The airline has worked to create the ‘Mood Food’ box as part of their Year of Nice campaign.
Working with food psychologist Professor Charles Spence, the scientist behind Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck restaurant, the box uses ingredients that improve passengers happiness and reduce stress.
Head Chef at Kitchen Theory, Jozef Yousef created the box for the airline, which includes snack bars, cakes and tea within it.
And with recent figures showing holiday seekers only manage to relax by day three of their holiday, it could help to improve their mood before they even land.
The ‘Mood Food’ box includes four key items as part of the stress busting package, all for different times of the flight.
Pre-flight
The liquorice and echinacea ice cream is proven to help reduce coughs and colds, with liquorice boasting anti-inflammatory abilities to boost immunity to any illnesses.
And with 40 per cent of Britons voting ice cream as the top holiday treat, it starts the holiday whilst still in the air.
Take off
Secondly is the green tea and lavender mocha rice cakes, a typical Japanese food.
Lavender is well-known to be a relaxing herb with many using it to aid sleep, whilst the green tea is high in antioxidants which give travellers an extra immunity burst.
Professor Spence explained: “The soft, chewy texture of the rice encourages mastication which has proven anti-stress properties, reducing tension much like chewing gum.”
Mid-flight
Passengers can then enjoy a herbal tea thirty minutes into the flight which is a mixture of chamomile, fennel seed and kelp.
The combination of herbs helps to aid digestion and reduce bloating which affects 18 per cent or holidaymakers.
Disembark
As travellers come to the end of their flight, they are then given a caramelised nut bar, containing tomato powder.
This awakens the body so passengers feel ready to land and to start their holiday.
Professor Spence commented: “I’ve loved working with Monarch to use food – which can be a powerful psychological and physiological tool – to create the first ever real ‘happy’ meal to get travellers in the holiday mood as quickly as possible.”
Nils Christy, Chief Operating Officer at Monarch explained the idea further: “We know how precious time on holiday is, so are delighted to be able to listen to our customers’ needs and trial the Monarch ‘Mood Food’ box this summer enabling more people to relax, feel good and start enjoying their holiday from the moment they get to the gate.”
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