America's Heartland is made possible by....

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture dedicated to building greater awareness and understanding of agriculture through education and engagement.

More information at agfoundation.org Hi, I'm Sarah Gardner.

When it comes to expansive dining and sometimes exotic dining, the bounty of the heartland is well represented on cruise ships like this one.

We're setting sail to sample some farmland favorites afloat!

Hi, I'm Jason Shoultz.

Think about serving up millions of meals, dishing up dinner at 35 thousand feet in the air!

Coming up, I'll take you to one America's busiest airline kitchens to see how the best of the heartland takes wing!

Hi, I'm Akiba Howard.

When you sit down to lunch or dinner on America's cross country trains, it's a chance to sample heartland favorites in the heartland.

We'll get on track for some unique meals.

It's all coming up on this edition of America's Heartland ♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close to the land.

♪ ♪ There's a love for the country ♪ ♪ and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close, ♪ ♪ close to the land.

♪ ( plane engine roar, train chugging, and ship's whistle blow) Jason: Americans spend billions of dollars on vacations each year.

And for many people, sampling new foods or regional favorites is a significant part of their holiday experience.

Travelers have a chance to sample seafood from Maine or the Pacific Northwest, bite into breads and pastries made from heartland grains, raise a glass of wine, or just enjoy an ice cream cone in their favorite flavor.

And what about how you travel ?

Well in that case, your choice can give you some significant options.

(ship's whistle) Sarah: The popularity of cruise vacations has increased dramatically over the past 20 years.

More than ten million people a year set sail on holidays at sea.

And many of them will tell you it's the dining experience that has them coming back again and again.

Sarah: For many people, cruising is the ultimate vacation experience.

Escaping your cubicle for adventure on the high seas serves up some options you won't find on dry land.

You unpack once, go to several ports of call, and you have lots of entertainment options just a few steps from your stateroom.

Jeff: Cruise vacations?

Well, you've got everything included right here on the ship: many, many dining options and all types of nightclubs.

We've got shows for you, usually a couple of shows each day.

We've got a variety of activities and events to do, and it's kind of neat because everything is literally within five minutes walking distance.

Sarah: Since 1970 the number of vacationers taking cruise vacations has risen by close to ten percent a year.

A dramatic increase in the number of ships is one reason for the jump.

But passengers onboard the Carnival Paradise have their own ideas why cruising works for them.

....being on the water, looking out at the ocean, people-watching, dancing, eating, drinking.... Food is great!

Entertainment is great and the lovely.

Weather is marvelous.

This is my 4th cruise.

Sarah: So what keeps you coming back?

The food, ha-ha.

Sarah: Sure, the scenery may be spectacular, but the cruise vacation decision for many folks hinges on the delightful delicacies of culinary mastery!

Simply said: We like to dine.

The food is fantastic!

I'm obsessed with the all-you-can-eat frozen yogurt.

(laughs) I visit it about 10 times a day.

There's so many delicious things.

I try to get a little bit of everything to taste it.

There's just too much food, basically.

And you can have almost anything you want.

Sarah: Great meals have always been a draw for cruise vacationers.

But these days, guests onboard ships like the Carnival Paradise have a dizzying array of food choices from the heartland.

Kevin: Many years ago, the Lido deck, which is our relaxed dining, would've been burgers, hot dogs, coleslaw, and potato salad.

If you go there today, you'll find a 24-hour pizzeria, a deli bar, a Mongolian station, you know, the rotisserie.

There's the expectations of what we produce and what we offer our guests are now much higher than many, many years ago.

Andriano: We're changing because now we are more becoming like a floating resort and less like a ship.

Sarah: More than 500 crew members make up the ship's food and beverage department, the largest section on board.

For the ship's passengers, that means something to sample all the time, anytime.

Ganesh: If you want the room service, it's open all the time.

And then we have the Pizzeria which is around the clock.

We have different dining rooms.

