The LSG Group takes its Culinary Excellence to Space
Neu-Isenburg, Germany – The LSG Group has taken its culinary excellence skills to yet another level: The company’s Global Culinary Excellence Team has developed “bonus food” for Alexander Gerst, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut and International Space Station (ISS) commander during the upcoming “Horizons” mission.
Bonus food plays an important role in the astronauts’ physical and psychological wellbeing during their typically six-month stay onboard the ISS. While their day-to-day meals are a selection from a standard food catalogue, they can take a certain amount of bonus food (about 10 percent of their total provisions), which is specifically developed to their individual preferences. The consumption of the bonus food onboard the ISS is an important team event that fosters morale and spirit during the astronauts’ challenging stay in space.
“When you fly onboard the ISS, you are around 400 km above our planet,” said Frank de Winne, Head of the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. “We certainly want our astronauts to perform in an optimal manner, so we need to provide them support. One of the supports we provide is food.”
“In order to enhance the challenging life of the astronauts, we try to offer them a taste of home,” commented Jörg Hofmann, Director Culinary Excellence LSG Group. “Food is deeply connected to our families, personal life and cultural heritage. In developing the bonus food, we needed to think completely out of the box and were able to apply all our knowledge and culinary expertise in a very unique way.”
Today, there was a media event at the EAC in which the attendees were able to sample the Horizons mission bonus food.
“It was a great compliment and accomplishment for us to receive some excellent feedback from the ESA, and we look very much forward to seeing the astronauts enjoy our creations in space,” added Jörg Hofmann.
The Horizons mission is scheduled to start mid-2018.