Kimchi in Space

rtknox00 writes "For astronauts spending months in space, the smallest touch of home can make a big difference. So when South Korea's first astronaut Ko San boards the International Space Station this April he'll be bringing along a hefty supply of kimchi, the national dish of his native country. While bringing a cherished food on a long journey might seem like a simple act, taking kimchi into space required millions of dollars in research and years of work." Science may never get Thorramatur in orbit.

Awesome!

[jimbobborg]

Yes, it's nice that they are allowing this, however, I suspect that the smell will permeate everything in the station. Just saying.

Millions of dollars? Years of research?

[monomania]

...there goes my haggis.

mm..

[newbie56k]

So thats where our tax money went... researching the fluid mechanics of kimchi in 0 g..

The Kimchi has gotten loose!

[the_skywise]

The spice! It's in my eyes! AUUUGHH! It burns!! The goggles... they do nothing!

Well, I guess...

[Anonymous Coward]

in space no one can hear you fart.

Re:Well, I guess...

[catdevnull]

If I had mod points, I'd promote this to +5 funny. I laughed so hard I farted myself.

Re:Awesome!

[antifoidulus]

Better than the smell burritos make AFTER they have been eaten.... I would hate to be aboard the first ship that stows away something from burrito king....

Re:Awesome!

[Translation Error]

Just wait until someone wants to bring his beloved durian aboard.

Kimchi and alpha-galactosidase

[BStorm]

The space stations is a small enclosed space with air recirculating. The other astronaunts will thank South Korea for spending the millons of dollars ensuring that Kimchi is safe for space. Without the addition of alpha-galactosidase things could potentially get really nasty the day after eating Kimchi. The thought of the astronauts moving around the cabin being "jet propelled", leaves a silly grin on my face.

Re:Millions of dollars? Years of research?

[aproposofwhat]

But you can't take a haggis into space - what if yon beastie escapes and runs round and round in wee circles, because everyone knows that the legs on one side are shorter than the other, what with them living in the hills...

Re:Awesome!

[UnanimousCoward]

Dude, you know not of what you speak. Being an expert on vernacular-food-related flatulence:

f(kimchi) >> f(buritto)

Troubleshooting

[snowful]

"Just a moment. Just a moment. I've just picked up a fault in the AE-35 unit. It's going to go 100% failure in 72 hours."

Dak-Ho, would you suit up and go check that out, please?

What about his fellow travelers?

[jht]

Taking kimchi up in space - man, the smell of that stuff is brutal - and in space, you can't exactly crack the windows when he starts farting now, can you? Seriously, just because you _can_ take a smelly, nasty food up in space because people of your ethnicity eat it doesn't mean you _should_ take it up. There's the "bringing home with you so you don't get so lonely" deal but there's also the "having to live in a confined space with several other people that have nothing in common with you" deal. And bringing food that has a >0 chance of really bugging your fellow astronauts isn't the greatest idea. What's next, having an Icelandic astronaut bring some håkarl up, too?

Re:kimchi

[crazyeddie740]

Yes, and World War II was essentially a frank exchange of opinion.

"Prepare to experience chaos"

[WindBourne]

Might actually be useful in space.

Re:Awesome!

[g0bshiTe]

You aparently never have eaten Kimchi before.
I dated a half Korean girl, her mom used to make it all the time.
The stuff smells like the ass of a dead dog, tastes great, but leaves you with Montezumas revenge 10x worse than Taco Hell ever thought about doing.

Why in space?
Because in space no one can hear your scream.

Re:"Prepare to experience chaos"

[Penguinisto]

Might actually be useful in space.

In space, it's denoted by its proper and full title: Fermentation Augmented Rectal Transport System.

(wait for it...)

/P

Re:Great idea

[Stanislav_J]

...what kind of white-bread Twinkie-eating motherfucker you must be...

Hey -- how did you find out about both my diet and my sexual habits? See -- this is why we need protection of our personal data....

Re:"Prepare to experience chaos"

[Farmer Tim]

At this point I'm forced to ask where you got your nickname...

Re:Well, at least...

[raddan]

Funny story about that. A coworker of mine married a Vietnamese woman, and seeing as how they both love durian, they decided to have a durian wedding cake. Now, since the wedding was held in the US, most of the guests were, shall we say, unfamiliar with the fruit. The highlight of the evening was a small child who took a bite of the cake, and who burst into tears crying, "I can't make the taste go away!". My first experience with durian (in bubble tea) caused my colleagues at the table to start to complain that the restaurant must have seated them next to a trash can-- until they realized the smell was coming from my drink. Ahh, there really is nothing like durian in the West.

Re:Well, at least...

[Mr. Sanity]

That reminds me: while living in Thailand, I discovered that you can eat and drink on the buses. That's always convenient when you've got to get across town & need breakfast too. However, every rule has its limits. Nobody is allowed to eat durian on the bus. I am so thankful too. Although the fruit is supposed to be delicious, it smells like used diapers.

Re:Awesome!

[djtachyon]

The stuff smells like the ass of a dead dog, tastes great, but leaves you with Montezumas revenge 10x worse than Taco Hell ever thought about doing.

FTFA: "Three top government research institutes spent millions of dollars and several years perfecting a version of kimchi that would not turn dangerous when exposed to cosmic rays or other forms of radiation and would not put off non-Korean astronauts with its pungency."

Hopefully they did a good job ;).

Korean BBQ [wikipedia.org] in Manhattan is great though. I have been quite a few times. Very easy to find in Koreatown [wikipedia.org].

Re:Awesome!

[d3ac0n]

Well if they didn't do a good job, the next article will be about an incident on the international space station that caused all the Kimchi to get blown out the airlock.

Re:Thorramatur

[smellsofbikes]

I wish I'd read this before I spent $200 buying brennivin in Reykjavik to bring home to friends so they could sample something interesting. I now have about $195 in "thanks but I think you can finish this off" returned gifts in the liquor cabinet and *I* am sure not going to drink that stuff.
Truly lovely country, would be thrilled to live there, except y'all eat stuff my dog tries to roll in.