We have a formal dining room where you have regular seating and assigned seating.

And then we have.... ....this is the casual dining room.

But breakfast is going on until 12 for the late risers.

Then bistro dinner is from six o'clock onwards until 9:30.

And then after that, the midnight buffet comes around 11:30, 12 0' clock.

Sarah: Once a week in home port, the Paradise replenishes provisions for the next sailing.

It's a finely orchestrated dance getting heartland food favorites from the port warehouses to the ship's galley.

Kevin: And the supplies come onto the pier, and our storeroom manager and the sous chef, or the chef, will be out on the pier checking the quality, checking the amounts that we've ordered were received correctly.

It'll be brought on board and go to the storeroom facilities where we have vast expanses of refrigeration and storage.

Erwin: Most of the foods.... ....our fresh produce is all homegrown in America.

We have cheese, cheese from Wisconsin, potatoes from Idaho, and all the other parts of America.

Most of the food is homegrown.

Sarah: And even before the ship sets sail on the next cruise, the kitchen is working full-time.

That means those homegrown items from the heartland are being fashioned into meals for the ship's 26 hundred guests.

Ready for some numbers?

41 thousand eggs, 35 thousand shrimp, 55 thousand hamburgers, 3000 pizzas, 600 racks of lamb, 10 thousand tomatoes, 20 thousand potatoes, and more than 11 thousand bananas along with a thousand fresh pineapples!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg : 26 hundred heads if you're talking lettuce.

Erwin: The most important thing on a seagoing vessel is we need to see that.... ....all what is needed to be served on the menu are onboard before we sail because just like a restaurant, you cannot go out to the supermarket and buy something.

So we've got to see that everything that is ordered is onboard according to the right quality, quality that we can serve our guests.

That is the most important thing is seeing that all food is onboard before we sail.

Ganesh: The challenges I would say, most of the times we all are very well organized.

We are organized by the restaurant side.

We are organized by the chef side.

When we have.... ....all the food, the appetizers, the soup, the salads are very well made in advance.

And you know, we are ready for the show.

Sarah: Tonight is formal night in the dining room.

And the featured item on the menu is a cruise favorite: lobster!

360 pounds of the cherished crustacean will be prepared, plated, and served to diners.

Guys, please enjoy.

Bon appetite!

Erwin: A guest orders a lobster, and if twelve guests on the same table order a lobster, all the twelve lobsters need to look identical.

So that is part of our specification that we follow so that every guest.... ....if you come after another six months and eat a lobster again, it will be exactly the same: prepared, cooked, and presented.

Sarah: Trying new offerings with established heartland favorites, the food and beverage staff hopes that guests will enjoy foods they've never tasted before.

In addition, they work to appeal to the taste buds of the next generation of passengers.

Kevin: Gone are the days of the hotdog's and burgers for the kids.

I mean, you know, there's a lot of salad stuff.

It's much healthier for their families as well.

And this is why families come to us because we, you know, we can take care of their child's needs.

So the parents can get a little bit of a break away from their kids as well.

Sarah: On the downtime between meals, guests try their hand at activities as they sail to the next port of call, activities which may even help them burn a few calories.

Jeff: As a Cruise Director, well I get to bring everybody the fun.

I get to bring them the shows and the activities and the live music and the nightclubs, that type of thing.

And to see guests out there just enjoying themselves, it's really fantastic.

Sarah: Family cruise vacations look to be a growth area for the cruise industry.

More than a million and a half youngsters were on cruise vacations in 2008.

And cruising, in general, has proven to be a boom to heartland producers providing those homegrown products from grains to vegetables, meat, poultry and fish.

The cruise industry generated spending of more than 18 billion dollars in goods and services in 2007 with job creation and purchases in all 50 states.

And if you sample passengers on their experiences, most surveys show that setting sail continues to be a favorite holiday choice.

That's some very positive food for thought for those on board.

Narrator: While we talk vacations, some people go right to the source for their food from the heartland.

