SACRAMENTO, Calif — A group of Sacramento Charter High School students need your help for the chance to cook for astronauts.
Sac High is the first and only California school to participate in NASA's HUNCH Culinary Challenge. Schools across the nation compete to create a dish suitable for microgravity living.
A total of 34 schools started out at the beginning of the school year and NASA narrowed down their top 10 and Sac High prevailed with a "Pumpkin Pear Ginger Puree" recipe.
In order to maintain the health of astronauts on the International Space Station, the group of students had to research and create a dish based on the dietary restrictions and "theme" provided by NASA.
Since Sac High is the only California school participating, the group decided to represent Sacramento's farm-to-fork lifestyle in space by using ingredients from local growers and from the school’s garden.
“We are thrilled for this opportunity,” said Domina Stamas, science teacher at Sac High and lead instructor of the group.
The culinary challenge will take place April 15 at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The dish will be judged by Food Lab personnel, industry professionals, ISS program office, and Astronauts for quality, taste, their work on the research paper, and presentation video.
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If the Sac High Space Dragons win, the dish will be processed by the Johnson Space Center Food Lab and sent up to the station for the astronauts to enjoy.
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the students on our team and we are in need of financial support for hotels, flights, transportation, and other materials used in the competition,” Stamas said.
To help with their fundraising efforts, Stamas has created a GoFundMe account. The goal is to raise $5,000 before the trip. Let’s help them win the national competition!
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