If I had a dollar for every time I was told to stop playing with my food, I’d have a lot a dollars! And no, I’m not just talking about when I was a child. I was a well behaved child and have played with my food much more since I became an adult than I ever would have dreamed as a child. Trust me, I am far from a good example for the kids, but they sure have a lot of fun when we hang out.
I encountered quite a few emotions watching this astronaut food prep video. On one hand, I was feeling bad for the amount of extra effort that the astronaut had to exert while completing a simple chore, such as making a meal. After a few moments, I came up with solutions of what I would do if I were in that situation. Finally, I became a little jealous of the amazing antics involved in actualizing your meals in an anti-gravity environment, it looks like a lot of fun. I was especially jealous when I looked down to see the hole in my foot from dropping the blender blade earlier this week!
Take a look at the video below as this astronaut food prep video illustrates the struggles and skills that astronauts have to deal with in outer space.
I guess if you’re an astronaut, you’re not likely to get yelled at for playing with your food. Perhaps I should have stuck with my dreams of becoming an astronaut, if for no other reason than wanting the act of playing with my food to be socially acceptable. I don’t really care. I’ll do what I want anyway, but you get my point. It’s crazy how we take gravity for granted after seeing the struggles of making a meal in space. Sure, there’s got to be easier ways to do things, but where’s the fun in that? It looks like there’s a magnet board in front of her that would be great for holding the tortilla down while you prepare your meal. Just a couple pieces of metal on top of the tortilla would be as easy as fastening a piece of coloring book artwork to the fridge with a magnet. Personally I think the fun anti-gravity way of prepping her food is the only way to go! I can only imagine the things that make zero gravity a really difficult force to deal with. I’m sure that in space, astronaut food prep is the least of their worries!
Source: European Space Agency, ESA