A WOMAN travelling in business class from Sydney to Brisbane on a Qantas flight last Friday was greeted with an amusing sight when her meal arrived.

The passenger, who spoke to news.com.au on condition of anonymity, had opted for the dumpling option for her afternoon snack.

When her meal arrived she drank in the sight of six charming looking dumplings, accompanied by a side of something charred and limp and decidedly phallic.

“I asked the server what it was ... and he told me that it was a root vegetable,” she explained.

“I asked him to pass me my phone so I could take a photo ... I never take photos of food but this was too funny to pass up.

“He blushed and was very apologetic, I don’t think he had ever seen anything quite like it ... the lady next to me was cracking up.”

The woman left the blackened rod untouched, but ate the dumplings and declared they were “delicious”.

When she posted the image on her Facebook page it was greeted with more than 50 comments and 100 likes.

Some of the more entertaining comments on her Facebook post included:

“A root vegetable is one way to describe it ... I think you inadvertently just joined the mile-high club.”

“Is that food, or in-flight entertainment?”

“Did you ask for a stiff drink to accompany it?”

“This is a hotbed of innuendo.”

“From a food stylist’s perspective, this will give you nightmares for years to come.”

“Definitely a root vegetable they couldn’t serve on Virgin.”

After much discussion it was declared that the confronting side serve was almost certainly eggplant.

The Qantas business class menu is developed in conjunction with Rockpool chef Neil Perry.

On Perry’s Rockpool website, under the Qantas section is states “the cornerstone of good cooking is to source the finest produce”.

“Rockpool Consulting endeavours to deliver above and beyond in-flight, bringing restaurant quality to the skies with one eye always cast on consistency, seasonality and quality of food ...”

When contacted for comment, Qantas had this to say about the image:

“The dish pictured is Steamed Vegetarian Dumplings with Chilli Black Vinegar and Soy Dressing. The dumplings are accompanied with steamed Japanese Eggplant, which is used commonly in Asian meals. Based on this picture, we may look at renaming it Dumpling Surprise.”

The woman who received the meal says she remains a fan of the airline and will be flying with them to Los Angeles next week.

She says she has “high hopes” for her next in-flight meal.