Strawberries in space: North Vancouver company wins $380,000 for out-of-this-world menu
Space food isn’t Tang and puréed meat in a tube any longer, in fact it’s mushroom bacon and fresh strawberries that have earned a North Vancouver company the grand prize in a Canadian Space Agency and NASA challenge to make food indoors.
Ecoation Innovative Solutions has won the Deep Space Food
Challenge with their CANGrow Modular Food Production System, and will receive $380,000 in grant funding as the grand prize winner.
Ecoation CEO Saber Miresmailli said the news was “fantastic,” but what made him feel even more proud was that his idol, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, announced the company’s victory. Hadfield was a jury co-chair with the Deep Space Food Challenge.
Miresmailli said his team aims to make astronauts feel like they are dining out in a five-star restaurant with a menu that features steak substitute, a mixed salad and fresh strawberries for dessert.
“Part of the challenge was to go through a series of tests to make sure that the food that you produce is not only nutritious but it’s also tasty,” said Miresmailli.
Miresmailli said they even did a blind test with judges, inviting them to taste meat made with mushroom and real meat, but they couldn’t tell the difference.
A joint statement from the Canadian Space Agency and NASA said the company’s CANGrow system has the potential to sustain astronauts during long-duration missions into space, while also addressing food security in isolated communities on Earth.
The challenge was launched in 2021 in collaboration with NASA.