5 days ago
This Government-Funded Snack From The '60s Was Originally Made For Astronauts
Back when going to the moon was the world's hottest topic, companies were doing whatever they could to get a piece of the pie. Brands were sending their products straight to space, and customers were eating it up. Omega debuted a watch fit for spacewalkers, and Tang pushed advertisements for space-approved soda, but Pillsbury — under contract with the U.S. government — was more focused on the astronauts heading to the stars than the consumers on the ground.
Pillsbury was tasked with creating the first space-safe solid food by none other than the Quartermaster Food and Container Institute of the United States Armed Forces in the early '60s. The company started with teeny condensed food cubes, which were chowed down by NASA astronaut Scott Carpenter on the Aurora 7 in the summer of 1962. A few years later, NASA had another assignment for Pillsbury: create an energizing snack that could fit through an astronaut's helmet.
The airtight suits didn't make it easy, but Pillsbury delivered with Space Food Sticks. The nutrient-packed snack was like a chewy chocolate power bar squeezed into a thin tube, which made it a hit for not just astronauts but growing kids everywhere. Before it was a popular lunchbox snack, Space Food Sticks accompanied Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong to the moon in 1969.
Read more: 15 Vintage Snacks No One Remembers Anymore
The energizing snack may have been made exclusively for astronauts, but it was a far bigger hit on Earth. Early advertisements for Space Food Sticks declared they were "developed by Pillsbury under a government contract, in support of the U.S. aerospace program" — but that language didn't last long. Into the next decade, Pillsbury began running ad campaigns for the astronaut-endorsed snack, but more geared towards Earthbound folks. The concept of Space Food Sticks integrated seamlessly with the other space-themed commercials of the time, making them an instant sensation. In later ads, Pillsbury kept it simple, labeling Space Food Sticks as a "balanced nutrition snack."
Buzz and Armstrong only got a taste of the original chocolate flavor, but Pillsbury introduced dozens of other varieties over the years. Each flavor seemed to hang onto the "chewy" descriptor, with added flavors like peanut butter, orange, caramel, and chocolate mint. There are dozens of vintage snacks that no one really remembers anymore, but Space Food Sticks should never be forgotten. Only a few years after they were introduced, Pillsbury dropped the word "space" from the label, shortening them to just Food Sticks, but the legacy lives on.
Read the original article on Tasting Table.
