Meal

November 23, 2023

The front page of yesterday’s newspaper had an article on the changes that have gone on in the meal habits of NASA astronauts.  The Mercury astronauts had to consume unappetizing bite-sized cubes and semi-liquids stuffed into aluminum tubes.  The multi-national crew abord the International Space Station (ISS) will feast this Thanksgiving on a cornucopia of tasty meats, side dishes and desserts.  Dana Weigel, NASA’s International Space Station deputy program manager, said, “Because we’re in the holiday season, we’ve got some fun holiday treats for the crew like chocolate, pumpkin spice cappuccino, rice cakes, turkey, duck, quail, seafood, cranberry sauce and mochi.  We’ve also got some pizza kits (a crew favorite) some hummus, salsa, and olives.”  The ISS astronauts’ Thanksgiving meal mark’s NASA’s 50th year of celebrating the holiday in space, dating back to Nov. 22, 1973, when Skylab 4 astronauts Gerald Carr, Edward Gibson and William Pogue wolfed down two meals at dinnertime.  Holiday foods were absent in those pioneering days.  NASA’s next space Thanksgiving occurred in 1985 aboard space shuttle Atlantis as the seven-member crew of STS-61B ate irradiated turkey, cranberry sauce, and shrimp cocktail.

When I looked online, I found that while most of us may not have the pleasure of eating a meal in space, Disney World’s Space 220 Restaurant offers a simulated feel.  The experience begins as you board a space elevator and soar 220 miles above Earth (virtually) and enter the Centauri Space Station.  Arriving at the main dining room you are treated to views of the Earth and the stars, along with astronauts floating around outside the panoramic windows.  The fixed-price menus for lunch (two courses, US$55) and dinner (three courses, US$75) feature “Lift-Off” appetizers like “Big Bang Burrata”, “Starry Calamari”, and “Blue Moon Cauliflower”.  The “Star Course” entrees are things like salmon, flat-iron steak, and a burger at lunch and filet, Florida red snapper, duck at dinner.  Plant-based options are also available.  The three-course dinner comes with “Supernova Sweets” for dessert, including carrot cake and chocolate cheesecake.  There is beer, wine, and themed cocktails/mocktails to accompany the meal.  All this and you do not need to worry about suffering from space adaptation syndrome (like seasickness).

Payload specialist Rodolfo Neri Vela of Mexico introduced tortillas to the space meal during his mission in 1985 and they have remained a staple ever since.  Unlike tortillas, bread can generate hundreds of hazardous crumbs in microgravity, floating in all directions into equipment gaps, nooks, and crannies.  Astronaut Bruce Melnick Melnick said at least 50% of shuttle-era astronauts would choose shrimp cocktail as their favorite space food.  The dehydrated meal’s vacuum-sealed packages appeared thoroughly unappetizing, but they would shake it up to rehydrate it and Velcro it to an air-conditioning vent to chill (the shuttle did not have a refrigerator).  The Styrofoam-looking stuff in Georgia clay turned into the most beautiful plump jumbo shrimp in a delicious cocktail sauce.  Enjoying meals together will likely play a pivotal morale-building role during NASA’s future deep-space journeys.  Breaking bread (or tortillas) together will be an important part of the three-year round trip to Mars.

Thoughts:  Even as feasts of food and football occupy Thanksgiving for many in the US (and space), it is sobering to see how domestic food prices remain high.  Inflation higher than 5% is experienced in 52.4% of low-income countries, 88.6% of lower-middle-income countries, 61% of upper-middle-income countries, and 67.3% of high-income countries are experiencing high food price inflation.  The hardest hits are in Africa, North America, Latin America, South Asia, Europe, and Central Asia.  In real terms, food price inflation exceeded overall inflation in 76% of 166 countries.  While the US fares better than most, 1 in 4 households face food insecurity.  The problem is not production, but distribution.  Everyone should have the right to a meal.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.