Which airline serves the best food?

You wish.

It wasn’t until I started traveling frequently — more than just a few trips per year — that I paid attention to airline food. And though the quality of the mile-high menu isn’t likely to influence my ticket purchase, it doesn’t hurt. For example, the fantastic in-flight meals at least partly explain my love of Cathay Pacific.

The Times of London has tried to identify the best airline meals. Their results betray a bit of home-team bias, but it’s still a worthwhile read — if only for the highfalutin explanations of food that’s been a punchline since the first days of flight:

“Our ethos is that flying is still a special occasion,” says Phillip Parker, of Singapore [Airlines]. “We could save a shedload of cash by going down the frozen-food route, but we think one of the reasons people choose us is that they know they’re going to get a good meal.”

Take a long-haul flight with the charter airline Thomsonfly and there’s more of a “we’re all going on a summer holiday” vibe to the menu, which is overseen by the sort-of celebrity chef Aldo Zilli…

Surprisingly, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have an even homelier philosophy. “Our emphasis is on comfort food,” says BA’s Victoria Madden, “the sort of wholesome naughtiness you might eat curled up on the sofa with a good film.”

So which airlines snagged the top spots? The rundown after the jump.

7. Gordon Ramsay’s Plane Food
6. Thomsonfly
5. Cathay Pacific
4. Virgin Atlantic
3. Emirates
2. Singapore Airlines
1. British Airways

Yeah, that’s right — four of the top seven are British.

The best airline meals at 40,000ft -Times Online .