Flying Elephants

We just returned this morning from a long weekend in Portland, Oregon. (Now we have another trip to write about... although this one is shorter and had more home cooking, so hopefully it will be quicker to blog.)

We flew out of PDX, Portland International Airport, which has, in previous years, been voted one of the nation's best airports. It really has a lot going for it - clean, eco-friendly, free wifi, retailers (including food outlets) have to charge the same prices they do outside the airport, no lines to check in, no lines for security, quick moving TSA screening, spacious and not very crowded. After the misery that is the JFK JetBlue terminal, PDX airport (like the non-humid air in Portland) was just so refreshing.

Before we left PDX, I made a pit stop for some soup at Flying Elephants Delicatessen (the airport version of Elephants Deli, with several locations in Portland). I wasn't feeling too well after several cases of motion sickness over the weekend (sigh, minivans and traffic) and needed something to calm my stomach. I was originally going to get Wendy's nuggets but this was the healthier choice.


The deli had a lot of options, including selected items (not mine) for 50% off, since it was the end of the day. There was a sandwich of turkey and Tillamook cheddar (Oregon-based) that looked really good, but I was more queasy than hungry, and a sandwich would have been too much.

They had 4 different kinds of soup - a summer corn chowder (sounded delicious, but wanted to avoid bacon and cream before a flight), a chicken soup (same thing, also had cream), the soup I got (more later) and a fourth soup that I can't remember.


I got the summer vegetable soup, which consisted of carrots, celery, turnips, potatoes, fennel, white wine, tomatoes, garbanzo beans, lima beans and fresh basil. It sounded so healthy and looked great. The soup came in 2 sizes. I got the large and it was $4.50. It came with bread, but that was nothing special (would have preferred the saltines that came with the small size).


Tomatoes probably should be listed as the first ingredient since the soup is predominantly tomatoes. All the vegetables tasted so fresh and tomato soup is soothing, so this was the perfect pre-flight snack for me. PDX has a lot of options that look good, but I would recommend Flying Elephants if you're looking for soup, sandwiches or salads.