Normally, I don’t expect airplane food to be any good. Now, add on expecting airlines to make good vegetarian meals. Impossible, right? I thought so too, however after flying multiple times to and around Asia in the past 2 years, I’ve been surprised by how tasty some of the meals were (and also disappointed by how bad some of the meals were too…).

Let’s compare the vegetarian (some are also vegan) meals that I’ve had on Starlux Airlines, Cathay Pacific, EVA Airlines, and Singapore Airlines. I’ve also written separate posts for each, so be sure to check those out as well.

Pre-order your meal!

In order to receive a vegetarian/vegan meal on your flight, you must pre-order at least 24 hours in advance to ensure your meal will be available for you. If you login to view your flight reservation, there should be an option to select a special meal. However, you won’t be able to actually see what dish will actually be served, only a description of what the meal does not contain.

Other than Singapore Airlines, no other airlines had a vegetarian meal available on the in-flight menu without preordering. (Though, I still recommend you pre-order whenever possible!)

Comparing my vegetarian meals on flights

To keep the comparison below “fair”, I’m going to be comparing the most recent vegetarian oriental meal I’ve had on my flight. “Oriental” meal typically means the meal is Asian-style, and on all of these airlines, the meal is actually vegan as it does not contain any meat, egg, or dairy. For certain airlines, the oriental meal may or may not contain alliums. If you cannot consume alliums, please double check on the airline’s website for the meal description.

Singapore Airlines (1st place)

Spoiler alert: Singapore Airlines is my top choice, if I were to select an airline based on their meals alone. The below meal is from a long haul flight (SIN-SFO) in December 2024, however I’ve also received the entree (without the sides) in a shorter flight (BKK-SIN).

The above is tofu tenders with rice, carrots, okra, and potatoes. The sides were bread with margarine, cold edamame+beancurd salad, and matcha cake.

My favorite meal from Singapore Airlines is their tofu tenders. I would pay money for this dish if it was served in a restaurant. What I love about Singapore Airlines meals is that they don’t slack on protein!

However, their sides could use some work – I’m generally not a big fan of the cold salads that come with airplane meals, and the ones on Singapore Airlines are no exception. Like all cakes I’ve had on airlines, this one was dry, too.

You can check out a full review + pictures of all the meals I’ve had on Singapore Airlines in the post above.

Cathay Pacific (2nd place)

This was rice, 2 pieces of a green vegetable, and a curry. The curry had peaches and chunks of a soy product (similar to pressed tofu sheets) in a tomato based curry. It sounds weird – but it was actually super delicious. I finished the entire curry! I also appreciate how much protein this meal contained with the soy chunks.

This was from a 4 hour flight between Hong Kong (HKG) and Kuala Lumpur (KUL) in December 2024, though based on this sample I’ve no doubt their long haul meals would be just as good.

You can check out a full review of my Cathay Pacific meal in the post above.

Starlux Airlines (3rd place)

This was the first meal in part of my long haul flight from San Francisco (SFO) to Taipei (TPE) in November 2024.

The entree was thick noodles (lo mein) with shiitake mushrooms, carrots, and 2 pieces of Chinese vegetables. The sides were cut fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew), bread with margarine, and a cold bell pepper, snap pea, and shiitake mushroom salad.

The entree was overall edible and tastier than it looks. As usual, one bite of the cold salad was enough. The meal was lacking in protein, though I appreciate the shiitake mushrooms, and they did taste good. The meals on Starlux are overall good, but I wouldn’t look forward to the meals like I would with Singapore Air or Cathay.

You can check out a full review + pictures of the meals I’ve had on Starlux in the post above.

EVA Air (4th place)

This was the meal as part of my flight from Taipei (TPE) to Seoul (ICN) in April 2024. I’ve flown EVA Air to and from Asia twice before, and honestly their food has to be some of the worst. The above meal, while just okay, was the “best of the worst” of the meals I’ve had on EVA.

Their entrees were VERY bland and lacked protein (or even some sort of replacement, like mushrooms). I honestly couldn’t eat that much of the food because it was so bland, and no salt was given in the utensil packet.

That being said – service on EVA is really good! I wouldn’t avoid flying EVA simply because of their meals, but if I were to choose between flying EVA and any of the 3 airlines above based on food alone, I would choose another airline.

You can check out a full review + pictures of the meals I’ve had on EVA in the post above. I preferred their Vegetarian Lacto-ovo meal to the Vegetarian Oriental meal.

Conclusion

To rank them, I think Singapore Airlines consistently has the best food. Cathay is another solid option, though I need to fly them more to get a better idea of their variety. Starlux is decent, though lacked protein. EVA meals have been consistently bad and I’d recommend trying their lacto-ovo meals instead.