They dined on 23 gourmet foods from a French chef, including compote of pigeon with dates and dried raisins, duck with artichokes, oxtail fondue with tomatoes and pickles, beef bourguignon, saute de veau Marengo, ham and fruit pates, bread, rolls, cheeses, nuts, coffee and chocolate bars. The delicacies were canned for the high-pressure ride to Earth orbit. The chef said French cuisine is inconceivable without sauces and wine, but the astronauts had to do without because wine and sauces would float away without gravity. Dishes had to be small, without bones, and without sauces which could become flying droplets. Meat was made to absorb sauce to guard against dryness.
Soviet spacemen spend months in orbit.
To spice up the tedium, they feast on delicacies in a diet of 70 dishes, including meat, fish and dairy products. Some of the mouth-watering delicacies found recently on floating space dishes have been so exquisite that lovers of gourmet food on Earth would have been glad to have them. Tasty morsels have included chicken paste with plums, sturgeon with jellied sauce, processed fruit and all kinds of juices. The delicacies have to be canned, of course, for the trip in a Progress cargo freighter to Mir. NASA has found that astronauts eat and drink as much as 70 percent less in space.