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Diverse and indigenous cuisine brought by the many ethnic people to St. Maarten from all over the world piques our interest. To this end, we are on a quest to find where it comes from, if it is used for celebrations, if it is exotic to some but everyday food to others. Anything to do with keeping the body and soul nourished with that which is produced from good old terra firma, is what makes the world go around.
Having finished business in Florida, we were once again on the move; this time flying from Miami to JFK and then on to Heathrow on an overnight flight. It takes us three days (two overnight flights) to get to our destination of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. Talk about a long trip!
Flying into Miami is always a bit of a heart-thudding experience, simply because one does not know how long the lines will be. Flying into JFK on a transit ticket generally means that we wave goodbye to our checked luggage in Miami and find it in Heathrow.
In Heathrow, we change carrier so we need to collect our luggage and find the left luggage depot for the day so we can pop into London Town for the day – our next leg leaves quite late at night, so hanging out in the airport is a no-go. There is an express tube line from the airport so we should be catching up with friends for lunch and a bit of sightseeing.
JFK
“John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York-JFK is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the New York airport system, the 13th-busiest airport in the United States, and the busiest international air passenger gateway into North America. Over 90 airlines operate from the airport, with nonstop or direct flights to destinations in all six inhabited continents.” Wikipedia
With five passenger terminals and four runways, this busy hub is accessible via car, bus and shuttle. JFK is a hub for American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and JetBlue. Some of the older generation will remember the names Pan Am and TWA and associate air-travel with those carriers among others. The planes and rules of travel were very different then compared to today. Seatbelts were not worn and one could smoke anywhere in the plane.
The facility opened in 1948 as New York International Airport, often called the Idlewild Airport (there used to be the Idlewild Beach Golf Course right there, but that gave way to the growing airport terminals. Following the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963, the airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport as a tribute to the 35th President of the United States.
JFK was built to relieve LaGuardia Field, which had become overcrowded after its 1939 opening. In 1941, it was announced a large area of marshland on Jamaica Bay – including the Idlewild Golf Course – would be used for the construction which began in 1943.
US $60 million was initially spent with governmental funding and the airport was intended to become the largest international airport.
Early operations
Idlewild opened with six runways and a seventh under construction. Further expansions followed which included a control tower in 1952. The Avro Jetliner was the first jet airliner to land at Idlewild in 1950. In 1951, the airport averaged 73 daily airline operations.
By 1954, Idlewild had the highest volume of international air traffic of any airport globally. Debates and planning took place as it was realized the airport would be too small in the future. The revised plan met airline approval in 1955, with seven terminals initially planned. Five terminals were for individual airlines, one was for three airlines, and one was for international arrivals. There would be an 11-storey control tower, roadways, parking lots, taxiways, and a reflecting lagoon in the centre. The airport was modified in the late 1960s to accommodate the Boeing 747's weight.
In 1957, the USSR sought approval for two jet-powered Tupolev Tu-104 flights carrying diplomats to Idlewild; the Port Authority did not allow them, saying noise tests had to be done first.
United Airlines and Delta Air Lines opened Terminal 7 (later Terminal 9) – demolished in 2008. Eastern Air Lines opened Terminal 1 in November 1959 – demolished in 1995 and replaced with the current Terminal 1.
American Airlines opened Terminal 8 in 1960 – demolished in 2007 to make room for the new Terminal 8.
Pan American World Airways opened the Worldport (Terminal 3) in 1960 – demolished in 2013. Trans World Airlines opened the TWA Flight Center in 1962. With the demise of TWA in 2001, the terminal remained vacant until 2005 when JetBlue and the Port Authority of New York financed the construction of a new 26-gate terminal now called Terminal 5 (T5). This new terminal opened in 2008.
The airport was renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 24, 1963, a month and two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Airlines began scheduling jets to land in 1958-1959. Concorde, operated by Air France and British Airways, made scheduled trans-Atlantic supersonic flights to JFK from November 1977, until its retirement by British Airways in 2003. Air France had retired the aircraft in May 2003.
