♪
A team of three Ulster BOCES
Culinary Arts students
literally look to the stars
for inspiration.
They were creating
their submissions
for a cooking competition
sponsored by NASA's
HUNCH Program.
The Ulster BOCES team
is one of 30 teams
from around the country
competing in this challenge.
In the first phase
of the competition,
every team is tasked
with creating three
vegetarian entrees,
then serving those meals
to local taste testers
who will then evaluate
each dish.
We had a rating
of 1 to 9,
and then we will
just add up the numbers.
And from that we will
select the top 10 entrees,
and those students
will get to go
to Johnson Space Center,
prepare their entrees
right there in front
of the astronauts
at Space Center Houston,
and then the astronauts
will select one to go
to the Space Station.
Developing a meal
fit for space
goes beyond just cooking
up something good.
Things to consider:
transportability,
ease of rehydration,
and taste.
One dish that tickled
the taste testers' taste buds
was Ulster BOCES' lunar pie.
We basically thought,
"Well, what's your most
favorite meal?
What's a comfort
food for you?"
And we kicked the idea
around in the classroom
with the entire
group of students,
and this theme
kept coming back
for, you know,
the turkey sandwich
the day after Thanksgiving.
So we did some research
and we found, you know,
meat replacements,
whether it be tofu
or seitan or textured
vegetable protein.
And we did some, uh,
some tests,
and we found that
the textured vegetable protein
would be the hit with this.
The taste testers said
they were excited
to sample the students' dishes.
Chef Robert Kemp of
Gadaleto's Seafood Restaurant
in New Paltz gave
a ringing endorsement
for the students'
vegan chili.
They were all delicious.
I thought the kids
did a really good job
seasoning everything,
especially.
My favorite was the chili
by a long shot.
I would've actually
had seconds on that.
But students were
not only seeking
positive remarks,
they were also looking
for suggestions to help
them fine tune their recipes.
Meatloaf, when I looked
at it it looked like
a slice of meatloaf.
Then I saw there was
tofu in it and so forth.
Yeah, I thought it needed
a little black pepper
a touch of
balsamic vinegar,
maybe a little--a little
sriracha or something.
But all of the dishes
were very, very good.
Besides taste, aroma,
appearance and texture,
other key components
were that the dishes
also had to meet strict
nutritional guidelines.
We wanna keep
the astronauts
as healthy as possible.
So, of course,
we have low sodium,
low sugar, um,
as nutritious as possible.
Gold says winning
a contest like this
not only gives
students bragging rights,
but also the confidence
to aim for the moon
in their job search.
And to help NASA
with an entree,
that would really
put them a cut above
most people who
are applying
for any position whatsoever.
NASA expects to announce
the top 10 teams
for phase two
of the competition
by early spring.
So stay tuned.
♪