A wide range of farm and ranch stay vacations give visitors a chance to do hands on farm labor during their holidays, or just sit back and soak up the pastoral pleasures.

Many states have links to farm stay vacations through their departments of agriculture and state departments of tourism.

Jason: Still ahead, dishing up dinner with some of the heartland's best foods at 35 thousand feet!

I'm Akiba Howard.

Still ahead, we're heading for a vacation by rail to sample some Amtrak food favorites from the heartland.

♪♪♪ Hi, I'm Paul Robins.

And here's something you may not have known about agriculture.

Since we're talking travel, we thought we'd talk a little bit about those settlers moving west to open new farm lands as the country expanded.

No holidays here!

And getting there was not half the fun.

That's because crossing the country meant bringing everything with you: farm equipment, farm animals, seeds for planting, and tools to cut into the soil.

And since there were no fast food joints along the way, you were limited in what you could eat.

The average covered wagon carried bacon for fats and meat, dried jerky, flower of course, and dried beans for making main meals and soup assuming you had enough water.

We should mention that no one was going anywhere fast.

Your day started before dawn.

You loaded up the wagon, hitched up the horses, and roared off to cover maybe ten to fifteen miles a day, even less on rainy days.

Let me put it in perspective: those folks took 5 to 7 days to travel the distances that our cars can cover in about an hour.

(plane engine roar) Jason: When commercial airline service took flight in the 1930's, meal options were pretty bare bones.

We're talking about maybe a sandwich and a cup of hot coffee.

But that expanded throughout the century.

And of course, recently domestic flights have seen a reduction in the amount of meal service.

You have to fly on some far flung flights to international destinations to really experience the heartland's best fare.

Jason: The takeoff on any vacation or business trip gives travelers an opportunity to share in new experiences.

One of those is food.

And with new offerings of in-flight meals, you can start enjoying that opportunity even before you reach your destination.

But providing the heartland's best to airline passengers begins well before the plane pulls up to your departure gate.

Sidney: We follow specifications very closely.

We want to make sure that we meet the requirements and the expectations of the customer.

We assign specific employees to help us produce the different types of cuisines that we have here.

It's a very talent group of people here!

Jason: Sidney Ho is a manager with Gate Gourmet , a culinary catering operation that serves some three dozen airports all across the United States as well as kitchen operations overseas.

Jason: For years people joked about airline food.

Oh, airline food!

But when I look at this stuff here, it looks pretty good.

Sidney: We pay close attention to quality.

Quality is very important.

From the time that we receive products, there are critical control points throughout the process that we follow closely.

We monitor temperatures.

We monitor the quality of food.

Jason: Think about the challenges of producing large numbers of meals attractive to both the eye and the palate!

First of all, you need detailed organization, food that is prepped, fully cooked, quickly cooled, transported to the runway, and loaded on board.

And depending on your destination, special menus demand special attention: Asian favorites, regional European cuisine, appetizers and desserts.

And if you think it's all done in large quantities, think again.

Jason: Here, you are preparing it in a frying pan, right?

Jimmy: Yes, we make it fresh.

You want to make it fresh so it goes.... Jason:....and then where does it go from here?

Jimmy: After we cook, we check the temperature, make sure it's all the way cooked.

(sizzling food) Jimmy: It's all, it has to reach over 165.

I make sure it very well done cook, and then we take out and put in a flash chiller down in the cooler to below 40.

Jason: It looks like it's about done to me.

Jimmy: Yes, sir.

Jason: The competitive marketplace in airline travel means that carriers have to produce passenger amenities that bring people onboard.

Food is a universal attraction, and freshness is critical.

Jason: How important is it as a chef to have fresh items instead of frozen?

Ronny: It's the key.

I mean especially like going, coming from the kitchen, to have it plated down on a plane.

Everything is being color-coded and within 24 hours.

We're using dry ice to keep it nice and crisp and fresh.

