NASA HUNCH Culinary Challenge Teams Compete to Send Top Dish to ISS

Summary: NASA HUNCH culinary challenge teams compete in February and March for 10 team spots in JSC Culinary Food Competition, aiming to send top dish to ISS.

On Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, taste testers astronaut Charlie Camarda and Langley Office of Education director Janet Sellars enjoy flavorful quinoa curry prepared by Virginia Peninsula high schoolers (left to right: Aleta Luther, Alicia Breuer, Baylee Hogge, Allison Bolton, Marshay Moore) at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia; far right: the team’s culinary instructor, Tonya Ward, and NASA HUNCH founder and program manager Stacy Hale: NASA/David C. Bowman, Public Domain, via NASA

After preliminary rounds held nationwide in February and March, 21 initial NASA HUNCH culinary challenge teams will be trimmed to only 10 finalist teams for participation in the Johnson Space Center Culinary Food Competition to send the winning dish to the International Space Station.

A six-member tasting panel kicked off a preliminary round of the 2016 NASA HUNCH culinary challenge held Tuesday, Feb. 16, at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. NASA astronaut Charles “Charlie” Joseph Camarda joins Langley Engineering Directorate associate director Junilla Applin, Langley cafeteria general manager Steve Francisco, culinary specialist Brent Schmidt, Langley Office of Education director Janet Sellars and Langley Engineering Directorate office manager Robin Wingate as official taste testers.

“It’s very good -- very tasty. I can definitely feel the kick. It’s got a little bit of heat and that’s a good thing, especially up on orbit,” Camarda describes a quinoa curry offered by one of two teams of Virginia Peninsula high schoolers.

Janet Sellars assesses: “This is good here on Earth!”

“I’m so proud of them. I know the effort that went into this and the passion that they have about this. And I think the icing on the cake today was for them to actually meet an astronaut,” Tonya Ward, New Horizons Regional Education Center culinary instructor, says of her two Virginia Peninsula teams.

The second NASA HUNCH culinary challenge seeks a tasty vegetable main entrée dish that is processed easily in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station. The competition closes Saturday, April 30, 2016, the due date for paper and video submissions by the 10 finalist NASA HUNCH culinary challenge teams to the Johnson Space Center. The announcement of the winning vegetable entrée is scheduled for Memorial Day, Monday, May 30, 2016.

In addition to easy processing and responding well to flight and microgravity, the vegetable main entrée dish needs to satisfy astronaut nutritional standards. A serving of 300 to 500 calories registers total calories from fat at under 30 percent and total calories from saturated fat at 10 percent or less. Fiber accounts for 3 grams or more per serving. Sodium and sugar contribute 300 milligrams (mg) or less and 8 grams or less, respectively, per serving.

The International Space Station’s microgravity environment weakens the senses of smell and taste. Crew members welcome pre-seasoned dishes and also have access to condiments, such as sriracha and other hot sauces, for indulging in personalized seasoning of International Space Station meals.

The first NASA HUNCH culinary challenge win went to the Phoebus High School team, comprised of students from all four public high schools (Bethel, Hampton, Kecoughtan, Phoebus) in the Hampton public school district. On Thursday, June 4, 2015, the southeastern Virginia-based, six-member team received news of their win over five other NASA HUNCH culinary challenge finalists.

The Phoebus High School team’s winning entry, beans and rice with coconut milk, travels to the International Space Station in March 2016 as a new addition to the International Space Station menu.

“It had a lot of layers -- they could taste the creaminess of the coconut milk and the spices, the herbs, the thyme that we used and the habanero peppers. It went up against some pretty stiff competition, and it came out on top,” Phoebus High School culinary arts teacher Delrose Adkinson told Tamara Dietrich in an interview for the environment and science reporter’s article, “Hampton Students Win NASA Culinary Challenge,” in the June 5, 2015, issue of the Newport News-based Daily Press.

Established in 2003, the National Space and Aeronautics Administration’s High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware, known acronymically as NASA HUNCH, partners NASA with educational institutions to create cost effective hardware and soft goods for the International Space Station. NASA HUNCH promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) skills in the design and fabrication of real-world products for NASA by students at educational institutions.

“We want to provide variety for our [space station] crew members, and we also feel that it’s a fantastic outlet to get students who normally wouldn’t be thinking about NASA thinking about NASA and the space station,” HUNCH founder and program manager Stacy Hale says of the NASA HUNCH culinary challenge in NASA’s press release Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016.

(left to right) Allison Bolton, Alicia Breuer, Aleta Luther and Baylee Hogge plate their quinoa curry during the HUNCH Culinary Challenge pre-competition tasting at NASA Langley; teammate Marshay Moore is visible behind Aleta Luther: NASA/David C. Bowman, Public Domain, via NASA

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

NASA HUNCH culinary challenge preliminary round: On Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2016, taste testers astronaut Charlie Camarda and Langley Office of Education director Janet Sellars enjoy flavorful quinoa curry prepared by Virginia Peninsula high schoolers (left to right: Aleta Luther, Alicia Breuer, Baylee Hogge, Allison Bolton, Marshay Moore) at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia; far right: the team’s culinary instructor, Tonya Ward, and NASA HUNCH founder and program manager Stacy Hale: NASA/David C. Bowman, Public Domain, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/high-school-culinary-teams-vie-to-have-their-dishes-sent-to-the-iss

(left to right) Allison Bolton, Alicia Breuer, Aleta Luther and Baylee Hogge plate their quinoa curry during the HUNCH Culinary Challenge pre-competition tasting at NASA Langley; teammate Marshay Moore is visible behind Aleta Luther: NASA/David C. Bowman, Public Domain, via NASA @ https://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/high-school-culinary-teams-vie-to-have-their-dishes-sent-to-the-iss

For further information:

Atkinson, Joe. "High School Culinary Teams Vie to Have Their Dishes Sent to the ISS." NASA > Feature. Feb. 17, 2016.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/high-school-culinary-teams-vie-to-have-their-dishes-sent-to-the-iss

Dietrich, Tamara. "Hampton students win NASA culinary challenge." Daily Press > News > Science. June 5, 2015.
Available @ http://www.dailypress.com/news/science/dp-nws-nasa-menu-phoebus-20150605-story.html

Hammond, Jane. "Peninsula culinary students compete to make dish for astronauts." Daily Press > News > Education. Feb. 22, 2016.
Available @ http://www.dailypress.com/news/education/dp-nws-nasa-food-20160222-story.html

Harris, Ashlé. "Challenge brings opportunity for NASA HUNCH students to work with Texas Aggies." Johnson Space Center Features.
Available @ https://jscfeatures.jsc.nasa.gov/pages.ashx/79/Challenge%20brings%20opportunity%20for%20NASA%20HUNCH%20students%20to%20work%20with%20Texas%20Aggies

Johnson Space Center Press Release. "High School Students Compete in Cook-Off for Astronaut Recipe Selection." Space Ref > News. April 21, 2015.
Available @ http://spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=45636

May, Kate Torgovnick. "What will we eat on Mars?" Ted Ideas > Science. Nov. 21, 2014.
Available @ http://ideas.ted.com/comfort-food-in-space-the-final-frontier

NASA‏ @NASA. "Bon appétit! High school culinary students compete to have dishes sent to @Space_Station." Twitter. Feb. 21, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/701512218186276865

NASA Langley Research Center. "HUNCH Culinary Challenge 2016." NASA > Feature > Space Station. Feb. 17, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvK8Z2P6Z0g