The pierogi challenge

Decades of expertise in cooking traditional dishes and preparing freeze-dried food for expeditions in Earth’s most remote locations are coming together in a Polish kitchen for a first in space cuisine.

These expert cooks are piercing pierogi, the traditional Polish dumplings, for consumption on humankind’s outpost in orbit – the International Space Station.

Pierogi, a staple of Polish home cooking, were the top choice of ESA project astronaut Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski for his upcoming Axiom Mission 4. For the first time, pierogi will travel to space.

“I wanted a truly Polish menu that I could share with my fellow astronauts. Food brings psychological comfort, and I instantly thought it would be worth taking some Polish delicacies into orbit,” says Sławosz.

Although he likes to makes pierogi himself, this time he needed help. The Polish astronaut, who will be conducting over a dozen technological and scientific experiments during the Ignis mission, met an unexpected challenge with his beloved pierogi.

Renowned Polish chef Mateusz Gessler took charge of crafting the menu. “At first, I thought I could pack prepared food in cans and jars, but the strict baggage allowance for astronauts made that impossible. Then I learned about the advantages of freeze-drying,” admits Mateusz.

The freeze-drying process completely removes any water from food while preserving food’s properties and structure for years. However, the first pierogi batches kept bursting. Working alongside Polish family business LYOFOOD, the team eventually mastered the technique and to stop pierogi from exploding, they made small holes in them, one by one.  

Check the whole Ignis menu and learn more about the dos and don’ts for space food in the article Pierogi in space.