And the freshness is key.

Jason: Heartland harvests give chefs the ingredients to turn out millions of meals each year: beef and seafood from the open range and ocean, dairy products from the Midwest, and peaches from the south.

And here at their San Francisco facility, produce that comes from farms is just a short drive away.

We have a great market here, Salinas, down the street.

Ronny: We have Gilroy here in California.

Again, everything's fresh.

We got it citrus.

Jason: California citrus right here, right?

Ronny: That's right!

Sidney: I believe the menus that are planned out are better menus.

Most of the airlines are looking at healthier alternatives for their passengers.

So we see a big improvement in that.

Jason: The advantage of working with the airline industry gives you access to heartland foodstuffs that can be flown in from across the country.

Jason: It's not every day you see lobster on an airline flight, right?

Ronny: Yeah, we have.... ....this is a rock lobster.

We use also Maine lobster, different airlines again.

Jason: That's for your first-class passenger?

Ronny: That's correct!

About like in a month ago, we actually did a very important charter for the president of Taiwan.

And they all wanted fresh lobster on the entire flight.

Jason: And while all of this is headed for passengers on flights around the world, we should note that crew members have special arrangements when it comes to the food that they'll eat onboard.

Ronny: And then also an interesting fact.

For example the pilots, they cannot have seafood.

And also, if there are two pilots, they have different meals, just, you know, so if something happened.

Jason: Given the global marketplace in travel today, special menus from heartland harvests must be tailored as well to special dietary needs.

That can mean anything from meatless meals to religious considerations.

Ronny: We have a lot of like special meals, kosher meals, child meals, Muslim, Hindu, and gluten-free.

Jason: So you have to keep track of all those things?

Ronny: We have low fat, low salt, I mean, all those.

We have, as you know, a separate station for that.

Actually, I on daily base, I actually sign off like a gluten-free.

I personal check the meals before they get out a door.

Jason: You personally check the gluten-free meals before they go out the door?

Ronny: And then I sign off on those, yep.

Jason: And that's because it's such a significant health issue for folks, right?

Ronny: That's... Yeah!

It's uh.... or allergies.

For example, peanuts.

Like, a lot of airlines have peanut-free.

Jason: As with any business, meeting those demands means setting up systems to deliver meals in a timely and efficient manner.

Sidney: We have, of course, many different stations in our kitchen.

It's a large facility.

We have a marinade station, as well.

Jason: After the preparation, packing, and cooling, the airline meals are stored until called up for delivery to dozens of planes on the concourse.

And as you might expect, airlines compete for culinary honors.

Celebrity chefs bring award winning talents to the kitchen competition.

Jason: Tell me about the awards you've won.

Jimmy: Oh, I'm working a gold medal in the Asian last year, yes.

I'm working this company 20 - 27 years.

Jason: Twenty-seven years, wow!

Jimmy: Yeah, that should be done.

Jason: That looks done to me.

Very good!

Jason: Specific meals for specific destinations, first class and main cabin meals, appetizers, desserts and snacks....

Using the heartland's finest ingredients is all part of an effort to reinvent fine dining in the sky.

Or to put it another way, bon appetit at 30 thousand feet .

Sidney: I think it's the passions that the chefs have to want to produce a good product.

It's the challenge of producing high volume products and having quality built into it.

I think the chefs here do have a passion.

And they do have a culinary flair to want to do a good product for the passengers.

Narrator: Food and fun were the focus for Ancient Romans on vacation.

The power elite of the Roman Empire often took their holidays along the Bay of Naples.

Fisherman served up delicacies from the ocean.

And wine from the Roman vineyards completed their heartland harvest menus.

That is until Mount Vesuvius erupted, covering the region with ash and lava in 79 A.D. All aboard!

Akiba: When you think about it, travel by train really kicked off the American vacation experience.

In the 19th century, travelers stopped for meals at stations along the way.

