Would this food work in space?
A team of six York Tech students is one of 30 student teams around the country competing in a culinary challenge run by NASA.
Students at York County School of Technology had to meet some strict nutritional requirements as they prepped a vegetarian entree for a culinary competition. But in addition to watching limits on calories, fat, sugar and sodium, there were some other things to consider.
Would it work in space?
A team of six York Tech students is one of 30 student teams around the country competing in a culinary challenge run by NASA's Hunch (High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware) program. York Tech's team prepared meals for taste-testers Thursday, and evaluations of the meal will be tallied for NASA.
The top 10 teams will be called to visit NASA's Johnson Space Center in April to compete to be the overall winner, whose entree will later be prepared and dehydrated in NASA's food labs for astronauts at the International Space Station.
This year, students were asked to make a vegetarian entree, which was to have between 300 and 500 calories, with less than 30 percent of those calories from fat and 10 percent or less from saturated fat. There were limits on sodium, sugar, and fiber as well. In addition to the actual entree, students had to submit a written essay about the process and a video.
"It's a challenge for them," said Bruce Baker, one of the chef advisors for the team. The students — all level-three culinary arts students — were chosen based on how they'd done on a healthy menu assignment earlier in their school careers, he said.
Through the project, they learn to be more conscientious about the nutrition, he said, which is important in the industry right now.
On top of that, the recipe had to work well in the microgravity environment on the space station.
"Some things just don't rehydrate right in space," said student Mary Parrigan.
Ryan Dausinger, a junior who also competed last year, said students learned a lot about what's good for sending to space and what's not. For example, sauces and powders don't work as well.
After researching different recipes, students made a barley lentil burger, served with mango salsa.
"I think the astronauts are going to love this food," said Florence Gold, the Hunch implementation project manager, as she watched students prep their ingredients.
Building parts for the space station
Hunch is NASA's High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware program, through which students design and fabricate products for the International Space Station.
"They actually get to learn 21st century skills that are valuable no matter what job they're in," said Florence Gold, NASA's Hunch implementation project coordinator, who visited York County School of Technology on Thursday.
She visited the precision machining shop, where a group of students have been working to craft panels that will be used in stowage lockers that hold experiments on the space station. Gold was there to make sure students were completely documenting the history of their work.
"If it's not documented completely, we can't use it for flight," she said.
Gold said students involved in Hunch get to be creative and apply their knowledge, all while building a relationship with NASA. Plus, they're building "real world, valued products for NASA," she said.