Slovenian dish among the finalists in NASA's HUNCH Culinary Challenge

Slovenian students from BIC Ljubljana (Ljubljana Biotechnical Education Centre) are among the 10 finalists of the prestigious NASA HUNCH Culinary Challenge. Remarkably, they stand as the sole European school journeying to Houston for the final competition on April 17 – earlier this year, among the semi-finalists were four European countries.

This year’s challenge was savoury breakfast that includes a vegetable, with strict nutritional guides. Using their ingenuity, the students prepared a typical Slovenia dish called ješprenj, but with a twist: to meet the nutrition guidelines, they added dried pears, crunchy walnuts and savoury smoked tofu.

It took them two months to create the final dish. Inspired by the rich heritage of Slovenia, the concept stemmed from the traditional barley stew also called ričet, one of the 401 typical dishes identified in the Slovenian gastronomic pyramid. Carefully selecting ingredients, they aimed not only to honour Slovenian culinary tradition but also to spotlight the quality of local produce – except for tofu, all other ingredients are of produced or grown in Slovenia. The result was a hearty ješprenj stew infused with dried pears, walnuts and smoked tofu, meticulously balanced for energy intake and mindful of fat, fiber and salt content.

Since space-bound cuisine demands meticulous preparation, the dish was further adapted for space travel through freeze-drying, ensuring its suitability for cosmic conditions. As such, this dish not only embody the rich culinary heritage of Slovenia but also represents a fusion of culinary artistry and scientific precision, poised to satisfy the palates of astronauts amidst the vast expanse of the cosmos.

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Photo credits: BIC Ljubljana

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