Blue for a Blue Planet

It was a momentous day in the lab. And in the kitchen. A few decades ago space-minded scientists started experimenting with growing algae in space. At that time people grew algae in massive vats of water, but these scientists tried to grow algae on glass plates instead.

It worked.

So here we are today and one corner of my lab is given over to an algae stack: a heated, humid box slotted with row after row of smooth plates, all seeded with algae. I harvested the first batch two days ago and re-seeded the plates, and then resigned myself to waiting anxiously to see what would grow. Of course, I’ve done this plenty of times during training, when they had us live in a model copy of the Bon Ki, but it means a lot more when you’re untold miles away from a grocery store.

The algae is an important food supplement for us. My favorite way to eat it is in a milkshake, but since we have neither milk nor cream nor any dairy substitute, we end up sprinkling it on top of our pancakes. Using it in lieu of parmesan on our pasta. Dusting our air-popped popcorn with it.

It sounds like a butter substitute. But as we’ve discovered, there is no substitute for butter. Only other ways of cooking. It was wise of Command to change us over to a vegan diet prior to training so we had time to mourn our favorite foods before we found ourselves mourning sunsets and birdsong and bubblebaths. There are only so many goodbyes one can handle at once.

And it makes the eggs feel that much more like a luxury.

Blue eggs and freeze-dried hash.