Sushi and ramen are to Japan what the potato tortilla –With onion– Or Paella to Spain: a sign of cultural identity. They have more complex origins than we think: while ramen derives from Chinese cuisine, Sushi was born as a conservation technique before transforming into a gastronomic icon. To such an extent that to International Space Station Astronauts He has given them to prepare Sushi with what they had at their disposal.
It has come out regular, but at the same time it is fantastic.
Space food It is not a secret that space food You must have very specific characteristics. It is mostly lyophilized And it is thermosellated. Before consumption, the one that is not ready to consume, must be rehydrated and any food and ingredient that enters the season You must meet a series of both security and cleaning requirements. Conservation is also very important for obvious reasons And, although we can think that it is not good, The problem is usually astronauts.
When cooking (among many quotes that cook), an ingredient as important as the food and condiments of the station is the double -sided tape. In numerous videos We have seen how ingredient boats such as honey or simple scissors are glued with that tape to the station surfaces.
Sushi at the space station. Occasionally, one of the US members decides to surprise his companions cooking something out of the menuand Jonny Kim’s attempt has been one of the last examples. NASA American and Astronaut, hung A few weeks ago a photo in which a tray could be seen with an attempt at Sushi.
To do this, they used precooked rice, fish, spam (A canned meat mark) and a touch of GOCHUJANG (A spicy paste based on rice and chili) and Wasabi. The humidity kept the ingredients glued, but for the tray and the rest of the elements, they used the aforementioned tape.
Nostalgia. It is not the most appetizing sushi in the universe and, surely, Japan would have some questions for the architects of this culinary crime, but there is a great “but”: as on earth, this space sushi served for one thing: unite the members of the station. Up, despite fellowship, loneliness must be quite present and one of the astronauts commented that he missed the sushi.
That gave them an idea: see what they had in their personal provisions to see if they could elaborate something similar. The result is obvious (rice with things on top), but the important thing is that “the result was a great meal,” as Kim points out, and served to foster that feeling of companionship and reduce, a little even if it is, that nostalgia.
Nori algae. In X, someone He pointed out What would have been great to use Nori algae To wrap the sushi, but that he understood that it should be difficult to need a dehydrated version of it and that it would not be nice to have algae scales floating around. Kim replied that, in fact, they have Nori, but it is an ingredient that is part of the space orders that, with a limit, can do. And that he had run out of the ingredient.
On the problem of the scales, everything is designed: “The crumbs accumulate in the air entry filters, which are aspired every week.”
It is not the first time. It is a beautiful gesture, but it is not the first time that sushi is made at the station. It was not a photo, but a complete video that the Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi put on the chef’s hat for prepare A somewhat more “traditional” sushi with tuna, Nori and frozen scallops that had risen on board that intention.
The reason for that elaboration was the same as that of this summer: surprise his teammates, take care of those ties and make the stay to thousands of kilometers of his homes is somewhat more cheerful. Also One way that missions are more bearable.
In Xataka | Until the 90s nobody in Japan ate sushi with raw salmon. Until a marketing campaign changed everything
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings