The gourmands at Discover enlisted Chicago Tribune food and wine critic Bill Daley to apply his silver palate to astronaut food in a bold effort to learn just what it's like to eat up in space. He encounters loads of freeze-dried crapola, to be sure, but a few meals actually left Daley positive impressions, including the aforementioned thermostabilized cranapple cobbler:
Fortunately, an all-American dessert came to the rescue. The thermostabilized cranapple cobbler was a homey thing, sort of like chunky pie filling looking for a crust. Roughly mashed apples were tossed with some cranberries, lots of sliced almonds, and cinnamon. It was ugly, but for once I wasn’t left feeling cheated about the portion size. The almonds really made the dessert by giving it some crunch, although the spicing needed more complexity and the apples could have been sturdier.
Other standouts included the shrimp cocktail (an astronaut fave) and the "lush but tangy" mango-orange drink. NASA's tea with lemon and sugar also won a few kudos from the man with the golden taste buds. Powdered tea with lemon and sugar also "tasted of home," but the rest of the offerings suffered by comparison.
