14 DAY TRIAL // China is the third country, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to send an astronaut into space in a space shuttle "Made in China," in 2003. They also plan to send a probe on the Moon this year, but the latest space related issue is both weird and funny.
Astronauts, or taikonauts - the Chinese term for astronauts - will starting the space experience with the people as space food will start being distributed in regular supermarkets, according to The Scientific Research and Training Center for Chinese Astronauts.
Together with a Shanghai-based food company, the center has developed more than 60 space dishes, like meat, vegetables, starches and dessert, and even some elaborated recipes, such as roast pork and stewed duck that are specially prepared for astronauts. Although it may sound delicious, space food is more focused on the practical side than on the commercial one, since it must meet a number of rigorous criteria, like being nutritious, easily digestible and palatable. This means that all the nutrients are packaged in as little space as possible, removing all moisture and crumbs and must be able to resists for a long time.
Think of it as a sandwich passing through an oil press until much of the moisture is eliminated, then tightly vacuum packed until it reaches the size of small biscuit. I wouldn't wanna eat that, even if it's nutritious.
Cantaloupe chips and taro-stuffed mooncake, a hockey puck-shaped confection usually made up of a thin layer of pastry and a sweet filling like lotus-seed paste sounds appealing and it also provides the 2,400 calories of energy required by an astronaut, but I still wouldn't buy this stuff.
"They are especially suitable for outdoor activities, such as polar region expeditions, mountain climbing and traveling," said Chen Bin, head of the center's food and nutrition branch.
They are also suited for really poor and hungry people, for whom the communist economy doesn't do much, except for feeding them propaganda. And by the way, since they exported toothpaste containing antifreeze compounds, to the US, I wonder what's really inside the food packages.
I heard a Chinese region that was confronting with an invasion of 2 billion rats, is recently reporting huge progress in eradicating them.