The thought (and research) for food
abu dhabi - What to eat when sitting on a chair for several days, high up in the air at 8,000 metres? This was the question that Nestlé Research took 6,000 hours and eight food experts to answer.
The team was in charge of providing the food and drinks for the two pilots flying the Solar Impulse 2 (Si2) around the world — Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard — and the job proved far more complex than, say, when Captain Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic in 33 days, in 1927, with just five sandwiches and five cans of army food on board.
Unlike 90 years ago when food was the last thing on Captain Lindbergh’s mind, this time around food was very much connected with the well-being of the two pilots.
“There were many physiological measurements that were made at the Nestlé centre, where we have a calorimetric chamber — it looks like a sarcophagus. You get inside and stay for several hours to measure the body’s energy expenditure and temperature, and that has to be fine-tuned for every person who plans to go through an experience like this one,” said Stefan Catsicas, executive vicepresident for Innovation, Technology and Research and Development, and Chief Technology Officer at Nestlé S.A.
The two Swiss pilots, Borschberg and Piccard, took turns to fly across the world in a one-seat aircraft powered solely by solar energy, in an unpressurised cabin, often having to wear oxygen masks. Their journey took nearly 510 hours of flying, making 16 stops along the way, covering over 40,000 kilometres.
Alone in a confined space for days at a time, food was the only physical comfort they could enjoy.
Soup, hot coffee, cereals, main courses, chocolate, cheese spread was some of the food they had packed for each journey in the Nestlé container tucked under their seat.
Altogether, there were 11 meals, 1.8kg food, 2.5 litres of water and 1.5 litres sport drink allowed for each day.
“The total amount of energy was 3,500 calories, which is more than what you’d need in a normal daily diet, but the question is what is this energy made of ? When at high altitude, the stress conditions were such that they need high and fast energy, like specific fats, more carbohydrates, more sugars and while at lower altitude they needed more proteins,” pointed out Catsicas.
Nestlé Research joined the Solar Impulse in 2011 to design the meals. Right from the start, hot meals were decided necessary, but the big challenge was how to provide them with no oven or heating device available on board.
Eventually, the team came up with fresh meals, such as risotto with mushrooms — a favourite dish for both pilots — packed in individual packets that self heat, which are now patented by Nestlé.
“The pilots had several special requests and one of the most challenging one for us was that they didn’t want any conservatives in their food. To address that we actually developed another patented technology that allows cooking and sterilising at the same time. The food has three months shelf stability with absolutely no conservatives added,” said Catsicas.
“Another demand was all food to be naturally sourced in Switzerland, so we had all Swiss products processed and packaged in Switzerland, then shipped all over the world. That was another big challenge,” he added.