It is nightfall on Mars, and to celebrate mankind's maiden trip to the Red Planet, the international team of space farers settle down to a feast to remember.
The entree: a choice of gazpacho or chanterelle soup, made with mushrooms or tomatoes freshly picked from the colony's hydroponics unit.
For the main course, a selection of chicken, steak or fish -- tissue that was alive in a lab dish that same morning! -- and a tasty side salad.
To round things off, a superb chocolate ice cream made from soybean milk, topped with hot caramel sauce.
No manned mission to Mars exists, of course, other than in politicians' rhetoric and the earliest date for any such trip would probably be a couple of decades from now.
But already, European and American scientists, backed by top chefs, are hard at work on how to fix one of its biggest problems: food.
"Food for astronauts is incredibly important. Eating and preparing food will often be their most important moment of the day," says Florence Cane, whose company, Alain Ducasse Formation, headed by the leading French chef of that name, is helping the culinary quest.
The present generation of space food comprises freeze-dried or tinned food whose contents are usually suspended in a jelly or a sauce to prevent them from dispersing messily in zero gravity.
{{/usCountry}}The present generation of space food comprises freeze-dried or tinned food whose contents are usually suspended in a jelly or a sauce to prevent them from dispersing messily in zero gravity.
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