the likelihood of urolithiasis.

In addition to meat, vegetables and fruits, the food should contain vitamins, minerals, taurine, fatty acids (omega 3 and 6), probiotics and chelating minerals.

Some breeders recommend exclusively a raw food diet for Egyptian Mau, that is, natural frozen or fresh food. Now such food can be bought in pet stores or ordered home delivery (“Naturally meat+”, “Hati Food”, “Superpet”, “NATUREDA”, “Pafnuty Kotletych”, “Buy a cat”, “Mnyams”, etc.).

Surely each of us at least once in our lives wondered how and where numerous boxes of pasta, chicken fillet and vegetable stew come from in a small airliner cabin. Others asked themselves who cooks this food and creates the menu. Particular interest in this topic arose two years ago, when the national airline UIA introduced paid meals on board. A real firestorm broke out on social networks about this: some were outraged by the fact that free sandwiches were canceled as such, some complained about the choice of dishes, some complained about the price. We decided to find out what is being fed onboard UIA now, who prepares this food, and whether passengers have a choice.

Concept paid food"Buy on Board" has been in effect since March 2014. This means that during the flight a passenger can purchase sandwiches (for example, with eggplant sauté, pesto sauce and lettuce will cost 3 euros), desserts (Chu cake with raspberry cream - 2 euros), snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. You can look at the in-flight catering menu in advance on the website and, if you don’t like anything, take a lunch box from home (food, unlike liquids, is allowed to be brought on board).

Recently, UIA has added new service – pre-order food. You can use it and pay for your order at UIA ticket offices in Kyiv, the airline Contact Center or using the online form. Economy class passengers can prepare their breakfast, lunch or dinner no later than 72 hours before departure. The service is available on flights to London, Warsaw, Prague, Rome, Amsterdam, Tbilisi, Tel Aviv and many others.

Not everyone can prepare and serve food for flights - there are international standards that control the quality and safety of food. The multinational catering company DO&CO KYIV, which serves UIA flights, also received a certificate confirming this right. For safety reasons, all dishes are prepared on the ground, where they are blast chilled, portioned, packaged and labeled. After this, the food is cooled again to +5 and sent on board by special transport. Already on the plane, it is heated in special convection ovens, which blow hot and dry air over the food (cooks take this into account when making the preparations more juicy).





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As for the price, for example, a lunch with chicken Kiev, boiled potatoes, vegetables, salad, chocolate cake and a drink will cost 9 euros. Interesting feature It is possible to order special meals: Muslim, kosher, vegetarian or children's (from 2 to 10 years). By ordering the Muslim one, you can get beef pilaf with raisins, and for an appetizer - beef balyk with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese and olives, lettuce and parsley. As a dessert, they will offer a roll, butter, a bun and tea.

For vegetarians, the offer looks like this: fried mushrooms with onions, rice with green peas, stewed peppers and broccoli. Appetizers include fresh vegetables - peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, as well as pickled mushrooms with lettuce, olives and parsley. Instead of the traditional dessert, the passenger will receive canned peach and pineapple; bun and tea included.



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Kuku! Today I will tell you about my first flight with UIA. I had to, so to speak, use their services. The flight was New York - Kyiv. Who is interested in why I had to use these particular airlines - Here's why. Plus the price is more or less (I was afraid to fly through Moscow with Russian ones) and a direct flight. Although let’s be honest, I was afraid to fly Ukrainian, after the reviews on the Internet. Buying a ticket online seemed especially scary for me; you never know, there might be some kind of glitch and that’s it - no ticket! But fortunately, buying a ticket online was quite successful. I booked my ticket on the UIA website and tried to avoid any intermediaries like tickets and others.

