Jason Perlow

What are the biggest mistakes and/or food disasters that have come about through the food program?-i.e. have there been foods that the astronauts really hated or that were impossible to warm or rehydrate to a satisfactory outcome?

Here's a thread about some hardcore sushi restaurants in the Fort Lee area: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...=0entry457559

<p>East has recently re-opened as a "kaiten" style sushi place, aka conveyor-belt or sushi boat style that is very popular in Tokyo or in California. Inexpensive and very good, since the place is very busy and nothing sits on that conveyor for too long. I'd like to add that East's fish quality has gone down quite a bit in the last year and their service can only be categorized now as horrendously bad. Both of the last two times I've gone have been very negative experiences.

Uh, no. East's quality has diminished quite a bit and the service is abyssmal. I'm never going back there. if you want "great" sushi I would say Wild Ginger in Englewood, but you're talking manhattan prices and the place is very hard to get into on most nights. Wild Wasabi in Norwood is really good but its a tiny little no nonsense place owned by Koreans - however the fish is very fresh.

It hasn't been released to the general public yet (it has been shown in limited engagements up till now) but Eat This New York is a documentary restaurant movie that is really good. Its what "The Restaurant" should have been.

The article is here http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...king_low_carb_1

I saw this on cable recently, it was excellent.

I must admit I am actually starting to enjoy this program. Ideally, one should have a joint or two, or perhaps a few drinks, to fully appreciate her diction. Its a much more enjoyable program if you're stoned.

Bah, that takes a lot of romance out of it! I suppose they don't really use those "space pens" that write upside-down either. No, I think they actually use those.

What private companies have contributed to the ISS and Shuttle programs, food wise, in terms of research and development?

You want hand hammered steel from China. Not at all expensive. Its not pretty looking and its not meant to be, if its well seasonsed and well used. But it does its job very well.

Ambre is good but really, I like it for Stingers. I like the "Reserve" (20 year average age), one level up for straight up drinking. But what I really want to try is either a Selection Des Anges (30 year old average age), Abel (45 year average age) or Ancestrale (70 years!!!). But most liquor stores dont carry the upper end Ferrand. Besides Ferrand, Gabriel and Andreu own a few other boutique Cognac houses, including some under its own name, the ones I have tried are also very good. My favorite XO cognac in house right now is Hine Antique, which if you can find it for about $75-$80 a bottle, blows Remy XO and most other XO cognacs out of the water. There's a very good reason why its the cognac of the house of Windsor. Here is one of the oldest threads on the site about Cognac, Armagnac and other brandies: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=5579

And then of course you got Calvados, and Brandy De Jerez

I dunno, but you just sent me into a daze thinking about you in see-thru lingerie.

I know that the ISS doesn't use a refrigeration system, but aren't temperatures on the moon so cold that you could keep foods in a frozen or refrigerated state, at least if you kept it in some sort of vault carved out of moon rock (presumably if you had some sort of base)? What about domed hydroponics systems like they had in the 1972 Sci-Fi movie Silent Running? Mars, I realize, is a huge problem.

Vickie, thats a really interesting list. Besides the food items themselves, what in particular in terms of food technology and food science have the Russians brought to the space program? For example I understand that on the ISS, some of the water purification and reclamation technology (urine reprocessing) is derived from Russian technology.

For those interested, here's an Adobe Acrobat document with a complete shuttle menu in it (Circa 1996). I agree, I'd love to see the list of Russian food items, and the current full updated ISS/Shuttle list.

TECHNICAL DOSSIER: VICKIE KLOERIS VICKIE L. KLOERIS SUBSYSTEM MANAGER, SHUTTLE AND INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FOOD SYSTEMS PERSONAL DATA: Born in Texas City, Texas, December 3, 1955. EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science, Microbiology, Texas A&M University, 1978; Master of Science, Food Science and Technology, Texas A&M University, 1979 EXPERIENCE: From January 2000, has served as Subsystem Manager ISS and Shuttle Food Systems Since January 2000, additional duties include the management of the ISS Food System. Technical management of the ISS food system includes: menu planning for ISS crewmembers, provision of flight food shipments to ISS, and development of new foods for the ISS food system. Between July 1989 and December 1999, served as Subsystem Manager Shuttle Food System. Technical management of the Shuttle food system including: provision of flight food shipments, provision of food for training events, food service activities in support of the Health Stabilization Program, and Shuttle related research and development activities. Co-technical management of the Phase I food program which is providing food for joint US-Russian missions on Mir. Co-technical management of the Advanced Life Support food system which is being developed for the ground based BioPlex test bed. Kloeris held various positions with Boeing Aerospace, Lockheed and Krug Life Sciences. Supporting the Shuttle food system August 1985 through July 1989. She was a Quality Control Specialist, Dietary Services, Memorial Hospital System, Houston, Texas June 1983 through July 1985. Duties included operation of food quality lab which performed basic microbiological and organoleptic analysis of food items produced in the cook-chill food service operation; daily inspections in the food production plant and interfacing with City of Houston Health Department inspectors during inspections of all Memorial Hospital food service areas. And in April 1981 through April 1983, was a Research Technician, Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics Department, University of Texas Medical Branch. Responsibilities included maintaining cell cultures, growing, harvesting and testing monoclonal antibodies. SPECIAL HONORS AND AWARDS: Stellar Individual Award Nominee; Rotary National Awards, Space Achievement Foundation, March 2001. Stellar Team Award Winner for Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Crew; Rotary National Awards, Space Achievement Foundation, March 1998. Crewmember of the Phase III Lunar-Mars Life Support 91-Day Test, September – December, 1997. NASA Exceptional Service Medal, July 1997. Federal Employee of the Year, Houston Area, Professional and Scientific Division, April 1997. NASA Awards (July 1989 to present): Group Achievement Award, awarded three times; Outstanding Performance Award, awarded twice; and Performance Award, awarded five times. Astronaut’s "Silver Snoopy" Achievement Award, October 1990. PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY: Member of the Institute of Food Technologists More reading material: Her NASA Bio: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/bios/space/kloeris.html Her "Field Journal", Part I: on Space Food Systems: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/journals/...s/04-29-01.html Her "Field Journal", Part II: Eating on the ISS: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/ram/jsc030101-v.ram A NASA brief on space food: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/refere...heets/food.html This Q&A will utilize the Moderation Queue and your question will not appear until the Moderator has released your question or post. Click Here for the Vickie Kloeris Q&A

