{"id":4913,"date":"2022-08-29T17:33:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-29T22:33:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/?p=4913"},"modified":"2022-08-29T17:33:31","modified_gmt":"2022-08-29T22:33:31","slug":"space-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cooking2thrive.com\/blog\/space-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Space Food"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Space Food – fit for man on the\nmoon. Today\u2019s scrapped launch of the Artemis I moon rocket reminds me of the\nfood I ate as a child courtesy of the space program. And since a trip to the\nmoon now that I have grandchildren feels like a throwback, why not take a trip\ndown memory lane?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once space flights began to last past a few minutes, it was necessary to address food for astronauts<\/a>. In the beginning, there were packets of things like mushroom soup, orange-grapefruit juice, chicken with gravy, beef and vegetables, pears, strawberries, and a cocoa beverage in the form of semi-liquid inside tubes. The other option was bite-sized cubes of compressed, dehydrated food that needed only saliva for rehydration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As time went on, the selection became wider and more tasty. Freeze-drying was used to preserve food while preserving the flavor. The freeze-dried food needed water to be rehydrated and was still primarily squeezed out of tubes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the Apollo program, advances made\nit possible for astronauts to eat with utensils and enjoy tuna salad, chocolate\npudding, and cornflakes. I really hope they were crunchy. But keep in mind,\nthere was no refrigeration so even if they had crunchy cornflakes, there was no\nice cold milk to go with it. Not to mention, if you tried to pour milk over the\ncereal, you\u2019d end up with a floating trail of milk \u2013 a visual I find amusing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As these progressions were made, some ideas were incorporated into the Earth food market. The two I remember best are Tang and Space Food Sticks. I ate my share of Space Food Sticks as a kid. Caramel<\/a> was my favorite flavor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unlike banana Fudgsicles\u00ae, I don\u2019t specifically\nremember the taste, but I\u2019m pretty sure I would recognize the texture. The\nappeal of this snack was two-fold. One, astronauts ate them! Duh! And two, they\ncould stay in the pantry for a long time so they were always handy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh who am I kidding. We didn\u2019t have\na pantry. We had a kitchen cabinet with Alka-Seltzer\u00ae on the top shelf, Premium saltine and Ritz crackers\none shelf down, and Space Sticks and uniced strawberry Toast\u2019em\u00ae pop-ups below. Sunday\ndinner was oven-fried chicken breaded with cornflakes baked on the oven timer\nwhile we went to church. It was served with reconstituted powdered milk poured\nfrom a wide-mouth gallon pickle jar. But the vegetables were most likely fresh\nand from the garden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, back to Tang<\/a>. I don\u2019t know anyone my age who didn\u2019t drink Tang. It was universal. My grandmother even mixed it with mayonnaise to make salad dressing for carrot raisin salad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tang wasn\u2019t actually developed for\nthe space program but became inextricably linked with NASA when it was consumed\non early manned space missions. Sales increased dramatically when John Glenn\nsipped an orange beverage out of a pouch during a Mercury mission. To capitalize\non this sales boost, a series of Tang commercials in the1960s featured space\nexplorers and related taglines culminating in the 1969 \u201cFor Spacemen and Earth\nFamilies\u201d ad campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

General Mills used this\nassociation to its advantage and found long-term success with expanded flavors\nand popularity around the world. While sales have diminished in the US, Tang is\nstill readily available. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given the supply chain\ndisruptions of late, shelf stable foods look more and more appealing. Perhaps\nGM can capitalize on this new round of space missions to orchestrate a\nresurgence of sales in the US. I\u2019m sure there are numerous people my age who\nwould enjoy having a glass of Tang with a grandchild while watching a rocket\nlaunch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You won\u2019t be able to eat a Space Food\nStick along with your Tang though. Sales floundered as enthusiasm for the space\nprogram waned. Production finally ceased in 2014 although the snack was brought\nback for a brief appearance on the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of the moon\nlanding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I\u2019m ready for NASA programs to feel like they\u2019re moving forward rather than backward. But if we\u2019re stuck in the way-back machine could somebody please get me a banana Fudgsicle?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Simple Things I Miss<\/a><\/blockquote>