Phenomenon above the clouds: Why you have tomato juice on the plane even if you refuse it on the ground

Tomato juice is a healthy drink that I don’t often have. But I recently made it at home, and while I actually drank it a little bit begrudgingly, my friend informed me that he had only had this drink three times. And each time on an airplane. I began to wonder, logically, if more people have it. And fairly recent scientific studies show that they do indeed. And the explanation? The drink tastes better in the sky.

“Tomato juice is full of lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that may help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in your body, thereby promoting heart health and reducing the risk of certain chronic diseases,” says Edward Giovannucci, PhD, professor of nutritional epidemiology. Overall, though, the blended tomato is a cocktail of substances for excellent health. This juice supports the heart, blood vessels, metabolism and digestion. And it’s also high in vitamin C, so it’s good for immunity. But its taste is not ideal, so people don’t like it very much. Unless they’re on a plane.

Popular drink

There are a number of statistics that confirm that tomato juice is very popular among passengers on planes and is therefore served really often. For example, a survey of passengers with Austrian Airlines showed that up to 51% of people drink this drink during the flight, and a third of them even drink it regularly while flying and see it as a ritual. Data from Swiss Airlines shows that at least 1 in 10 passengers take the drink.

Some airlines report a surprisingly high consumption of tomato juice. Lufthansa, for example , says in its statistics that it sells more than 1.5 million litres of tomato juice a year on board its planes. This is an amount that is comparable to other major soft drinks.

Tomatoes in the clouds

Although on the ground tomato juice is not one of the favourite drinks, on a plane it is different. And it’s been proven that low pressure, dry air and a noisy cabin environment are to blame. All of these factors alter our perception of taste. Strong flavours are simply more pleasant and more enjoyable.

Salt, sugar and herbs are perceived as less intense on planes. So even heavily salted food is simply considered a delicacy in the sky, whereas if you had it on the ground you might find it almost disgusting. “Tomato juice was rated significantly worse at normal pressure than at low pressure. The taste was described as rancid. However, pleasant fruity aromas and sweet, cool taste impressions came to the fore in the clouds,” says Dr Andrea Burdack-Freitag.

So personally, I don’t like tomato juice much for its taste, but since it’s healthy, sometimes I’ll simply have it anyway. I’ve never sat on an airplane before. But once I decide to fly somewhere, I definitely have to try if this drink actually tastes different at altitude.