Technology

Beyond Astronaut Ice Cream

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astronaut ice cream

World-renowned chef Alain Ducasse is taking his stellar cuisine to the starry heavens. In October, the Russian cargo ship Progress left Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmo-drome, bound for the International Space Station with 13 Ducasse-created gourmet plates on board.

Any kid who was ever tricked into thinking that astronaut ice cream from the Air and Space museum was a treat should be relieved to hear that the culinary options in orbit are looking up. The new dishes are "sealed in aluminum alloy and manganese boxes" and Ducasse plans to release two new dishes every year. Here's what on the menu this time:

Roasted quail in a Madiran wine sauce, smooth celeriac puree with nutmeg, and semolina cake with dried apricots.

For more on the future comforts of space travel, check out "Space Travel for Fun and Profit" in the January issue.

NEXT: An Army of Pop Geeks

Katherine Mangu-Ward is editor in chief of Reason.

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  1. Roasted quail in a Madiran wine sauce, smooth celeriac puree with nutmeg, and semolina cake with dried apricots.

    Because that’s what the folks with The Right Stuff really want to eat.

  2. edna

    manganese? more likely magnesium.

    besides, celeriac is much better with saffron than nutmeg. a nice st-joseph blanc would be a better match than tang.

  3. If I had a bizillion dollars I might spend them on an orbiting overnight package. It would be nice if they served a proper meal. I’d book the flight on British Airways too.

  4. Eric the .5b

    If liking quail is incompatible with the Right Stuff, I want to be Wrong.

  5. Drew W

    I yearn for the day when we lowly earthlings will be able to enjoy celestial delights like choc-van-straw ice cream, pictured above.

    (Just wondering: In space, wouldn’t every matzoh ball be a floater?)

  6. edna

    in free fall, the matzoh ball would just hang there. if it’s in soup, it will be submerged but won’t sink- buoyancy is negated.

    now, that won’t affect the mass or density, which in most matzoh balls approaches that of plutonium.

  7. Larry Edelstein

    I loved that van-choc-straw freeze-dried ice cream when I was a kid, and I still love it. Every time I go to a science museum I hope they have it somewhere.

  8. I was a gullible tyke–the same uncle who got me to try that nauseating Neapolitan also conned me into looking for the fluffy tails on VW Rabbits.

  9. JohnCjackson3

    I used to love eating the Astronaut Ice Cream on field trips.

  10. That is all

    Freeze dried ice cream is delicious. You just have to eat it slowly.

  11. Todd Frye

    I love manganese but I always getting it all over me.

  12. tom

    +1 astronaunt ice creme rules. growing up in NoVA, i got to have it numerous times.

  13. If liking quail is incompatible with the Right Stuff, I want to be Wrong.

    Quail is good smoked, fried, barbequed, steamed, in a stew, and even roasted. I don’t even mind picking out shot.

    It’s the “Madiran wine sauce.”

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