The ticket was not paid for with my card (since I did not have a card with which I could pay), and after booking I received a letter in the mail saying that I needed to take a copy of my passport and a copy of the card from which payment was made for registration. To be honest, I was very scared that I might not be put on board and other bad thoughts kept creeping in. Being in the states, I decided to call support; there is a special “Free call” button on the website and you can call there for free from anywhere in the world using Wi-Fi. Once I came across a girl who spoke English but with an accent, apparently Ukrainian, but somehow I no longer began to switch to Russian or Ukrainian, I spoke in English. So she explained to me that I needed to write a response to that notification (see above), so to speak, to explain the situation, she reassured me that if you answer and explain everything, then nothing bad will happen. I still decided to play it safe and the next day I called the same place again. This time a girl spoke to me in Russian, which surprised me a little) But I still played it safe and took the necessary copies with me, which, by the way, they didn’t ask me.

So I was a bit late in telling the story about the site, but perhaps you’ll learn something for yourself.

So I'm on board.

My place was the one closest to the window. There are 2 seats in the side rows, and 4 seats in the middle of the plane. It seemed to me that the seats in the middle of the plane were wider. The salon is quite good and neat. After takeoff, they brought a set of earplugs, something for the eyes (I don’t know what it’s called) and disposable socks. Individually wrapped headphones and a blanket were also provided; there were no pillows. The TVs were located in the middle of the side, several small ones “hanged” from the ceiling and, like, 2 large ones on the walls of the cabin division.

Flight attendants. Flight attendants are a separate issue. I read from someone here that they smile to your face, but as soon as they turn away, their face immediately changes. And it’s true, as it turned out! One of them openly behaved boorishly. She delivered drinks around the salon:

she: What do you want?

me: coffee and water if possible

she: It’s possible, (then a little quieter) if you’re careful. You could hear and see that she was never joking.

I decided not to take it into account, but it would be fun to make a row!

Food. An hour and a half after takeoff, food began to be served. Here is a piece of tomato, a couple of slices of cucumber, 2 pieces of different cheese, 2 pieces of ham. Next in the small box on the right is something made from rice and cucumber. The rice was undercooked, everything was cold, I didn’t like it. On the left is carrot cake, not bad. A bun with butter, as usual. You can eat, but “not fire.”


The next meal was approximately 3 hours before landing. This meal was already hot and given the choice of lasagne or chicken. I took lasagna, but I would have been better off with chicken! Lasagna is a large pasta with a substance similar to minced meat, with tomato paste and topped with cheese. Some kind of salad made from grated radish, several strips of ham and mayonnaise. Buttered bun and blackcurrant pie. The other chicken dish had mashed potatoes, chicken breast and green peas.


The flight time is generally 9 hours and 50 minutes, but we arrived in 9 hours. Thank you very much to the pilots, smart guys!

The Egyptian Mau belongs to the group. Representatives of this ancient breed are very sensitive to food experiments, so you will have to select food for your pet with special care.

The main principle of proper nutrition is not to combine different types of food. Before you bring a kitten or an adult into your home, think about whether you have enough strength and patience to constantly pamper your new pet with home-cooked dishes, or is it better to immediately switch to dry food.

Food for an exotic pet must be selected carefully

High-quality mixtures of super-premium and premium classes “Royal Canin”, “Bozita”, “Akana”, “Pro Plan”, “Hill’s”, “Eukanuba”, selected taking into account the individual characteristics of the animal, will provide the cat with energy for everyday discoveries.

Properly prepared foods can also become complete food for the Egyptian Mau: dietary meat, cottage cheese, curdled milk and other natural sources of calcium, as well as fish, offal, vegetables, and fruits. If you are feeding natural food, you need to include special vitamin and mineral mixtures in your diet, preferably after consultation with a veterinarian.

Natural feeding of Mau: creating a menu

Playful representatives of this breed are distinguished by an active temperament and curiosity, so cat food should be quite nutritious (at least 80 kcal per 1 kg of live weight). The basis of food for the Egyptian Mau should be finely chopped meat, which should be given to the animal only after preliminary freezing.

Experienced breeders recommend feeding a male cat beef, muscular parts of rabbit carcasses, and occasionally chicken (it is low in amino acids). Under no circumstances should you cook meat - it will not be digested normally, causing gastrointestinal disorders.

