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Canada on the Menu

Canadian foods will be a feature of Mission STS-127, as Canadian Space Agency (CSA) astronaut Julie Payette will be taking up with her a selection of authentic Canadian products. The foods set to fly aboard space shuttle Endeavour come from across the country, from sea to sea, but there was a lengthy process to get through before they ended up on her crew's menu.

All the products are commercially available. Through a market survey, an initial selection was made by the Food Research and Development Centre of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The products had to meet a few specific criteria in terms of shelf life and ease of preparation.

Then, a CSA and Agriculture Canada team did four tasting sessions to evaluate the selected products on criteria such as taste, colour, texture and general appearance. Upon completion of the evaluation, the score of products still in the running were submitted to Julie Payette, who added a few special requests of her own like maple butter.

Before returning to Earth, Mission STS-127 crew members and those on board the International Space Station can look forward to a meal with a number of international flavours on the menu. It should be quite a treat!

STS-127 crewmembers participate in a food tasting session. Seated from the left are NASA astronaut Christopher J. Cassidy, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette, NASA astronauts David A. Wolf, Mark L. Polansky, Thomas H. Marshburn, and Douglas G. Hurley. Dieticians (right foreground) assisted the crew. Credit : NASA