How Turkish Airlines’ meals are made: Behind the scenes at the carrier’s Istanbul kitchen, with footage showing kebabs grilled over charcoal and cheese sandwich assembly lines

• Nicky Kelvin, from The Points Guy website, tours facilities run by Do&Co
• Do&Co is the catering company that makes onboard food for Turkish Airlines 
• Nicky joins two of Turkish Airlines’ ‘flying chefs’ on board a flight to JFK 

A travel expert said that his perception of airline food has changed after he went behind the scenes at Turkish Airlines’ factory-kitchen in Istanbul.

Nicky Kelvin, from The Points Guy website, was given a tour of the cooking and packing facilities run by Do&Co, the catering company behind Turkish Airlines’ onboard food.

Fascinating footage shows him cooking business-class kebabs over a charcoal grill, assembling cheese and tomato sandwiches on a conveyor belt and arranging meals on trays, ready for distribution to passengers.

Nicky Kelvin (right), from The Points Guy website, was given a tour of the cooking and packing facilities run by Do&Co, the catering company behind Turkish Airlines’ onboard food

Nicky is shown how the ‘charcoal-grilled’ business-class beef and lamb kebabs are produced, and is highly impressed that they really are cooked over a charcoal grill

Nicky discovers that these sea bass papillotes are made using fresh sea bass from the Aegean

He also joins two of Turkish Airlines’ ‘flying chefs’, Eren Gunkaya and Berk Baysan, on board a flight to JFK, feasting on the food he’d helped to prep earlier.

Eren and Berk work full time in the sky, prepping all the meals produced at the Do&Co kitchen.

Before the flight, they show Nicky around some of Istanbul’s spice bazaars, revealing some of the key spices in Turkish cuisine, such as cumin, sumak, thyme and pepper flakes.

Then they bring him into the huge Do&Co kitchen to impart some of the secrets to making tasty in-flight meals.

A taste test of the kebabs – and it’s a thumbs up from Nicky

Describing his sneak peek into the Turkish Airlines kitchen, Nicky tells MailOnline Travel: ‘The experience changed my perception for the better on what airline food can be’

Cheese and tomato sandwiches moved along a conveyor belt at the Do&Co catering facility

Nicky says: ‘Seeing the fresh ingredients, impressive facilities and the care and attention put into the preparation of the food made me even more impressed by what is being achieved in the sky’

‘The biggest misconception I had was that airline food had become an afterthought,’ says Nicky

After an inspection of sea bass papillotes being made, using fresh sea bass from the Aegean, Nicky is shown how the ‘charcoal-grilled’ business-class beef and lamb kebabs are produced, and is highly impressed that they really are cooked over a charcoal grill.

On board the flight, Nicky tucks into a sea bass papillote, exclaiming that it’s ‘cooked beautifully’.

Describing his sneak peek into the Turkish Airlines kitchen, Nicky tells MailOnline Travel: ‘The experience changed my perception for the better on what airline food can be. Seeing the fresh ingredients, impressive facilities and the care and attention put into the preparation of the food made me even more impressed by what is being achieved in the sky.

Perfectly prepped: Here Nicky arranges a meal on a tray, ready for a flight

Nicky, left, joins two of Turkish Airlines’ ‘flying chefs’, Eren Gunkaya and Berk Baysan, on board a flight to JFK, feasting on the food he’d helped to prep earlier

Nicky tucks into a sea bass papillote, exclaiming that it’s ‘cooked beautifully’

‘I had assumed that most airline food was packaged into containers and left to the mercy of the aircraft ovens. One of the biggest surprises was seeing the meat grilled in the kitchen over charcoal to create that chargrilled flavour before simply being heated on the aircraft before serving.

‘The biggest misconception I had was that airline food had become an afterthought. Whilst this might be true in some parts of the industry, Turkish, and certain other airlines have continued to make excellent food quality a priority.’

For more information on travel tips and tricks, sign up to The Points Guy UK. Click here to see the full-length TPG Turkish Airlines’ kitchen video.    

 Turkish is one of several airlines making excellent food quality a priority, says Nicky

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