In space, no one can hear you grill.

Space.com recently reported that NASA sent a special care package to the International Space Station via the last Shuttle mission. The members of the ISS crew received a goodie box full of food prepared by Emeril Lagasse.

"It was so tasty, we absolutely loved it all," Commander Pavel Vinogradov told Lagasse during a space-to-ground phone call last month. "That was a true and wonderful surprise."

Lagasse designed recipes - which were prepared and packaged by NASA space food specialists - for mashed potatoes with bacon, green beans and garlic, rice pudding, mixed fruit and spicy Mardi Gras jambalaya, the latter of which scored high marks with the Expedition 13 crew.

"We have a longing for a little bit spicier food," Reiter told Lagasse. "Our perception of taste is a little bit decreased."

Where's the allure of space travel if everything I eat tastes like a turd. They send up scientists and military personnel. Where's the cooks??? The ISS crew invited Lagasse to be their private chef anytime he was in their "orbital neighborhood." Wouldn't that be cool! If I had the opportunity to go up there, I'd throw every spice I had in my bag and figure out a way to grill. Hell, throw me in the shuttle bay and give me enough oxygen to breathe and run the grill. I'll bring my fleece jacket and hat!



Send up a cook and the food will change.