Dr. Howard Bauman created Space Food Sticks for Pillsbury. Before working for Pillsbury, Dr. Bauman created the first solid food consumed by an astronaut (small food cubes for Scott Carpenter, Aurora 7, 1962).
Space Food Sticks were first sold in 1970. They were marketed for children, and I will admit that they often made their way into my lunchbox. Space Food Sticks came in several flavors. They were chewy but soft. I loved the peanut butter variety!
Astronauts on Skylab 3 (1972) ate these sticks in space. Unfortunately, they disappeared from grocery shelves in the 1980's. They have been revived in recent years by Nestle in Australia, but went back out of production in 2014.
This is an early package design, as I remember this product from the early 1970's.
Do you remember Space Food Sticks? What was your favorite flavor? I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below.
I love looking back at nostalgic foods that are no longer available! I wasn't around for these spice sticks, but I have plenty of other foods from my childhood that are no longer available. It's fun to reminisce because you can practically TASTE those treats.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember food sticks but I do remember watching the moonwalk on television during school! Watching TV was more exciting than the actual event!
ReplyDeleteI wasn't around for these either. I loved pop rocks and can get them from speciality stores now.
ReplyDeleteI don't remember these! I wish I did because they look pretty interesting. Maybe they'll bring them back again someday.
ReplyDeleteMy mom used to talk about these all the time! She would love this post! Sharing now :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visits and comments! I remember watching the moonwalk on tv, too. It is one of the first news events that I recall. Anything related to NASA and space travel was really fascinating during those years. - Trish
ReplyDeleteThis is so cool, I wish I could try one. Do you think you can find the ingredients list, I'm wondering what that would contain.
ReplyDeleteI loved these as a kid. Peanut butter was my favorite flavor as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the visits and comments. Rebecka, I was not able to find an official ingredients list ... the peanut butter had the most "genuine" taste, and basically tasted like firmer peanut butter.
ReplyDeleteI only remember the chocolate flavor. It tasted very artificial and doughy like cookie dough but not as good. My uncle worked as a food broker (sold and promoted certain brands to grocery stores) and he gave us lots of free boxes he received as samples. But as a young boy I was very excited about the space program.
ReplyDeleteNerdzar, how neat about the free samples of Space Food Sticks! I was a little girl in the 1960's and also found the space program very exciting.
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