io9
1969 was a great year to be seven-going-on-eight: astronauts were getting ready to land on the moon—and for spellbound earthlings, there were Space Food Sticks. As this vintage ad explains, Space Food Sticks were developed "to meet the demands of a long spaceflight" by the nice folks at Pillsbury. (Can you imagine any product today proclaiming on its box that it was "developed . . . under a government contract"?)
Alas, unlike other whined-for foods in our household (Pop Tarts, Cap'n Crunch), Space Food Sticks were a distinct disappointment. They were chewy, as advertised, but their flavor was chalky and indistinct, less like the glorious future and more like the smell of Grandma's denture cup. Pillsbury discontinued the original product in the 1970s but a band of brave (and perhaps foolhardy) souls currently produces Space Food Sticks for a new generation. You can order them, as well as read a detailed product history, at their web site.
Comments
Ah, good times. I remember eating these as a kid in the early 70s. That and Tang baby!
I remember them all too well. Their basic flaw was trying to include too much protein powder and still keep you from throwing up after chewing on them.
You would think the chocolate would cover up all the flavor sins, but not so in this case. It was a crappy chocolate powder that they scraped up from the floor of some Arabian brothel. The peanut butter version didn't clash with the flavor of the protein powder used, and so it merely tasted like gummy hamster food pellets...
Those things were sucktacular.
I remember these *treats*. The concept was sound, but they could have used some work on the edibility aspect...
I ate those mamma jammas up when I was a kid! I do wish they'd bring back the caramel, though.
... interesting side note: the new packaging ([www.funkyfoodshop.com])was done by my good friend Ralph Cosentino. It uses characters from his children's book, The Marvelous Misadventures of Fun-Boy ([www.amazon.com])
Ralph is the super-coolest and he smells like cinnamon rolls and sunshine!
I loved 'em
@I-prefer-evil-genius:
I ate 'em while playing with my "Billy Blastoff" toys. Those things rocked (the toys more so than the treats...)
Mmmm, chalky.
... What? Am I the only one who likes the taste of plain antacids?
So here's the funny thing...
A number of years ago I bit into a chocolate brownie Balance Bar and had one of those wicked taste-flashbacks. I just KNEW I'd tasted this taste before, but it tooks months to figure out what it was and then a few weeks more to remember what they were called.
So Space Food Sticks were the moldable (I used to make rings out of them before I ate them) protein bars of our childhood :-)
I liked 'em. The chocolate ones sucked, but the caramel ones weren't bad. Especially if you wadded them up until they looked/felt like Milk Duds.
I loved them. Playing with them, eating them, everything. I've gotta get some of these and pick up some Tang and go on a sugar-fueled nostalgia trip.
Maybe. This might be one of those things better left to memory.
@dijou: YES! Thank you.
Oh yeah.
Them and Tang.
That's what the future tasted like alright.
MMMMM AEROSPACE!
Man, these things ROCKED!! I remember going to my Grandma's house and loading up on these things. Thanks for the memories.
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