Later, on-board kitchens offered gourmet offerings.

And today, Amtrak is keeping that tradition alive with some unique meals on some special trains.

Akiba: These are the familiar sights and sounds of train travel, the power and energy of the huge engines, the beehive of passenger activity at the station, the all aboard and sheer anticipation of the coming adventure: riding the rails!

But this is the part most train travelers never see.

The sun's barely up.

And already, dozens of Amtrak employees have been working for hours loading these trains with everything from vegetables to juices, dinner items to dessert.

Each year Amtrak buys close to 50-million dollars worth of food and beverage products to satisfy its 28-million passengers.

Thomas: When that train is stocked in the morning, we load over 45,000 individual food and beverages onboard that train.

Akiba: Amtrak's Thomas Hall says trucks deliver those food supplies from farms and factories to 13 different warehouses in major American cities like this one in Los Angeles.

From the warehouse, it's loaded on the dining cars.

More than 300 Amtrak trains depart from stations across the U.S. each day carrying close to 80-thousand passengers, a lot of hungry riders!

Thomas: For instance, we buy over 200,00 gallons of fruit juice a year, 120,000 quarts of milk, over 800,00 hamburgers a year, 300,000 chickens.... Akiba:....not to mention 300-thousand steaks, 660-thousand hot dogs, a half-million tomatoes, and about 200-thousand freshly-made salads!

Thomas: I think what Amtrak does best is provide American comfort food Amtrak style .

Akiba: Daniel Malzhan, Amtrak's executive chef, says there's a new effort underway to select only the freshest, best-quality food products.

And for Amtrak, that usually means buying American.

Daniel: I think America produces certainly some of the absolute best food in the world.

There's no question about that.

Great food can only spring from great ingredients.

Thomas: It supports the American economy.

And I think it also gives us the highest quality of products available for our customers onboard the train.

Daniel: We do design and tailor the food to specific routes.

And we have some vibrant partners that we work with in the process.

I'll have the Angus steak burger, please.

Akiba: Those partners may include Colorado cattle ranchers, Michigan cucumber growers, and crab cakes from Maine fishermen.

On this Coast Starlight route from Los Angeles to Seattle, passengers may dine on Washington state salmon, Oregon and California cheeses, and lettuce and tomatoes grown in fields right outside their window.

Lorie: I'm definitely surprised at the quality.

When we took the airplane, we didn't get anything but this package of trail mix.

But this is fantastic!

Akiba: David and Patricia Englehardt are regular Amtrak riders.

The Delaware couple is celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary by enjoying Amtrak's restored parlor car with its 5-star restaurant atmosphere.

Patricia: Quality-wise, it's just as good and faster !

Thomas: When they walk through the dining car, and they smell the breakfast in the morning or in the afternoon, they smell the fresh-roasted chickens in the ovens down below, it really gives a sense that they're at a fine dining establishment.

Dave: Chardonnay sounds good.

Chicken special sounds good.

Akiba: To please all these particular passengers, it's a balancing act literally: preparing gourmet meals in a tiny galley on a moving train, hundreds of meals three times a day.

Little wonder folks are surprised at how tasty it all turns out.

Daniel: In the food business, going back to the beginning, it's all about the product.

And the American farmer is responsible for bringing us these great selections.

Sarah: And that's going to do it this time.

Thanks for traveling with us on this special edition of America's Heartland .

Jason: We're always pleased that you can join us.

And remember, there's much more on our website including video streaming from today's show.

Just go to americasheartland.org.

We'll see you next time right here on America's Heartland .

♪ You can see it in the eyes of every woman and man ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close to the land.

♪ ♪ There's a love for the country ♪ ♪ and a pride in the brand ♪ ♪ in America's Heartland living close, ♪ ♪ close to the land.

♪ America's Heartland is made possible by....

The American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture dedicated to building greater awareness and understanding of agriculture through education and engagement.

More information at agfoundation.org ♪♪♪