Chinese food for Chinese astronauts ( 2003-10-15 17:25) (Xinhua)
While flying China's first spacecraft, the astronaut will enjoy himself over
a rich variety of Chinese food,Xinhua has learned.
The recipes for the astronault include rice cooked with nuts, dates and other
delicacies, spicy and sour shredded meat and diced chicken meat. The astronaut
will also serve himself with a drink of medicinal herbs and tonics after a meal,
according to a top space official.
Su Shuangning, head of the team for developing the astronaut support system,
said that the astronaut will have three meals a day while flying in the outer
space. "We planned the recipes in a scientific way, in such a way as to ensure
that the food will be nutritious enough for space missions while tasting good,"
he added.
The so-called "space food", food consumed by astronauts while in the outer
space, should be limited in quantity and size but highly nutritious while
producing no residue.
"It must suit the astronaut's physiological changes in the weightless
situation," he said, adding that space flight results in loss of calcium in
bones, atrophy of muscles, and a drop in red blood cell count.
The Chinese astronaut will have a choice of 20 plus types of food. In their
early space flights, Soviet and American astronauts had liquid or semi-solid
food in toothpaste tube-like container, and ate in a mouth-to-mouth manner.
Astronauts now can eat roughly the same way as when they are on earth.
According to Su, China-made space food is largely in one- bite size, consisting
of meat, fish or dessert. They are coated with an edible protective covering for
the convenience of the astronaut who can eat one piece at each bite in order not
to produce residue that may keep sputtering in the capsule.
Su also said that Chinese scientists are experimenting with cultivation of
vegetables in space stations that can be eaten without
cooking.