- Astronauts often lose their sense of smell in space, and food tastes different.
- But NASA's prepared meals have come a long way since dehydrated eggs and Tang.
- Retired astronaut Leland Melvin says a lot of astronaut food is actually pretty tasty.
On Earth, retired astronaut Leland Melvin is a foodie. During his two trips to the International Space Station with NASA, he managed to eat pretty well.
"You sometimes lose your sense of taste in space, but I did not," he told Insider.
Astronaut food has come a long way since the early days of dehydrated eggs and Tang.
Melvin's meals on the ISS ranged from oatmeal with brown sugar and orange juice to beef brisket or mac and cheese. But everything came in pouches.
Over the decades NASA has invested in improving the quality of the food its astronauts eat.
"Staying properly nourished and fit was critical to our success at performing the jobs we had to do," Melvin wrote in his book, "Chasing Space."
So it helps if the food is tasty.
Keeping food germ-free and ready for space
Sometimes astronauts stay on the Space Station for months. The food has to stay fresh. Thermostabilization is a process for preserving food with heat. Dehydration and freeze-drying can also keep the meals from spoiling.
At Houston's Space Food Systems Laboratory in Johnson Space Center, NASA techs freeze prepared food at about minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit. They place the food in a vacuum chamber where heat turns the ice into water vapor. The chamber sucks out as much water content as possible.
Freeze-drying can reduce bacteria counts and makes the food far lighter. It also helps preserve the nutrients and is easy to rehydrate, according to the Kennedy Space Center.
To further prevent food-borne illnesses, lab workers also irradiate the food to kill bacteria.
Spicy shrimp, turkey tetrazzini, and chocolate pudding cake
The lack of gravity in space means it takes a while for the body to reach equilibrium. Fluids that usually flow downwards can instead pool in sinuses and nasal cavities.
"Your sense of taste is a little compromised because you're a little stuffed up," retired astronaut Mike Massimino told Insider in 2016.
Lots of astronauts crave Tabasco sauce and other food with a kick that doesn't rely on the sense of smell. Though Melvin didn't lose his sense of taste, he still said the spicy shrimp cocktail was his favorite.
"A lot of it was really tasty," he said, like the turkey tetrazzini and chocolate pudding cake.
"Chocolate cake and pudding combined," he said. "You can't go wrong with that."
He also enjoyed swapping food with astronauts from other countries aboard the Space Station, like sharing canned crab with the Russians who were on board. "You just enjoy and break that bread and have a good time," he said.
That's figurative bread. Real bread is too crumbly. Crumbs and space equipment don't mix. Instead, astronauts eat a lot of tortillas.
The right utensils make all the difference
Without gravity, you need a good way to keep your dinner from floating away. Velcro on the pouches can attach them to trays and other surfaces.
In 2013, NASA uploaded a video of astronaut Chris Hadfield trying one of Melvin's favorite treats, the chocolate pudding cake.
It shows all the utensils you need to eat many space meals. He cut the pouch open with scissors, grabbed a long spoon to scoop out a chunk of pudding, then floated it into his mouth.
Hadfield paired it with a pouch of coffee. A special straw with a valve that opens and closes keeps the liquid from escaping between sips.
Sometimes astronauts have a little fun with their food, too. Melvin's YouTube channel has a video of him creating a water bubble on the Space Station. Fellow astronaut Daniel Tani fed M&Ms into the bubble, which Melvin then slurped up.
Right now, NASA astronauts have around 200 types of pouches to choose from. In preparation for more commercial space travel, Michelin-starred chefs are also working on diversifying meal options. For example, José Andrés recently sent paella into space.
