[Workshop Share-Out] Kitchen Tool Design for the ISS

For this short activity, we’d like you to design a kitchen tool for use aboard the ISS!

  1. Read through the “Considerations for Dining in Space” handout on the PLIX Activity Repository

  2. With these constraints in mind, design a kitchen utensil or appliance for use in outer space! (You can also check out the new PLIX Space Food zine for some inspiration!). Your design can be a sketch, a physical prototype made with household materials, or even a short descriptive write-up!

  3. Share a photo and short description of your sketch or prototype below!

You’ll also find some examples from the PLIX team below. Feel free to get creative! :art:


This Making Prompt is part of the PLIX Space Food Online :plate_with_cutlery: workshop series. You can find more information about our fall workshops in the linked thread below :arrow_down:

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I wondered how I would recreate the ritual of tea in the morning (sorry, I’m not a coffee drinker!). It would be nice to be able to add a tea bag to the hot water instead of drinking something already premixed/pre-made. My plan for addressing this: an easily-dissolvable freeze dried tablet of flowers/herbs that you can push into hot water to make tea (kind of like an Airborne tablet). The pouch of hot/warm water have some sort of double seal so you could put the tablet in without the water shooting out.

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My tool is a modular rough puff pastry maker! It leverages the vacuum of space to keep dough chilled, and is battery operated to deal with the power and space constrains on the ISS. Ideally, this machine will also help with homogenizing ingredients in the micro-gravity environment!

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Introducing the crumbless sushi cutter for the ISS! Rehydrate the sushi and use this handy tool to cut perfectly sliced pieces ideal for eating in space in one fell swoop and without the crumbs.

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I love hot buttered toast in the morning, so I pondered how a toaster would work in zero gravity. The third grader in me chuckled at the thought of toast popping up out of the toaster and floating around willy-nilly inside the ISS! So I came up with the idea of a metal mesh netting to affix to the top of the toaster to catch fly-away toast.

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Not sure about how to deal with the cooking part… maybe it’d be ok to have a noodle that is just rehydrated.

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I add lime juice or cajun spice to almost everything. So, my space tool would be a blister pack of quick-dissolving seasoning pellets. One by one, I would insert each tablet into the opening of my food packet, and they would breakdown with the application of heat. Distributing the seasoning evenly throughout my vacuum pack might take a considerable amount of effort. But it would be worth it. (My computer drawing skills aren’t the best. :rofl:)

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Love this!! Reminds me of (on earth) people freezing herbs/seasoning in oil in an ice cube tray.

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We are so excited. Our library branch is hosting a space food program in February. Azra designed this adorable flyer for the event! (She attended the last facilitators training.)

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This is amazing, @Tienya_Smith! I can’t wait to see what folks create : ) Is there a particular prompt that you’re planning to explore – utensil design; flavor design; experience design; all of the above?

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I love this promo vid!!! Let us know how it goes. :slight_smile:

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Beautiful flyer! Very eye-catching.

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We are about to launch our Space Food Activity to Go! kits. Here is our virtual lab (with linked digital resources) and an image of the kits we are distributing.
Virtual Lab (made with Canva) HPL Space Food Lab

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This is really fantastic, Claudia. I love the Canva you made with links to further the learning. I’ve never heard of Padlet before…I’ve been trying to think of ways for kids participating in my virtual library programs to share out what they’ve created. So I’ll definitely look into Padlet.

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Thanks Tracy! This is the second curated space I’ve made this winter based on the Bitmoji Library craze. I’ve had mixed success with Padlet, but the most success using it with the this kind of program. I’m hoping kids/teens will post some images/videos!

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