by Andree Lau, CBCnews.ca

The holiday frustrations associated with flying — or this year, more likely stalled in an airport somewhere — are only exacerbated when you're hungry.

Airports and airplanes are hardly the best places to refuel with fast-food chains and overpriced cold, plastic-wrapped sandwiches.

Of course, it's not a big deal if you're travelling business or first-class and get real food with real cutlery, but how many of us get that luxury on a regular basis?

An onigiri is a handy snack on a flight. (Andree Lau/CBC)

My mother once made my friend hand-carry a barbecue duck on a flight from Vancouver to Ottawa when I was in university. It was wrapped up well, but that's a little extreme. And I don't think he dared open it up for a nibble in case it filled the cabin with the pungent duckiness.

If I have enough time, I try to bring my own bagged lunch from home, with a sandwich, and some snacks like dried mangoes or an apple, so at least I know what I'm eating.

One of my favourite standbys is onigiri, a Japanese rice ball, wrapped in seaweed with a filling of some kind. It's inexpensive, extremely handy to carry around, and pretty tasty. They're available at Japanese grocery stores, or you can make them yourself.

What do you do for food on flights?