Kiwi-made kai blasts into space
First New Zealand, then, the galaxy: thanks to the cravings of a peanut butter loving astronaut, the first Kiwi-made food has officially blasted its way into space.
Wellington nut butter maker Fix & Fogg has launched into the cosmos after months of working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the US to create zero-gravity variations of their products.
It was a months-long mission between the Kiwis and Nasa, which began in 2023 after Fix & Fogg was asked at the request of the astronauts to provide nut butter for space.
The American astronaut obsessed with the NZ-made peanut butter (his identity is protected under Nasa’s privacy rulings) was sent a jar of Fix & Fogg’s smoke and fire peanut butter by a Kiwi mate a few years ago.
Nasa’s Space-X Crew 8 took off from Florida’s Kennedy Space Station in March headed to the International Space Station for a six-month stay-aboard mission. The astronauts had Fix & Fogg’s cashew butter, almond butter, and peanut butters in tow.
But why Fix & Fogg? According to co-founder Roman Jewel, food loses its flavour in space, but the astronaut discovered their peanut butter in particular had enough of a kick to keep it tasty in zero gravity.
The astronauts then asked Nasa to contact Fix & Fogg to bring their goods aboard.
Initially, Jewel sent the space station their regular peanut butter jars, before being informed by Nasa glass jars are not permitted in space as they are heavy and can break.
So, it was back to ground control to figure out the logistics of making a spread spreadable without the laws of gravity, sending packages between Wellington and Houston.
The process took months, with those glass jars traded for pouches with wide nozzles so the astronauts can both suck the butter out, or spread it onto lowcrumb space bread.
When Fix & Fogg were finally able to see the Space-X rocket take off via livestream, the team “crowded around the computer screen” with “lots and lots of shouting.”
“It's surreal; there’s so many emotions wrapped up in a moment. And I wasn't even on the rocket,” Jewel says.
He says the experience has been “reflective” and “humbling” – it was only just over a decade ago that Fix & Fogg began in a farmer’s market.
The Nasa food lab says astronauts aboard the International Space Station are given a variety of dishes and cuisines, about 200 standard menu items.
Jewel says he hopes other Fix & Fogg products could become a staple of the International Space Station, and that Kiwi food producers might be able to follow in their space boots.
“Maybe we've broken down a door that other food producers in New Zealand can follow,” Jewel says.
“Maybe Nasa goes, ‘you know, we can work with Kiwis, they’ve got the right attitude.’”
Fix & Fogg has peanut butter left over from the mission to space, and is planning to sell the zero-gravity nut butters via Trade Me to raise funds for Women’s Refuge.