To this day, the world’s highest restaurant is still found in one of the lowest countries in the world: CuliAir, in our own little frogland. This might change in 2025. A French company plans to send a balloon into space to offer people a gastronomic dinner there. It might sound like a joke, but it’s a serious idea. But can a balloon really reach space? Will this be a literal star dinner, or just hot air?
Dining at Altitude, Not in Space
Let’s start with the most important point: you can’t reach space with a balloon. Even the French company offering a high-altitude dinner isn’t providing a real space trip. The balloon will reach an altitude of 30 kilometers. This is high enough to see the curvature of the Earth and feel like you’re in space, as the blackness of space becomes visible. However, according to NASA, space begins at an altitude of 80 kilometers, so you’re still quite a distance away. You don’t need to worry about floating out of the balloon at maximum altitude. It will undoubtedly be an extraordinary experience to float at such a height, but it’s by no means a space journey.
A Unique, But Very Costly Experience
Although the altitude reached isn’t enough to call it a real space trip, the price of a ticket is sky-high. If you want to take a ride in this balloon, you’ll have to pay a whopping 120,000 euros. This makes the journey inaccessible to most people. Additionally, the balloon can only accommodate up to 6 passengers, and there are a maximum of 60 flights per year. This means that only a small number of people have a real chance to join the balloon trip.
How Does Food Taste at Such a High Altitude?
Onboard the ‘space balloon,’ you’ll be served a ‘Michelin-star-quality’ dinner. That’s no small thing, and you’ll want to enjoy it properly. But can you do that at such a high altitude? You certainly can, but it requires attention. Even during a flight, you’ll notice that food tastes different at altitude. You taste 30% less salt and sweet. Additionally, the air is drier at high altitudes, which also reduces your sense of taste through your nose (smell is, after all, a major factor in what you taste). A good ‘altitude chef’ knows exactly how to handle this, adjusting the dishes so they come into their own at high altitude.
Will a Space Balloon Journey Ever Happen?
It would be spectacular if we could reach such a high altitude with a balloon that we could see the curvature of the Earth. It’s said to be so spectacular that psychological support is offered to passengers of the space balloon, due to the so-called ‘overview effect,’ a kind of psychological shock from viewing the Earth from afar.
But the question is whether it will ever really happen. For now, companies aim to offer the first flights by the end of 2024 or early 2025, but they are still in the testing phase. Additionally, the necessary permits must still be granted to make the flights possible.
And Yet, Dining at High Altitude Is Already Possible, in the Netherlands
Fortunately, there’s an alternative, and it’s very close, in our own country. CuliAir remains the highest restaurant in the world to date. The experienced ‘altitude chef’ Angélique Schmeinck, one of only two female master chefs in the Netherlands, has been taking guests up to 2.5 kilometers high for 20 years. Against the backdrop of a stunning sunset, guests enjoy a gastronomic dinner while the wind silently guides the way.
Admire not the curvature of the Earth, but the flatness and diversity of our country, as old villages, purple heathlands, and dense forests pass by. Fish and poultry are slowly cooked to perfection by the heat of the balloon as it takes you to new heights during this unforgettable culinary journey.
A dinner at CuliAir is not just hot air; it offers a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those who join. Do you also want to make an unforgettable culinary journey to great heights? Book your spot aboard the highest restaurant in the Netherlands.