My friends are so cool

[goes_sat]

WOW! Lots of people have friended me. I so feel totally special. *grin*
I've been browsing through my friends page, commenting here and there, and there were some interesting things!
For instance, I discovered I'm Mamie from Gone With The Wind, my energy is blue, my color is green, I'm a Pooka, My book is Stranger In A Strange Land, and I'm

Comments

[acelightning]

Humans who don't spend a lot of time thinking about spacecraft come up with all sorts of other things to think about. One PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, believes that human beings should stop killing and eating animals, as a moral choice. The other PETA, People Eating Tasty Animals, likes to make fun of the first group. But, as you correctly point out, satellites don't eat any kind of food, so you don't really have to worry about it.

Astronauts and cosmonauts bring all sorts of different foods with them. I'm not too sure what cosmonauts eat (besides vodka), but I've tasted some astronaut food. A lot of it is freeze-dried, both to save mass and to make it stay edible without refrigeration. It's supposed to have water added before they eat it, but some of it (like the freeze-dried strawberries) is interestingly different without the water. I don't know whether any astronaut or cosmonaut has ever brought freeze-dried tofu (which isn't bad, actually), but I do know that freeze-dried steak is a poor substitute for the

[trinker]

Not all astronaut food is dehydrated anymore. (I'm writing an article on space food at the moment.)

[acelightning]

Am I correct, though, in believing that a great deal of it is still freeze-dried? I know they're getting more fresh foods, though. I saw an IMAX movie last summer about the ISS, and in one scene the crew members were playing zero-G Frisbee with a flour tortilla, trying to take a bite out of it as it flew by. And in other scenes, various people were snacking on popcorn or jellybeans. But I got the impression that many of the "main dishes" still consisted of freeze-dried meat and gravy/sauce in a pouch which was designed to accept the hot-water nozzle.

I'd be very interested to read your article when it's published (where?), and also to read any other comments you might wish to make about space food in the 21st century. Thanks!

[trinker]

Article's being written for potential sale. Dunno where it'll go, yet.

Not everything is freeze-dried, but you're right that there's a whole range of food that's designed for in-bag rehydration.

[acelightning]

They sure looked as if they were having fun trying to take a bite out of that tortilla... ;-)