Every day, the cat's bowl should contain cottage cheese diluted with yogurt or low-fat cream. You shouldn’t pamper your Mau with milk: this product, contrary to popular belief, is only necessary for kittens.

The menu of the Egyptian murka should include offal - stomachs, hearts, kidneys. The offal should be boiled and, after cooling completely, cut into oblong strips. You can give it to your pet no more than once a week. sea ​​fish without bones and scales.

And see with your own eyes how food for aviation is prepared. Of course, I’ve seen reports from catering companies at various airports, but visiting the in-flight catering department yourself is much more interesting.

Sky Food Services is a very young company. It has been operating for a little over a year, but is already actively cooperating with the national air carrier of Ukraine -.

1. The office of the catering company Sky Food Services greets us with a stand with “delicious” books.

2. A small welcome snack for journalists and guests. Opening speech from Natalia Yampolskaya - general director Sky Food Services.

3. On the stand is a model of the legendary Boeing 737-300 “Mowgli”.

I already wrote about him once, but now I’ll briefly remind you. Now this is one of the oldest aircraft in the UIA fleet. But this was the first aircraft ever built by Boeing taking into account the wishes of the airline. The name of the aircraft was chosen through a competition in which only children under 14 years old could participate. The prize for the winner is a trip to Disneyland in France. It was this plane that was chosen by the Vatican to support the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ukraine. Together with the Vatican cardinals, accompanying persons and journalists, he visited our country in 2001.

4. Finally, having put on gowns and shoe covers, filled out sanitary forms and disinfected our hands, we find ourselves in the workshop where the very same food is prepared for passengers and pilots.

5. The cleanliness is simply cosmic! Aviation is a very responsible area. Everything is done strictly according to the recipe; there are clear instructions and standards for any actions of the cooks.

6. Sky Food Services chef Andrey Morozyuk introduced us to the work of the “heavenly kitchen”.

7. Let's start with drinks. Lemonade.

8. Sandwiches.

10. The summer menu will consist of 108 different items. These include light snacks, fresh salads, a variety of hot dishes and delicious desserts.

11. The menu is divided into summer and winter. Moreover, dishes are updated once a month.

12. Interestingly, one of the aviation safety rules is that there are different dishes for the captain of the aircraft and the co-pilot. If one orders meat, the other will be served fish. The menu does not overlap in any way, and you cannot “swap” food during the flight.

This rule is used to avoid “incapacitating” two pilots at the same time in the event that some dish suddenly turns out to be spoiled.

13. Workshop for processing meat, fish and poultry. Moreover, not only different devices are used, but also different tables.

14. Grill station.

16. Cooking food for aviation is a very responsible business. The workshop has all the relevant certificates.

17. Data on all modes and treatments are recorded. Even after several days, you can determine what temperatures were used to create dishes for a particular flight!

19. For the thermal processing of products, the company uses Rational and Electrolux equipment.

20. 24 hours before each flight, a request for the number of portions is received from the airline. Moreover, such a request is formed based on the orders of economy class passengers and the initially included meals in business class. The in-flight catering department prepares all dishes with some reserves. On average, 27-28 are made for 25 servings. Immediately before the flight itself, an adjustment is made according to the passengers who registered for it.

Unsold portions are not returned to the workshop - they are disposed of.

21. The finished medallions are placed in a chiller and quickly cooled to a temperature of 2-5 degrees. In general, blast cooling is used in the production of many dishes in the workshop. The next step in creating a dish is its packaging.

22. This is how this dish gets on board!

Sky Food Services does not use preservatives or GMOs in production. In the summer, there is a priority on using local, local products. Suppliers are checked most carefully.

Pickles and marinated vegetables are not purchased, but are produced by the company itself.

23. The entire cycle - from the cutting shop, creating the dish, loading food on board and ending with getting to the passenger tables of the plane takes no more than 12 hours.

24. And these are cars that deliver food on board airplanes. The container is equipped with a special elevator; it rises to the height of the aircraft, after which.


In the second part we...

 

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