Article by Alannah Anderson, Graphic by Marlowe Henderson
Being an astronaut is already an out of this world idea, but eating like one truly is in another solar system entirely. Sometimes, space trips and rocket ships seem so far-fetched yet in reality, most of what astronauts do isn’t that different from everyday life except for the lack of gravity of course. Buckle up and get ready, you’re going to eat like an astronaut for the day.
You can call it space food or astronaut food, but what actually does that mean? It turns out that many people eat this space food on a daily basis. MREs, or meals ready to eat, are options for those in military operations, campers and backpackers that serve as calorie dense and fulfilling meals that require minimal preparation and additional ingredients. All space food is initially freeze dried to remove any moisture, ensuring they’re compacted enough to limit crumbs, as they have a high risk of getting into equipment due to the lack of gravity. If astronauts want to resemble a home cooked meal, some foods can be rehydrated with hot water that brings astronauts down to Earth for a few pleasurable bites.
On today’s menu is biscuits and gravy, peach cobbler and a mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwich. In order to provide the most accurate review, the ratings are based on price, flavor, if it should be eaten again, and if it is better than the original.
Mountain House’s Biscuits and Gravy
Price: $9.77
Rating: 4/10
Before adding water, this dish looked quite atrocious. However, once mixed and fully cooked, it smelled similar to an average biscuits and gravy dish. The flavor was tremendously lacking, the only sort of spice came from the tiny sausage balls — important to note that there was a poor ratio of biscuit to sausage. Neither the sausage nor biscuit ended up with the correct consistency as it soon became dreadful to find a sausage ball on your spoon as they were just too chewy. Therefore, the justification of the rating is as follows: the price was reasonable for two portions and to put oneself in the perspective of an astronaut, it would be comforting and filling. However, that is where my pleasantries stop and it should never be eaten again as long as you’re not an astronaut, and with utmost certainty is not better than the original. In some ways, it even ruins the experience of eating a biscuit, coming from a southern perspective.
Peak Refuel’s Peach Cobbler
Price: $11.95
Rating: 8/10
Excellent, delicious, cinnamon and brown sugar heaven, the list could go on. What a marvelous delicacy. The only negative about this dish is the price, just a tad out of a college student’s budget but could certainly be the perfect dorm food you are looking for. Consisting of oats, pound cake and peaches, the notes of cinnamon and brown sugar were just perfect. If I was an astronaut, I would be requesting this dish by the case full. Even though it may not be better than the original, it certainly could be comparable with its intense flavor profile and takes the lead on preparation time as it only takes 10 minutes. This dish may or may not already be in my shopping cart again.
Mountain House’s Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwich
Price: $3.27
Rating: 7/10
A good and fun snack could be this food’s superlative, but that’s about as far as I would go. Nothing can ever beat the melted ice cream running down your fingers or the chocolate cookie sticking to your fingers on a hot summer day. It’s reminiscent of the marshmallows found in Lucky Charms with a mix of Oreo cookies.The flavor was there, although there weren’t any chocolate chips much to my dismay. All in all, a fun find but a bit messy for space I’d say.
If eating these dishes taught me anything, it’s that I don’t want to be an astronaut. Even though I enjoy occasional freeze-dried strawberries from Trader Joe’s, I am grateful I get to eat an actual home cooked peach cobbler. And it seems that the astronauts are sharing the same notion. As time goes on and more research is done, better meals are becoming available to the folks in space suits. Although I don’t ever think that the squeezable salt and pepper will change.