Kurl: We had this one as well during our lunch this week -- I was totally blown away by the foamy/creamy texture of the bisque and the subtle, not over the top shellfish taste. Nice amount of crab meat too -- not too little, not too much. Fat Guy: Oh my god, that dish was obscenely good. Yes, I thought this was a real winner. Too bad my stomach didnt think so. Oh man was that rich. Of the four that we tasted I quite liked the "deconstructed lemon meringue pie". It had a nice balance of sweet and tart, and I think it was very successful in its execution. The raspberry thing was kind of ordinary, the chestnut ice cream/gelato was sickeningly rich (one spoonful was already too much) and the peanut butter pudding thing didnt work out, the burned peanut taste of the pudding with the really dark chocolate didn't work. No question though, they're being re[quoteal aggressive, and eventually I think they will get it right. They're still a very new restaurant.

How much is this gonna go for a bottle?

If you don't specifically tell the guy at the counter "listen, I want JUICY" your experience will be lackluster at best. And I always tip the guy at least a buck, and two bucks if you really want the guy to like you.

Vickie, thanks so much for joining us on eGullet, and welcome! This week it is expected that President Bush will announce his support for a continued manned space program, and will be asking Congress to commit to new Lunar space missions as well as begin the work and preparation for a manned mission to Mars. What sort of food systems will be needed for a new Lunar mission, as well as for a permanent moon base? What sort of systems will be needed for a Mars mission? How would they be different from what we use today on the Shuttle, Soyuz and ISS?

TECHNICAL DOSSIER: VICKIE KLOERIS VICKIE L. KLOERIS SUBSYSTEM MANAGER, SHUTTLE AND INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION FOOD SYSTEMS PERSONAL DATA: Born in Texas City, Texas, December 3, 1955. EDUCATION: Bachelor of Science, Microbiology, Texas A&M University, 1978; Master of Science, Food Science and Technology, Texas A&M University, 1979 EXPERIENCE: From January 2000, has served as Subsystem Manager ISS and Shuttle Food Systems Since January 2000, additional duties include the management of the ISS Food System. Technical management of the ISS food system includes: menu planning for ISS crewmembers, provision of flight food shipments to ISS, and development of new foods for the ISS food system. Between July 1989 and December 1999, served as Subsystem Manager Shuttle Food System. Technical management of the Shuttle food system including: provision of flight food shipments, provision of food for training events, food service activities in support of the Health Stabilization Program, and Shuttle related research and development activities. Co-technical management of the Phase I food program which is providing food for joint US-Russian missions on Mir. Co-technical management of the Advanced Life Support food system which is being developed for the ground based BioPlex test bed. Kloeris held various positions with Boeing Aerospace, Lockheed and Krug Life Sciences. Supporting the Shuttle food system August 1985 through July 1989. She was a Quality Control Specialist, Dietary Services, Memorial Hospital System, Houston, Texas June 1983 through July 1985. Duties included operation of food quality lab which performed basic microbiological and organoleptic analysis of food items produced in the cook-chill food service operation; daily inspections in the food production plant and interfacing with City of Houston Health Department inspectors during inspections of all Memorial Hospital food service areas. And in April 1981 through April 1983, was a Research Technician, Human Biological Chemistry and Genetics Department, University of Texas Medical Branch. Responsibilities included maintaining cell cultures, growing, harvesting and testing monoclonal antibodies. SPECIAL HONORS AND AWARDS: Stellar Individual Award Nominee; Rotary National Awards, Space Achievement Foundation, March 2001. Stellar Team Award Winner for Lunar-Mars Life Support Test Crew; Rotary National Awards, Space Achievement Foundation, March 1998. Crewmember of the Phase III Lunar-Mars Life Support 91-Day Test, September – December, 1997. NASA Exceptional Service Medal, July 1997. Federal Employee of the Year, Houston Area, Professional and Scientific Division, April 1997. NASA Awards (July 1989 to present): Group Achievement Award, awarded three times; Outstanding Performance Award, awarded twice; and Performance Award, awarded five times. Astronaut’s "Silver Snoopy" Achievement Award, October 1990. PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY: Member of the Institute of Food Technologists More reading material: Her NASA Bio: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/bios/space/kloeris.html Her "Field Journal", Part I: on Space Food Systems: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/people/journals/...s/04-29-01.html Her "Field Journal", Part II: Eating on the ISS: http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/ltc/ram/jsc030101-v.ram A NASA brief on space food: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/refere...heets/food.html This Q&A will utilize the Moderation Queue and your question will not appear until the Moderator has released your question or post.

So what do you do with them, put them in stir frys? Are these hot dog or kielbasa type sausages or are these more like dried chinese sausages?

Still, you don't see sausage as a component of traditional japanese dishes, though.