NEWYORK — Roastedchicken in a sweet ‘n' sour sauce, washed down by a mango-peachsmoothie.Sounds like food fit for … an astronaut?
Whenmost of usthink of space food, we think of unappetizing, chalk-like chunks offreeze-driedice cream, food that comes in tubes in the manner of toothpaste and, ofcourse,Tang.
Yetflavorful chickenand (real) fruit drinks have indeed been served in space — albeit inrehydratedform.
Atasteof space food landed here at the American Museum of NaturalHistory lastweek to give dining connoisseurs a flavor of what astronauts consume inspace. Although prepared fresh by a caterer — instead of rehydrated— the food choicesshowed how far eating in space has come over the last 50 years.
Theevent featuredCharles Bourland and Gregory Vogt, the authors of an insider's look atthechallenges of eating and drinking while in orbit entitled "TheAstronaut'sCookbook: Tales, Recipes, and More." [BestSpaceFoods of All Time]
Bourlandworked for30 years at NASA's Johnson Space Center as a space food guru. Hedeveloped boththe meals and the methods of eating them for astronauts flying in theApolloprogram, on the space shuttle, and living for extended periods inSkylab andthe International Space Station.
Overthe decades,he has seen space dining evolve from having foodin a squeezetube — and astronauts going hungry — to shuttle crews nowpersonallyselecting their meals months in advance of a flight and enjoying itemssuch as(rehydrated) shrimp cocktail.
That'sa far cryfrom the initial glum outlook of some scientists when the humanspaceflight programgot under way nearly 50 years ago.
"Somethoughtthat astronauts might not be able to eat in zero gravity, that theywouldn't beable to swallow," Bourland said. "Apparently they didn't watchcollege kids drink a beer on their heads — you can swallow upside-down."
Tang,like otherbeverages in space, however, must be consumed with care. That isbecause in weightlessness,everything not tied down floats away. [Video:Astronaut's Zero Gravity Coffee Cup]
Meanwhile,minor,earthly annoyances such as bread crumbs can become a health hazard byirritating the airways of astronauts if inhaled.
Despitetheseobstacles, NASA's culinary goal has been to provide astronauts withnourishingyet recognizable meals, rather than just sustaining the crew on proteinpellets, vitamin pills and other tasteless rations.
Forsweet ‘n' sourchicken, NASA freeze-dries the boned, skinless chicken chunks aftertraditionalpreparation in a terrestrial kitchen, and the sauce goes into space asa drymix with instant starch that is then rehydrated.
Atthe Oct. 27museum food tasting, eventgoers sampled a fruity slurry of themango-peachsmoothie poured into cups from a pitcher, while astronauts would takethe drink— or any other liquid — from the shuttle beverage package.
Althoughthese havenot been eaten in space — yet — Bourland explained that these veggiepatties havebeen pegged as the sort of food that long-distance voyagers to Marscouldprepare from beans grown in their spacecraft.
Thebean burgers andsome other foods included in "TheAstronaut's Cookbook" were concocted by people involved inthe spaceprogram. Celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray alsocontributedrecipes to the book.
Forexample, thefinal item offered at AMNH — lemon bars — came from a recipe by PaulaHall, aformer shuttle and ISS dietician who died in 2007. Preserving orreplicatingthe tart's pleasing gooeyness in orbit might well be tricky, Bourlandsaid.
Astronautsuseregular utensils — fork, knife, spoon — though they are magnetic toattach tothe tray, and there is one more crucial implement: a scissor to open upfoodpackets," said Vogt, who has worked for NASA as an educationspecialist.
Asfar asastro-food has come – the book authors showed a slide of early, soapbar-like"chicken sandwiches" that astronaut's saliva was in theory supposedto rehydrate to become palatable — it still has a long way to go.
Althoughthe titleof the book is "The Astronaut's Cookbook," nothing, Bourland pointedout,has ever been cooked during a manned spaceflight mission. "We haven’tcooked in space," he said, "we've just warmed up food to eatingtemperatures."
Grilling,boiling,roasting, saut?ing — all these require significant heat, which can poseathreat to both the crew and the space-faring vessel itself.
Plus,"if youburn a steak, you can't open a window to let the smoke out," Bourlandsaid.
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AdamHadhazy is a Staff Writer for TechNewsDaily,a sister site to SPACE.com
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