Food Science and Nutrition

Space Dinners: What do astronauts eat?

To celebrate our first British astronaut in over 20 years, your project is to create a meal for British ESA astronaut Tim Peake’s visit to the International Space Station. The meal will need to be healthy and tasty, be easy for Tim to eat in space and showcase food from the UK.

What do I need to produce for September?

You must submit a written report that includes the following sections:

SECTION ONE - PRESENTATION OF RESEARCH

NUTRITION:

What nutrients does the body need to stay alive? What are the effects of deficiency?

Do astronauts have different nutritional needs when they are in space?

HISTORY OF SPACE FOOD:

What foods have been eaten in space, from the first manned space flight until today?

PRESERVATION AND PACKAGING:

How can we stop food from going off during a mission?

How can the meal be packaged?

How can it be eaten in zero gravity?

FOODS FROM THE UK:

Which foods do we associate with different parts of the UK?

EXTENTION TASK:

Research recipes and make a variety of foods from around the UK. Include photos of your finished products.

SECTION TWO - DESIGNING YOUR MEAL

You must create at least four design ideas that meet the nutritional needs of British ESA astronaut Tim Peake whilst on his mission to the International Space Station. They can be breakfast, lunch or dinner, but you must explain how the dishes meet his needs.

Designs can be sketched (or can be a photo from Google Images) and annotated with information to explain how the dish meets nutritional needs, how it is preserved to prevent spoilage, how it would be packaged and how it would be eaten in zero gravity.

You will then choose one dish to create at home, explaining why you have chosen this dish above the others.

SECTION THREE - CREATING YOUR MEAL

You will make your chosen meal at home, then write up your evaluation.

The evaluation must include photos and testing against the needs of British ESA astronaut Tim Peake.

You should also include an overall conclusion and bibliography.

USEFUL WEBSITES

Nutritional analysis http://explorefood.foodafactoflife.org.uk/

European Space Education Resource Office http://www.esero.org.uk/

NASA You Tube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/NASAtelevision

UK Space Agency http://www.bis.gov.uk/ukspaceagency

NASA http:/www.nasa.gov/

NASA Spaceflight http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/living/index.html http://www.faqs.org/nutrition/Smi-Z/Space-Travel-and-Nutrition.html

British Nutrition Foundation http://www.nutrition.org.uk/

BBC Bitesize http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/design/foodtech/

USEFUL TEXTBOOKS

Digital textbook: http://www.illuminate.digital/aqafood/ Username: SBECKET3 Password: STUDENT3

Gaman PM, Sherrington K B (1996). The Science of Food. Butterworth-Heineman.

Proudlove R K (2001). The Science and Technology of Foods. Forbes Publications.

Tull A (1996). Food and Nutrition. Oxford University Press