According to the taste of Shenzhou VII astronauts, space recipes include traditional China specialties, rice as the staple food, fish-flavored shredded pork, braised pork chops and mushrooms, and some western-style foods. In addition, astronauts can also add sour, spicy, salty and other condiments according to their own preferences when dining. Chen Bin, chief designer of the space nutrition and food subsystem of the astronaut system, revealed that the purpose of doing this is to spice up on the one hand, and to relax the astronauts on the other hand, which can play the role of psychological comfort.
"Products that do not meet the tastes of astronauts were eliminated during the development process." Chen Bin said that although the choice of astronauts was not finalized until the launch, the recipes they provided were acceptable to all astronauts. "Most astronauts are not picky eaters, and these foods have also been tasted by astronauts during the development process."
Food is small in size and high in energy.
Due to the limitation of the weight and volume of spacecraft, space food must provide more energy in a relatively small volume. "Shenzhou VII" astronauts are equipped with 2.5 kilograms of water and less than 500 grams of food every day, but the calories per gram of food are as high as more than 5,000 calories, which can fully meet the energy needs of astronauts. Chen Bin, chief designer of space nutrition and food subsystem of astronaut system, said that food includes high-energy compressed food and compound fruit slices, which are synthesized by low-temperature vacuum dehydration of several fruits. Eating one piece is equivalent to eating several fresh fruits.