Space Food Sticks
Space Food Sticks are snacks originally created for the Pillsbury Company in the late 1960s by the company's chief food technologist Howard Bauman who later was instrumental in establishing the HACCP regulations used for food safety.
Bauman and his team were instrumental in creating the first solid food consumed by a NASA astronaut--small food cubes--eaten by Scott Carpenter on board Aurora 7 in 1962. Space food cubes were followed by other space-friendly foods created by Pillsbury's food engineers, such as non-crumbly cake, relish that could be served in slices, and meat that needed no refrigeration.[1]
In 1970, Pillsbury filed for a trademark for a "non-frozen balance energy snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of carbohydrate, fat and protein" which they imaginatively dubbed Space Food Sticks.
A forerunner of energy bars Space Food Sticks were promoted by Pillsbury for their association with NASA's efforts to create safe, healthy and nutritional space food. In 1972, astronauts on board Skylab 3 were introduced to modified versions of Space Food Sticks to test their "gastrointestinal compatibility." [2]
Capitalizing on the popularity of the Apollo space missions, Pillsbury marketed Space Food Sticks as a "nutritionally balanced between meal snack." Fourteen individually-packaged sticks were included in a box, and came in six flavors such as peanut butter, caramel, and chocolate. [3]
Space Food Sticks disappeared from supermarket shelves in the 1980s. They were revived by Retrofuture Products, of Port Washington, NY in 2006. Two flavors--chocolate and peanut butter--were released. They are being sold at flight museums such as Kennedy Space Center and the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum as well as online.[4]
Space Food Sticks have shown up in popular culture including animated TV series The Simpsons[5] and the books of R.L. Stine.[6] The are frequently cited as the favorite snack of Olympic gold medal winner Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe[7]
References
- ^ 4677_Text2_17 General Mills: 75 Years of Innovation, Invention, Food and Fun
- ^ New Food For Third Skylab Mission, Johnson Space Center Press Release 73-143, November 6, 1973
- ^ A Brief History of Space Food Sticks
- ^ A Brief History of Space Food Sticks
- ^ The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular, First Aired December 3, 1995
- ^ When Ghouls Go By Bad by R.L. Stine
- ^ BBC Sport, What's So Special about Ian Thorpe?
External links
- - Space Food Sticks Preservation Society. Official site.
- - Space Food Sticks making comeback.(Truevo)
- - Howard Bauman obituary(Los Angeles Times)
- - Original Pillsbury TV commercial (YouTube)
- - Original Pillsbury TV commercial(YouTube)
- - Discussion of Space Food Sticks (Boingboing)
- - Space Food ((NASA))
- - Beyond Tang: Food in Space(NPR)
- - Water Gun, Helmet Feedport, In-Suit Drink Bag, and Food StickNASA Lunar Surface Journal)