Random Foods On An Astronaut's Diet (18 items)

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  (#15) One Day Astronauts May Be Able To Print Their Food

  One solution for feeding astronauts on long-term missions is the possibility of 3D printing their food. In 2013 Austin, Texas-based company Systems and Materials Research Consultancy was awarded $125,000 to research exactly how practical it would be to send astronauts into space with a 3D printer specifically meant for food. 

  It would make things incredibly easy if astronauts could just jettison off to Mars with the ability to print their own food rather than have to pack food for a five-year trip that may not maintain its nutritional value for the entire time. 

  According to Anjan Contractor, a senior mechanical engineer at SMRC, they're approaching the different components of a meal as if they were different colors in a print out. He said, "The way we are working on it is, all the carbs, proteins and macro and micro nutrients are in powder form. We take moisture out, and in that form it will last maybe 30 years."
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  (#3) Modern Astronauts Are Spoiled By Variety

  At the moment astronauts have the option of enjoying 200 "core space foods" on their menu. Depending on how far they're going and how long they'll be in space greatly alters that menu, but it's still a far cry from what the O.G. astronauts had to eat. The 200 items include favorites like shrimp cocktail and thermostabilized mocha yogurt, and they're also sent with enough flour tortillas to stock a college dorm room.

  In comparison, astronauts aboard the Gemini in the 1960s were stuck eating a few dehydrated meals that could safely be eaten from a pouch. The pouch contained all of the main components of the food and had a water valve on one end. Come dinner time, the astronauts would hook the valve up to a "water gun" and rehydrate the food. 
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  (#1) Gravity Alters The Cooking Process

  There are pros and cons to cooking outside of the Earth's gravity. On one hand, cooking in outer space totally ruins the boiling process. Jean Hunter, a professor at Cornell who studies how space affects cooking says that we need gravity in order to get a good boil going. Without gravity vapor doesn't separate from liquid and steam can't escape. She told io9: 

  "Rather than the water boiling like on earth where the bubbles rise to the top and release steam, what you’d get is more like a can of soda flowing over. It would be very difficult to cook with it."
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  (#2) Astronauts Love A Good Shrimp Cocktail... And Tobasco Sauce

  A shrimp cocktail may not sound like the ideal meal to anyone on Earth. Sure, it's a nice appetizer, but having a shrimp cocktail in space? No thanks. That's what you would think, down on Earth with all your gravity and bread. But up in space, astronauts are mostly stuck eating bland food that's been re-hydrated... and they lose their sense of smell, which means they crave strong flavors to make up for it. 

  While many space foods — like spinach, crackers, and trail mix — are good for astronauts, they lack flavor. Vickie Kloeris, a preference lab manager, believes that the astronauts appreciate the dash of horse radish that's in the cocktail. If astronauts love spice, has anyone thought to send them up with extra packets of Taco Bell fire sauce? That'd be some stellar marketing.
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  (#18) Even Astronauts Get Hyped For A Little Pizza In Space

  In 2017, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the ISS made pizzas, and filmed it for the rest of us down on Earth to enjoy. With zero-gravity in effect, they tethered their items down while they slung pies, and used ingredients that would stick well to the special crumb-minimizing crust.
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  (#5) Astronauts Are Experimenting With Growing Their Own Food

  The biggest problem with sending food along into space with astronauts is that it takes up room and weighs down the shuttle. Obviously there's no oxygen in space, so it's hard to grow food while in orbit, but it's not impossible. 

  Astronauts are experimenting aboard the ISS by creating a small garden in a sealed chamber. Their first crop, "Outredgeous" lettuce (a red romaine) successfully grew and was edible, so they're adding new crops to their mini-garden. 

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