For the sixth consecutive year, Alitalia has scooped best inflight cuisines in the skies according to the Global Traveler Awards 2015. We aren’t surprised by this announcement, as we were blown away by the cuisine found on a recent trip report which excelled on every level. Since their partnership with Etihad, the service offering has been improved to offer restaurant quality dining.
The airline has a self confessed commitment to provide quality food on board its planes and promote the food culture of Italy throughout the world. Aubrey Tiedt, Chief Customer Officer, Alitalia said: “Alitalia has recently enhanced its catering service on medium-haul flights and has introduced in business class on long-haul flights the ‘dine anytime’ concept which enables customers to decide when they want to eat and enjoy their meal.
“We have recently focused more on our Italian heritage which is world renowned for its high standards of food and wine and the passenger feedback has been very good indeed. To receive this award is a great honour and it shows that quality Italian cuisine is recognised in a positive light by frequent flyers, who are the most discerning of travellers.”
As well as an extensive wine list, Alitalia’s long-haul business class cabin fine-dining includes dishes such ravioli filled with radicchio and ricotta cheese in a rich taleggio cheese sauce with toasted pine nuts, from the Veneto region; chicken supreme rolled with San Daniele prosciutto and Montasio cheese served with Arraganati tomatoes and fragrant rosemary baked potatoes. Desserts include a ricotta orange mousse cake on a pistachio biscuit crust, vanilla sauce and candied orange which is a typical recipe from Sicily.
Other winners included Singapore Airlines for Best Airline in the world, Cathay Pacific for Best International First Class, China Airlines for Best Business Class and Etihad Airways for Best Airline in the Middle East.
TheDesignAir 
I flew Alitalia on Magnifica recently (GRU-FCO and FCO-GRU days later) and received two totally different services. The outbound flight was lovely, even without the new Etihadiness. And the food was delish, lasagna included. The inbound, howver, was dreadful. Not only was the service lacking, but the food was barely edible (the wine was served sparsely as a consequence of the poorly-trained attendant on my side). I wonder if the people who gave Alitalia this commendation get “lucky” with their flight, but I would put my money on Alitalia being very, very inconsistent in their offerings in general. “Good airline food” to me should have a strong element of consistency, which separates the good from the great. You can have a great flight on TAM, for instance, and also have one of the worst ever, whereas flying Singapore, or even British Airways, will be much more what you would expect every time. I therefore strongly disagree with Alitalia winning this, and am perplexed that a smudgy mascarpone-ridden prosciutto crudo wins top of the class.