I hate to admit it, but when it comes to the culinary arts, I’m no rocket scientist.
But Charles Bourland most definitely is. In fact, you might say he wrote the book on fine dining in outer space. It’s called “The Astronaut’s Cookbook” and has just been published by Springer. So what qualifies this good, ol’ country boy from Missouri to tell spacemen what they can and can’t consume while going to the moon or orbiting the earth?
It was his job.
Bourland – actually Dr. Bourland – was the nutritionist for NASA during the Apollo, Skylab and into the Shuttle programs. He’s retired now and back on his family farm on a country road between Osceola and Lowry City, Mo., where he makes wild game as his daily meal as much as he can.
“Grew up just about a mile down the road in a small house and attended a one-room schoolhouse just across the road from where we sit right now,” he said proudly, sitting in his kitchen overlooking a thick stand of timber.
Much of his attitude toward nutrition was formulated before he went on to earn a degree in dairy husbandry from the University of Missouri, and it was his full intention to stick to his career path.
“Well, yes, I started out in dairy husbandry,” he continued. “I went from planning menus for cows to planning meals for people – astronauts.”
He ended up at the Johnson Space Center in Houston by serendipity. He did not apply directly, but because someone at the University of Nebraska recommended him to NASA, that’s where life took him – along with his strong belief in eating natural.
“We grew up on squirrels and rabbits,” he said. “If we didn’t have meat at the house we went out and got some squirrels and rabbits.”
Even today, Bourland doesn’t eat beef. He is an active deer hunter and eats venison three times a week. He is adamant in his belief that Americans would be considerably more healthy if they chose such a lean, natural diet over the high-calorie and low-nutrition meals that we are so quick to consume these days. He stressed that with Thanksgiving just around the corner, the better selection would be a wild turkey over the hormone-stuffed, pen-raised birds.
With that in mind, I couldn’t help but ask him about the holiday diet of the current Atlantis astronauts who will be in space over Thanksgiving next week.
“You send them up with a big turkey leg?” I said jokingly.
“No … it’d be a turkey breast,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely!”
Of course, the big difference is the packaging and presentation. Up in space there’s no such thing as Grammy in her apron delivering it to a well-adorned table.
Bourland showed me some of the samples of the space food and, although it didn’t quite have the same panache as, say, next week’s golden gobbler, the variety of the spread that goes into space with our astronauts is certainly diversified. His neighbor and good friend, Don Smith, picked up one of the clear plastic packages and mulled over the contents.
“Grits in butter,” he said, smiling at the label.
“Yeah, I think we had a southern astronaut when we developed that,” Bourland replied.
“Charles, this looks just like a graham cracker … what is this, a turkey sandwich?” Don joked.
“No, it is a graham cracker,” he explained.
Don and I both looked at each other and shook our heads that astronauts would eat something so common as graham crackers in space.
“But we don’t send them up like that any more,” Bourland added.
“The first time they went up with graham crackers, they opened up the wrap … took a bite and the crumbs started floating throughout the capsule. After that, we made them bite size, so they could put the whole thing in their mouth and swallow it.”
As he has his entire life, Bourland has been an avid hunter and gatherer.
This fall has been no exception. It nourishes him both physically and spiritually. He’s pretty much a meat hunter. There were no big trophy bucks, waterfowl or turkey mounts on his walls.
In fact, except for a couple pictures and mementos in his home office, you’d never guess what an impressive career this man had with NASA. On one wall, hung a photo of himself alongside Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip as he prepared to serve them a meal at the Johnson Space Center.
“Had to go to ‘Queen School’ for a week just to prepare to meet them,” he chuckled. “You couldn’t shake her hand unless she offered hers first. And once she got in the room, they locked the doors and no one could leave before she did.”
He had various photos of his friends on the moon with their signatures. Tucked away in a file cabinet he had dozens more. As I shuffled through them, one struck my eye. He was standing with a cast of characters that included Ron Howard, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton and Tom Hanks – the crew of “Apollo 13,” the movie.
But I was struck by one smaller framed photo on the wall of him standing over a female. It had been the cover for some magazine and it was signed by Christa McAuliffe, the teacher/astronaut who died in the tragic Challenger explosion in 1986.
Bourland spoke in soft tones, and I didn’t want to press his emotions too much. But I couldn’t help but ask about what he was handing her to eat.
“That was her favorite, and she definitely took that on the Challenger,” he said.
“It’s funny, because it looks just like M&Ms,” I joked.
“That’s exactly what it is,” he answered.
Yeah, come to think of it, as much as I like wild game – turkey or venison – given the choice, I’d probably take M&Ms every time.
