Airports Keep Serving The One Food You Should Never Eat Before Boarding A Plane — Chili

There’s one food that should never be served at an airport, before passengers get inside a metal tube where their stomachs will be subject to the vagaries of air pressure. It seems so obvious, yet a dozen years ago Washington’s National airport opened a Ben’s Chili Bowl. Now the idea is spreading. I cringe at the thought.

it was magical pic.twitter.com/OxSB1j3sLm

— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong) March 21, 2026

Ben’s Chili Bowl is a DC institution. It’s been around for over 60 years, hosted civil rights leaders in the 1960s, and President Obama ate there the month he took the oath of office as President in 2009. The Pelican Brief and State of Play had scenes filmed there. It’s a tourist destination. But it’s not good chili. Then again, neither is this, but United Airlines thought it was a good idea.

The @united club at the @DENAirport used to have these bizarrely huge uncovered bowls of chili available as soon as you walked in: pic.twitter.com/FIt2f0XfNE

— Emily Witko (@witkoochocinco) August 5, 2024

passing gas on a plane is something that happens on most every flight, every day, because changes in air pressure cause the body to produce more gas.

• An average person does this 10 times a day anyway. Now multiply that out across a full widebody on a long haul flight and that’s without factoring in changes in altitude.
  
• The cause of the odor is sulfur
  
• The problem inflight is worse in cabins with leather seats (which traditionally meant first class). Most fabric seat covers are more absorbent.

Beans may be good for your heart, but you shouldn’t eat them before flying or on a plane. Avoid fried foods, cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts. Consider taking gas-x or beano…

During contract negotiations with its flight attendants, American Airlines served chili during planned picketing because they knew free food would keep cabin crew indoors and away from the picket lines. And chili was cheap! But they weren’t thinking through what it would do to the cabin when they boarded their flights.

There are other foods that are problems on board too, of course, like the passenger who opened up a can of tuna.

You can generally bring a sealed can of tuna through security – although if it’s packed in water, you could run into liquid ban issues if TSA decides to test the contents. You can’t bring an open can through – that’s a sharp weapon. You need to bring a sealed can through, and then figure out a way to open it once you clear security.

@allyjaksen @Bumble Bee Seafoods ♬ oh my god bruh oh hell na man

And then there’s the true extreme food onboard – a full slab of ribs, skin-on fries and a half an ear of corn served with mayonnaisse and Italian cheese, eaten onboard from a middle seat.

No chance is the guy next to me eating a full rack of ribs plus sides on this plane gtf pic.twitter.com/hDD9u6MlPi

— Lanna Tolland (@lannatolland) February 20, 2023

You might think the smell from from biting into a raw onion is no big deal, but even fruit smells have been enough to force a plane to make an emergency landing.

And flatulence from goats once caused a Singapore Airlines aircraft to make an emergency landing. Gas seems like a real risk here!