Ah, how quality recedes over time...
 

Somebody took the time to create an entire website about airline meals. I mean, a pretty big site.

Mostly of interest to me, though, is the images of airline meals from the 60s-90s. So many of them are so beautiful. Granted, they're first class and I'm only ever in first class on an infrequent basis, but still... some of these seem much nicer than anything I've had on a plane.

I've looked at that site before to get an idea if I wanted to order a special meal or not. I'm always tempted to submit a photo or two.

I had some very nice meals in coach on All Nippon Aiways, on my way to and from Tokyo. It was a mix of Japanese and Western dishes, almost al of which were palatable. The only exception was a seafood dish over rice which featured teeny tiny little baby octopi. I tried one, and, well, it was very chewy and not very tasty. But, decent sushi, good miso soup, okay teriyaki pork loin. I was a happy camper.

Air France serves some good meals in coach too, as I recall.

Great site LSPE! :)
I took pictures of my airline meals when I flew last summer. In fact... I took pictures of almost all my meals.

First class food is still mostly like that. Especially international.

I flew Hawaiian Airlines frequently in the early '90s and I can assure you that the food in coach was no better than the food I eat these days in coach (the big difference being that most of the time there is no food being served in coach; this really isn't a big deal to me, I'm rarely ever actually hungry on a plane and just eat because they put food in front of me). And that the food in coach was not nearly so good as the food this site shows for first class on Hawaiian in the mid-90s.

Can't compare to anything before that (I was in the middle of college before I ever flew on an airplane) but beyond increased rarity I don't think I've seen any real change in quality of the last decade plus.

In my experience, non US airlines have MUCH better food and service than US airlines.

My international flight experiences is limited to QANTAS, Virgin, and AlItalia. I loved QUANTAS and Virgin, but AlItalia was absolutely miserable, worse even than stateside.

last in flight meal I got was a bread sammich and some rasins in a brown bag...

personally, ive been trying NOT to picture that again.

Frankly, I'm more concerned about the saftey of the plane than the food at this point. I've been concerned since the air restriction was lifted after 9/11. I have been saying for years that if the airlines are loosing money are they skimping of maintenance and safty issues.

Then low and behold, there it is in the news, along with several airlines going bankrupt. I'd brown bag it if they spent the money on keeping the planes safe.