Construction of the AirTrain, the JFK people-mover system began in 1998 – opened in 2003. JFK was the first airport in the United States to receive a passenger Airbus A380 flight; operated by Lufthansa and Airbus, it arrived in 2008 – then followed many big carriers from around the globe to use the hub.
The airport currently hosts the world's longest flight, Singapore Airlines Flights 23 and 24. The route was launched in 2020 between Singapore and JFK, and uses the Airbus A350-900ULR.
LHR - Heathrow
Heathrow Airport officially opened for commercial air travel on May 31, 1946. Initially called London Airport, it took over the role of London’s main airport from Croydon Aerodrome in operation from1920.
“But the origins of Heathrow as an airport go back to the early days of aviation. West London had been the base for military aircraft manufacturers such as Sopwith (later Hawker) in Kingston and Fairey in Hayes. Such was the craze for aviation in the early decades of the 20th century that airstrips were common in London suburbia. There was a little hamlet near Hounslow Heath called Heathrow. That now-lost village had existed since medieval times, roughly where Terminal 3 is today.
Fairey Aviation was evicted by the Air Ministry in the late 1920s but bought land and developed a three-runway aerodrome in the Heathrow area during the 1930s. In 1944, under emergency powers of World War 2 (1939 - 1945), the government once again evicted Fairey Aviation from its home – without compensation. Not knowing what to do with it after the war, the aerodrome was turned over to civilian use and became London Airport.
Some 10 years down the road, the airport became very busy, but building permanent terminals was only begun in the mid-1950s – Terminal 1 Britannic (Terminal 2, recently demolished and rebuilt); and Terminal 2 Oceanic (Terminal 3 still, but re-developed). Terminal 1 was added in 1969, Terminal 4 was opened in 1986. Terminal 5 opened in 2008. Terminal 1 is now awaiting demolition while the development of a modern expanded Terminal 2 continues.
Britain played an active role with well-known planes – Viscounts, BAC 1-11s, Comets, VC10s, but perhaps the best, fastest and most beautiful of all was the much-loved and much missed Concorde. LHR was her home.
Food has to come into this – there were some good restaurants in these terminals, though fast-food places have seemingly taken over. Perhaps the best airplane meal, even in the economy class, is to be found on Emirates Airline.
Unashamedly, our favourite spot to enjoy a light, healthy meal with nose tingling champagne is Caviar House & Prunier – well, why not? Here are a couple Caviar recipes that have been adapted.
RECIPES
Seafood Spaghetti – a dish at its finest!
Ingredients
30g caviar
120g thin spaghetti
Crab or smoked salmon
2 courgettes
2 carrots
2 tsp chives, finely diced
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Method
Boil spaghetti in lightly salted water.
Finely julienne the vegetables.
Cool spaghetti in ice-water and dry on a paper towel.
Place spaghetti, chives, crab or smoked salmon and vegetables into a bowl and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Plate the mix, then spread spaghetti over the plate.
Add caviar as a garnish.
Seafood Ring – try this with langoustines or salmon, scallops or crayfish; the seafood must be top quality! You can choose to layer this ring too.
Ingredients
30g Caviar
4 6/9 size langoustine tails
60g rocket
1 lemon juiced; keep the skin shell
1 avocado, cubed small
15ml olive oil
Fine salt
Rock salt
Method
Squeeze the lemon.
Freeze lemon skin for one hour.
Finely chop rocket and place in a metal ring on a plate.
Top with some avocado tossed in a little lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Keep cool.
Shell the langoustine, remove the gut or prep the other seafood.
Rinse lightly.
Freeze 30 minutes.
Cut the langoustines (or other seafood) into fine strips.
Toss with a TBL lemon juice.
Arrange strips or your choice of seafood on the avocado.
Remove metal ring.
Season with olive oil, salt, ground black pepper.
Grate a little zest from the frozen lemon.
Top with caviar.
Serve immediately.
