So that night, I cooked and pureed like a madwoman. I knew that anything I brought for an onboard dinner or afternoon snack would have to last for quite a few hours, take a couple bangs and bruises, and also make it past Homeland Security's new no-liquids rule--which meant that my bowlful of super-ripe peaches was out, as were gazpacho and possibly baba ghanouj (liquidy enough that I didn't want to risk it).

My solution was to puree the peaches with some yogurt, berries, and bananas (all of which also needed to be used up), then freeze the resulting smoothie in a to-go coffee mug. Ditto for the gazpacho and baba ghanouj--I just put them in reused takeout containers and popped 'em in the freezer. The next day, I breezed through security with them in my bag, and when it came time to chow down they had reverted to liquid form but still retained their cool temperature. (I made sure to stir periodically during the flights, and ate the baba last to give it maximum defrosting time.) And food that's only frozen overnight doesn't have a chance to get yucky freezer burn, so everything still tasted nearly as good as if it had been made fresh.

My meals were far healthier than airport fare (not to mention that buy-on-board business)--and way more eco, too. Fitting, I suppose, since I was on my way to tour the organic and sustainable rice paddies at Lundberg Family Farm--read all about it in Plenty's print edition next spring, when we'll be bringing you an in-depth report on the state of family farms today.