Underwater Scientist Savours the Flavour of Streaky Bacon

by Mario Grarrlantini

The next generation of underwater scientists needn't fear for their stomachs: Professor C. Chesterpot has just spent 30 days dining on underwater cuisine, and has given it the thumbs up. It's all part of the Underwater Food Project Fund (UFPF) to create a suitable menu for his 1000-day mission underwater.

A team led by Kau Sagan, who is too old to go on the mission, of Neopia University has spent thirty years concocting 2000 vegetarian recipes from sea-plants, including seaweed, sea sponges, sea-soya and salty carrots, which are on the UFPF shortlist of 150 crops that could be grown in a hydroponic greenhouse underwater. "Our test subject, Professor Chesterpot, liked the way the food tasted, but we wanted to see whether he would accept them in a steady diet," said Sagan.

The menu had to include varied meals that were easy to prepare, supplied the right nutrients, and were low in sodium and iron. "Sodium can reach dangerous levels when water is cycled between a crew, bioreactors, sea-plants, and all that sand," Sagan said. Sand is not good for Chesterpot; he needs less sodium in his blood stream, especially while he is in all that salt water.

Chesterpot ate meals, which included streaky bacon, joints of ham, and salmon sorbet smoothies made with a seaweed-based meat substitute, plus soups and pepper-jack cheese sandwiches. The reaction of the professor was positive. "I thought the food was delicious, but kind of soggy," Chesterpot said through his scuba mask.

Getting the underwater menu right is important because a boringly monotonous diet can lead to psychological problems and the sort of serious weight loss experienced by some of the cosmonauts on the Sloth Space Station. Also, growing food underwater could reduce the prohibitive cost of sinking huge masses of prepackaged food--and so bring an underwater civilization closer to existence.