Emotional Support Chili in My Carry On

I’m on a flight, waiting for my in-flight meal, and the familiar clinking of trays has already begun a few rows ahead of me. In-flight dining is one of the few things that keeps me sane—or perhaps the only thing that keeps me sane—when it comes to air travel. Maybe that’s why I began documenting these meals in the first place: to distract myself from the gnawing fear of flying.

Soon I’ll have to pull out my tray, but before that, I’ll reach for the chilli condiments I tucked into my travel backpack.

Yes, lately my travel kit includes chilli. Usually, it’s a mix of dried varieties: Indonesian abon cabe, Japanese five-spice chilli, and a glass bottle of Hungarian chilli flakes. But this time, I packed the big guns—Indonesian chilli concoction in sachets.

Five types of chilli joined me on this journey.

A coworker once joked that I must travel with a supply of chilli wherever I go. I denied it because I wasn’t-at that time. Ever since his comment stuck with me.

Or perhaps it was just one flight too many that made me finally think: why not bring chilli? Why not carry the taste I love most into the part of travel I dread the most—flying?

That said, I need to clarify: as much as I love chilli, I don’t use it to alter the food I encounter abroad. Airports are the exception, but outside of them, it’s a rule I hold firm. Adding my own spice to a local dish would be like travelling with an Apple Vision Pro—immersive yet unreal. It would rob me and my taste buds of the chance to experience food as it’s meant to be tasted.

And that, after all, is the reason I travel: to let unfamiliar flavours surprise me, to experience and, in this instance, taste the world as it truly is.

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