After the successful launch of the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft on June 17, 2021, it has successfully completed its orbital entry and docked at the forward port of the Tianhe core module, forming a space station three-compartment (ship) assembly together with the Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft. Three astronauts have entered the Tianhe core module from the Shenzhou XII manned spacecraft. This is the first time Chinese have entered the space station in space. There are many netizens who care about the details of astronauts' lives in space, especially what astronauts eat in space.
The Chinese space station prepared more than 120 kinds of space food for the three astronauts, such as japonica rice porridge, coconut bread, fried rice, fried noodles and other staple foods, as well as a variety of dishes, such as fish shredded meat and Kung Pao chicken, as well as eight treasure rice, curry rice, assorted fried rice, freeze-dried ice cream, abalone, salted water shrimp, shrimp, braised beef, roast bran, char siu meat and so on. Even the condiments are sour, spicy, salty and sweet, such as Lao Gan Ma Spicy Sauce (in fact, I don't know if there are any).
Side dishes will also deliberately consider the taste of the astronaut's hometown, and even have private customization. For example, Sichuan cuisine, Hunan cuisine, Lu cuisine, Cantonese cuisine, Jiangsu and Zhejiang cuisine, Huaiyang cuisine, northwest wind, northeast stew, Yunguichuan... This variety of food security allows astronauts to live and work in space for three months in nutritional balance and good health.
Among the hundreds of space foods carried by the Chinese space station, the most popular is freeze-dried ice cream, which is said to taste extremely beautiful. In addition, it is said that there are rice dumplings for astronauts to eat, which are real rice dumplings, vacuum-packed, with rice dumpling leaves, and the inside is stuffed with bean paste, sweet. Each bag is 80 grams, shelf life at room temperature is 12 months, and it is eaten on heat. The Salty Party must have a sense of crisis, and next time strive to send the salted meat dumplings into space.
When humans first entered space, due to over-caution, the astronauts' food at that time was basically semi-liquid tubular packaging, breaking the meat and vegetables into a paste, and then encapsulating it into toothpaste. Astronauts squeeze food out like toothpaste, with no taste at all. Or small pieces of solid packaging, you can eat it in one bite, there is very little residue, but the taste is average.
Later, more people went to space, and after a long time, everyone found that eating in space can be the same as the ground, as long as you don't sprinkle soup and water everywhere. Therefore, the new generation of aerospace food not only pays attention to nutrition, but also pays attention to taste, and there are no more requirements for whether it is semi-liquid. The International Space Station even allows astronauts to carry food purchased from ordinary supermarkets to the sky themselves. Of course, these foods still have to meet the relevant standards, can not emit too strong odor, can be stored at room temperature, to have a long shelf life and so on. Leek boxes, stinky tofu and durian or something, don't think about it.
At present, the food security of the Chinese space station is also as suitable as possible with the diet of astronauts on the ground. The ground food security of China's astronauts also has a complete set of scientific nutrition system.
Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut, wrote in the book "Nine Weights of Heaven and Earth", "The first lesson of entering the astronaut's apartment is nothing else, it is scientific eating, we can't eat what we want according to the previous habits, but we have to mix it reasonably."
Many of my friends were curious about what I was eating, thinking that astronauts ate well, probably mostly abalone wings, and I consulted nutritionists and chefs, who said that our recipes were very ordinary and there was nothing to keep secret. In fact, most of the meals we eat three times a day are home-cooked.
Astronaut meals are not high-end, and the menu is very ordinary and has no secrets. For example, there is a kind of canned Huajiang dog meat for dinner, and the meat dog in Huajiang Town, Guizhou Province, the main ingredient is Korean ginseng. There are also pot cuttlefish, beer duck, silver ear fried shredded meat, green pepper eel segments, small stir-fried milk cabbage, carrot soup.
Yang Liwei also posted a recipe for a week in 2009 -
Monday, breakfast: lotus root lean goji berry porridge, tuna, chicken gizzard sauce, crispy tofu with green onions, celery peanuts, sweet and sour garlic, spicy cabbage...
Lunch: Braised yellow croaker, stir-fried beef, kelp stewed pork ribs, fried bacon with leeks, sea rice and winter melon, casserole baby cabbage, white ear egg soup...
Dinner: boiled loach, braised chicken nuggets, stir-fried shredded meat in sauce, cashew nut shrimp balls, parsley stir-fried meat, garlic fungus, lily lotus seed soup...
Tuesday, breakfast: two rice porridge, spicy meat skin, sauce duck neck, spicy fried mung bean sprouts, three-color almonds, red oil tofu shreds, vegetarian stir-fried lotus slices...
Lunch: Ginger hairy crab, fried lamb with green onion, spicy chicken liver, woody meat, pine nuts and corn, spicy stir-fried lettuce, sauerkraut tofu soup...
Dinner: Steamed Wuchang fish, scrambled eggs with shrimp, braised gollum meat, grilled pork slices with grass mushrooms, dried meat and dried beans, fried garlic; sour and spicy cabbage; three fresh soups...
Wednesday, breakfast: mashed egg soup, tangerine peel beef, Harbin red sausage, three-color rotten skin silk, American pole melon strips, vegetarian stir-fried cabbage, green pepper potato shreds...
Lunch: pot cuttlefish, Huajiang dog meat, beer duck; white fungus stir-fried meat shredded, green pepper eel segments; small stir-fried milk cabbage; carrot soup...
Dinner: home-cooked sea cucumber, spicy chicken, ginger knife meat, squeezed vegetables stir-fried diced meat, spicy dried beans; fried oil wheat vegetables; spinach ball soup...
1. Fruits per meal: apples, pears, oranges, etc.
2. Staple food of each meal: noodles, rice, steamed buns, etc.
3. Medium and evening meals: it is recommended to add more coarse grains such as wotou, corn, sweet potatoes...
As can be seen from the above, the astronaut's diet is relatively close to home cooking, but the regulations are very much, three meals a day are formulated by nutritionists to develop recipes, and food should be kept in samples. To purchase food, you have to go to the specialty store, and you have to go to the vegetable base to buy vegetables, and you can't eat whatever you want like ordinary people.
There is also a "restaurant" in the Chinese space station, which is a special dining area for astronauts, where there is a special table. The table is magnetic and can absorb knives, forks, spoons, bowls, plates and other tableware. After each meal, the falling food residue can be turned on by the fan to collect the food residue. Used paper towels, packages, and leftover food can be put into compression bags and then pressed into solid waste for preservation.
Finally, a question suddenly came to mind, do you think it is feasible for astronauts to eat a red oil hot pot in the space station?