• Question: Is taste any different onboard the ISS?

    Asked by spacefan226 to Andrea, Charlie 🚀, Col Op, Kirsty, Vinita on 17 Jun 2016. This question was also asked by x.cyd.x, 443tch26, 04faye_x.
    • Photo: Andrea Boyd

      Andrea Boyd answered on 17 Jun 2016:


      Yes because your tongue swells so you taste things differently and not as strong. Astronauts add various condiments like salt and pepper and sauce to enhance the flavours of food and we make spacefood with more intense flavour that you would if it was Earth food.

    • Photo: Charles Laing

      Charles Laing answered on 18 Jun 2016:


      Hi spacefan226,

      When astronauts go into space blood moves up towards their head giving them the feeling of a ‘stuffy nose’.

      In a similar way to not being able to taste when you have a cold, the astronauts struggle to get the full flavours of their food.

      Astronauts like to add lots of salt to their food and some have a preference for spicy meals. Lots of salt can be unhealthy so we need to look at other ways of making space food tastier if we are going to be spending longer in space!

      Charlie 🚀

    • Photo: Kirsty Lindsay

      Kirsty Lindsay answered on 20 Jun 2016:


      Imagine how funny food tastes on a plane, if you had a cold- space food sort of tastes like that.

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