Ahead of its first commercial flight out of Earth, Axiom approached the renowned chef and asked him to prepare a special, nutritious and also delicious gourmet meal, which would meet NASA's strict guidelines and rules. A meal that space travelers can share as a "family meal" , One that will transcend the freeze-dried foods so identified with spaceflight.
After much thought, Anders and his team at ThinkFoodGroup decided to treat the hungry astronauts to a paella - a classic Spanish dish suitable for sharing, in addition to some other delicacies based on raw materials from his homeland.
The commander of the space mission, by the way, is the Spanish-American Michael Lopez-Allegria, Anders' close friend, who no doubt enjoys cooking these days that reminds him of the taste of home.
“Before I started dreaming about feeding people in space, I dreamed of feeding people underwater, like Jules Verne,” Anders said.
"I have therefore come to the conclusion that the ultimate challenge for me is to provide people with food outside the confines of the world we are familiar with."
The result: a meal that includes chicken paella and mushrooms - a Spanish flagship dish that Anders specializes in preparing, as well as dried Spanish sausage and marcona almonds.
"The way families eat paella, even today, is when the pot is in the center of the table. I believe in division, and I believe we are all part of the same planet," the chef added.
So it's true that the spacecraft crew will not really sit around the table and share one large paella pot - each of the pilots will eventually receive their own packaged paella portion, but the meal itself will be shared.
"We decided to make them a paella that was cooked like a paella, that would look like a paella and have a paella taste - without drying. The fact that the astronauts would eat my dishes together gives me great pride," concluded the 52-year-old philanthropist chef, who also recently traveled to Ukraine to feed refugees. War, and last year even offered anyone who would be vaccinated against Corona a $ 50 gift card to one of his five U.S. restaurants.
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