A CELEBRITY chef and a 10-year-old primary school pupil are teaming up to develop food for space.
As part of the Great British Space Dinner competition, children were asked to design a British-themed meal for astronaut Tim Peake to eat when he visits the International Space Station (ISS) on a six-month mission in 2015.
After hearing about the competition, organised by the UK Space Agency, Year 5 pupils at Wray Common Primary School in Reigate got busy cooking up ideas and decided to enter.
And, on Thursday last week, 10-year-old Joe Drennan's menu was one of five chosen from thousands of entries by judges Tim and celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal.
Joe's Space Menu is made up of tomato and rocket soup, best of British beef stew with asteroid dumplings, and a chocolate mousse with space dust – described by Heston as "inspired".
Tim said: "I'm incredibly impressed with the creative and mouth-watering entries we've received from children all over the UK and I'm really looking forward to enjoying a 'Great British Space Dinner' on board the ISS. This British-inspired menu will be a very special link back to planet Earth."
Joe, from Reigate, will now spend a day in Heston's experimental kitchen with the other winners developing his ideas into real space food for Tim to take to the stars.
He will also be invited to an event that will include a live link up with Tim Peake during his stay on the ISS. Joe's teacher, Helen Brown, said: "The children in Year 5 at Wray Common Primary School have been voyaging into deep space and have been thinking carefully about how to feed astronauts as they journey through the stars. We are so very proud of Joe and of the whole of Year 5 – their imaginations are out-of-this-world."
The competition required submitted ideas to take account of good nutritional principles and the constraints of space.
Handling, packaging and preservation all needed to be considered and entries also had to have a British theme.
Heston added: "This has been such an amazing experience. The students are incredibly inventive and creative, quite possibly the next great chefs or scientists of tomorrow. I cannot wait to work with them in the experimental kitchen and see their final dishes. Tim is undoubtedly in for a treat on his upcoming space mission."