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I hate to admit it, but when it comes to the culinary arts, I’m no rocket scientist.
But Charles Bourland most definitely is. In fact, you might say he wrote the book on fine dining in outer space. It’s called “The Astronaut’s Cookbook” and has just been published by Springer. So what qualifies this good, ol’ country boy from Missouri to tell spacemen what they can and can’t consume while going to the moon or orbiting the earth?
It was his job.
Bourland – actually Dr. Bourland – was the nutritionist for NASA during the Apollo, Skylab and into the Shuttle programs. He’s retired now and back on his family farm on a country road between Osceola and Lowry City, Mo., where he makes wild game as his daily meal as much as he can.
“Grew up just about a mile down the road in a small house and attended a one-room schoolhouse just across the road from where we sit right now,” he said proudly, sitting in his kitchen overlooking a thick stand of timber.
Much of his attitude toward nutrition was formulated before he went on to earn a degree in dairy husbandry from the University of Missouri, and it was his full intention to stick to his career path.
“Well, yes, I started out in dairy husbandry,” he continued. “I went from planning menus for cows to planning meals for people – astronauts.”
He ended up at the Johnson Space Center in Houston by serendipity. He did not apply directly, but because someone at the University of Nebraska recommended him to NASA, that’s where life took him – along with his strong belief in eating natural.
“We grew up on squirrels and rabbits,” he said. “If we didn’t have meat at the house we went out and got some squirrels and rabbits.”
Even today, Bourland doesn’t eat beef. He is an active deer hunter and eats venison three times a week. He is adamant in his belief that Americans would be considerably more healthy if they chose such a lean, natural diet over the high-calorie and low-nutrition meals that we are so quick to consume these days. He stressed that with Thanksgiving just around the corner, the better selection would be a wild turkey over the hormone-stuffed, pen-raised birds.
With that in mind, I couldn’t help but ask him about the holiday diet of the current Atlantis astronauts who will be in space over Thanksgiving next week.
“You send them up with a big turkey leg?” I said jokingly.
“No … it’d be a turkey breast,” he said.
“Seriously?”
“Absolutely!”
Of course, the big difference is the packaging and presentation. Up in space there’s no such thing as Grammy in her apron delivering it to a well-adorned table.
Bourland showed me some of the samples of the space food and, although it didn’t quite have the same panache as, say, next week’s golden gobbler, the variety of the spread that goes into space with our astronauts is certainly diversified. His neighbor and good friend, Don Smith, picked up one of the clear plastic packages and mulled over the contents.
“Grits in butter,” he said, smiling at the label.
“Yeah, I think we had a southern astronaut when we developed that,” Bourland replied.
“Charles, this looks just like a graham cracker … what is this, a turkey sandwich?” Don joked.
“No, it is a graham cracker,” he explained.
Don and I both looked at each other and shook our heads that astronauts would eat something so common as graham crackers in space.
“But we don’t send them up like that any more,” Bourland added.
“The first time they went up with graham crackers, they opened up the wrap … took a bite and the crumbs started floating throughout the capsule. After that, we made them bite size, so they could put the whole thing in their mouth and swallow it.”
As he has his entire life, Bourland has been an avid hunter and gatherer.
This fall has been no exception. It nourishes him both physically and spiritually. He’s pretty much a meat hunter. There were no big trophy bucks, waterfowl or turkey mounts on his walls.
In fact, except for a couple pictures and mementos in his home office, you’d never guess what an impressive career this man had with NASA. On one wall, hung a photo of himself alongside Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip as he prepared to serve them a meal at the Johnson Space Center.
“Had to go to ‘Queen School’ for a week just to prepare to meet them,” he chuckled. “You couldn’t shake her hand unless she offered hers first. And once she got in the room, they locked the doors and no one could leave before she did.”
He had various photos of his friends on the moon with their signatures. Tucked away in a file cabinet he had dozens more. As I shuffled through them, one struck my eye. He was standing with a cast of characters that included Ron Howard, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton and Tom Hanks – the crew of “Apollo 13,” the movie.
But I was struck by one smaller framed photo on the wall of him standing over a female. It had been the cover for some magazine and it was signed by Christa McAuliffe, the teacher/astronaut who died in the tragic Challenger explosion in 1986.
Bourland spoke in soft tones, and I didn’t want to press his emotions too much. But I couldn’t help but ask about what he was handing her to eat.
“That was her favorite, and she definitely took that on the Challenger,” he said.
“It’s funny, because it looks just like M&Ms,” I joked.
“That’s exactly what it is,” he answered.
Yeah, come to think of it, as much as I like wild game – turkey or venison – given the choice, I’d probably take M&Ms every time.
