Interplanetary Gastronomy

Contributors | Maggie Coblentz

A multi-course tasting menu was flown on a zero gravity flight in August 2019.  Five specially crafted dishes were consumed in a custom “wearable restaurant” (i.e. space food helmet) to investigate the sensory and physiological experience of eating in zero gravity. Credit: Nicola Twilley — A multi-course tasting menu was flown on a zero gravity flight in August 2019. Five specially crafted dishes were consumed in a custom “wearable restaurant” (i.e. space food helmet) to investigate the sensory and physiological experience of eating in zero gravity.
*Credit: Nicola Twilley*

The Interplanetary Gastronomy research aims to address the unique challenges and opportunities associated with eating in space. What can we learn from food origins and gastronomy to create a new narrative for food futures and engage alternative approaches to food technology to improve health and wellbeing, in space and beyond? In order to support future crews in a new era of space exploration, space agencies will need to address the complex requirements of long-duration missions, and this includes how to provide future crews with safe, nutritious food for survival. What is at risk of being lost when engineering constraints are the sole drivers of innovation?

Through the lens of food, this research prompts a more nuanced debate about health and nourishment, through the diversification of ingredients and food preparation. This research also considers the planet Earth, by working towards a framework for a sustainable closed-loop food system in space this research could be re-used in many Earth contexts.

Research areas and flight experiments include zero gravity cooking tools and applications, novel food preservation and fermentation techniques, astronaut gut health, and the evolution of flavour off-Earth.