Emeril Leads Space Race?

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Nearly 40 years ago, TIME magazine put the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States on the cover of their magazine. People had been talking about the "space race" since the Soviets first launched Sputnik. In the States, there was even a game called "Space Race." For over two years, unbeknownst to most of the world, there has been another space race going, this time between the EU and US. In 2004, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced that super chef Alain Ducasse would be providing food for long-distance space travel (see previous article). Apparently, NASA has been secretly conducting its own race against the clock to get an American chef in space, pretty much ever since someone woke up to the soon-to-be French lead in space cuisine. Last week, on August 3, 2006 -- the same week that "Freedom Fries" took back the name "French Fries" in the US Congress -- NASA announced that Emeril Lagasse would trump Ducasse (and the ESA) to become the first chef to have his (or her) food served in space. While Emerils' food may be on its way via shuttle to become first food served in outer space, Emeril is not, as UPI claims, the first star chef to develop food for space: Ducasse is. Besides, Emeril is sending along a mere five recipes: the bigger story is that Ducasse has been developing an entire food system that focuses on ingredients actually raised on space stations and even rockets. Meanwhile, here's a word to the wise: NASA may not be helping Emeril's corporate branding image when they describe the food of this Fine Dining chef as "the ultimate 'take-out' food." NASA has some materials available online at NASA Media and NASA TV -- including this shot of the current fare at "Cafe ISS": On August 10, 2006, 1:30 - 1:50 p.m. ET, Emeril will speak live via satellite with astronauts of ISS Expedition 13 while they feast on the fruit of his culinary labors. (Click here to watch in Quicktime, Real, or Windows formats.) Given the viewership during Apollo 13, one hopes at least as many viewers tune in then as later in October, when Emeril Live will focus an episode on his space involvement. Press releases: NASA Emerils.com ESA Related news: MSNBC Cosmic Log Broadcast & Cable UPI Orlando Sentinel Columbus Dispatch Detroit Free Press Now Playing Toronto Star Daily India Previous articles: Alain Ducasse: Hyper Chef -- Now Serving Mars Technorati Tags: superchefblog, Juliette Rossant, super chef, celebrities, chefs, food, restaurants, cooking, branding, cuisine, blogging, food blogging, space, NASA, Emeril, Ducasse --> back to superchefblog