Space Food Sticks are the original
out-of-this-world protein snack bar that is alive and well in the
21st century. They were originally made for the US space program in
the 1960s.
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A unique product from a unique
time, Space Food Sticks are a living monument to golden years of the
Space Age. In the formative years of space travel, food represented a
major hurdle for NASA technicians. Keeping it fresh, tasty and safe
was tricky business.
Original Space Food Sticks ad
from 1970
The first brave souls who flew in
space (better known as "the guinea pigs") were given an
unappetizing choice—cubes covered with edible gelatin or semi-liquid
food puree squeezed out of a toothpaste-like tube.
The result was summed up by one
newspaper headline: "Space Food Hideous—But It Costs A
Lot."
Hideous or not, the public was eating it up, or in the case of Tang,
drinking it in abundance. When junior space travelers discovered Tang
was being used by the space program, sales of the instant breakfast
drink skyrocketed.
The Pillsbury Company, which had been lending
its support to NASA, saw an opportunity to catch a little "moon
fever" for their company. Their efforts lead to the creation of
Space Food Sticks.
Lead by Dr. Howard Bauman,
the food scientists at Pillsbury whipped up an energy stick that was
actually edible. Created as a contingency food, the long chewy
stick could slide into an airtight port located in an astronaut's
helmet to provide essential nutrition in case of an emergency.
This uniquely-textured energy snack secured a
coveted spot on the historic Apollo moon flights. Before Neil
Armstrong's "leap" in 1969 Pillsbury released a commercial
spin-off of their cosmic creation, imaginatively dubbing the
product Space Food Sticks.
Described as a "non-frozen balanced energy
snack in rod form containing nutritionally balanced amounts of
carbohydrate, fat and protein," the Tootsie Roll-like candy came
in several flavors including caramel, chocolate, malt, mint, orange
and the ever-popular peanut butter. Aficionados will recall that the
Space Food Sticks were wrapped in special foil to give them an added
space-age appearance.
In 2002, Terra Firma Products brought Space
Food Sticks back to the USA after a twenty year absence. Satisfying
the cravings of longtime fans as well as creating an entirely new
generation of "stick aficionados," the chewy sticks are
alive and well in the 21st Century.
Space Food Sticks memories...
In the early 70's, women were not part of the space program and girls
were not allowed to do many of the things boys could. One of those
things was going on the high school’s winter camping trip. A group of
girls convinced the teachers that girls could handle the rigors of the
trip. They finally won approval to include girls IF they could find
twelve girls to go. The teachers felt this was an impossible 'quota' but
with me as the final entry, we made it. My mother, who had insisted that
I go, packed three flavors of Space Food Sticks for me.
Picture me at sixteen, in one of those surplus Air Force parkas (green
with fur trim on the tunnel hood), reaching down with my heavily gloved
hand to pick up the foil wrapper from one of those snacks. It had lodged
between my snowshoes as I stood on ten feet of snow somewhere in the
Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Right at that moment, one of the boys said
something sexist. Balancing the 40-pound backpack, I straightened up and
held that wrapper high over my head shaking my fist in the Women’s
Liberation salute.
The next year, there was no question about whether girls could go on the
camping trip. We had broken that barrier forever. Eventually, because of
all the girls and women who took a stand against ‘only boys allowed’
rules, Sally Ride went into space. Today, thirty years later, when I’m
asked to talk to girls and young women about their career choices, I
tell them about that experience. I explain what it means to them that a
dozen girls fought to go camping in the snow. Maybe the next time I
speak, I’ll bring Space Food Sticks for my audience. ~ Showey from
Michigan
