For thousands of years people yearned to fly. When that dream became a reality a new challenge arose: “What’s for dinner?” In his new book Food in the Air and Space (Rowman & Littlefield) author Richard Foss charts the course of the rise and fall of in-flight cuisine. Along the way we meet intrepid chefs struggling to heat meals without setting the plane on fire resolute scientists determined to find out why airplane meals taste so awful at 5 000 miles high and a $40 000 olive. So fasten your seatbelts while we take off for our first culinary stop: Paris France.   Flight Cuisine Uncorked Air travel began not with a wing and a prayer but with a balloon and lots of hot air. On December 1 1783 a hydrogen balloon equipped with a wicker basket for passengers took off fromParis on a two-hour journey that traveled about 22 miles. On board were two Frenchmen physicistJacquesCharles and one of the balloon’s builders Nicolas-LouisRobert. Although this wasn’t the first manned balloon flight — that distinction went to an ascent the week before — it does hold an honored place in the annals of food history. Right before takeoff Charles popped the cork on a bottle of champagne filled two glasses and toasted the crowd which numbered more than 400 000 and included KingLouisXVI QueenMarieAntoinette and the US ambassador toFrance BenjaminFranklin. In-flight beverage service had begun.