Astronaut Edibles

I've always been a geek - and an artsy-fartsy one at that. Back in grade school, when I was allowed to accompany my Maryland-based cousins to The National Mall in D.C. (the one with the rows and rows of Smithsonian museums, as opposed to the one with the Bloomingdale's), I was regularly the sad, pathetic, lone voice shouting out for a trip to the National Gallery's East Wing.

Needless to say, I wasn't a favorite among my cousins.

Popular vote usually swayed us towards the National Air and Space Museum. And so, off to the Air and Space I would begrudingly go. The old airplanes and space rockets were definitely interesting, but they lost their cache for me after the first few viewings. But, the one part of these visits that I do remember being continually fascinated by was our trips to the cafeteria - where we would try real astronaut vittles. Freeze-dried ice cream was a particular winner.

Today, according to Food Production Daily, our plans for future space exploration are taking food scientists beyond the crispy Neapolitan sticks of my youth:

Food makers may eventually benefit from imminent food technologies designed to prolong space travel as NASA calls on food scientists to provide food solutions that will enable humans to travel far from Earth