There appear to be competing ideas on how Asgardia will be set up as a space station. As a result, I am wanting to set up some clarification posts so that people can all have a more clear vision of what is reasonable, desirable, and safe for Asgardians.

This forum post will be dealing with the idea of food.

Needless to say, from a sustainable perspective, most of the food we eat will need to be plant-based. Animal proteins will take a long time to 'mature' and insect-based proteins will likely contain an 'ick' factor for many people. I do not believe we should all become vegetarians, because that would make me a very sad Phicksur.

The method of eating will truly depend on the answers from round 1 of my question about gravity. If we are expected to be living in a station with no gravity, all foods will need to be solid or thick paste to prevent drowning. 

What kind of diet are you expecting to have on the station?

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Possibly 100% genetically engineered and invidually tailored "food bars" that taste yummy and 100% truly nutritious which are replicated in a medium and easily distributed.  I'm hoping for a BBQ chicken flavor.

There are some interesting projects creating fibrous meat substitutes from soy. It should be easy enough to produce a large enough vegetation product to have a fresh diet - Have a look at [LINK REMOVED]. These guys have managed to increase their production rates compared to normal farming based on the outdoor seasons.  

I think meat would be a little harder to produce, though not impossible, just more considerations will have to be made.  

With regards to your "ick" comment on insect protein.... Well comfort and familiarity are things for earth! The idea of actually putting a giant grub into your mouth would probably make anyone throw-up, yes, but using their proteins within other "flavoured" foods, sauces, etc should be fine. At the end of the day we need to consume for our own survival. Small sacrifices will be made in order to move out into the unknown :)

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Syafriza Bakri - 10 June 2017. 

NOOB ERROR: There are a number of interior/underground farms in development that are controlling artificial uv light levels as well as water.  With the possibility of being a space faring nation I believe that this type of farming could be an extremely viable option.

Artificial meat is making the rounds in the papers recently.  Which they tout as being better all the way around.  https://www.facebook.com/TheEconomist/videos/10155462953139060/

Let's deal with the points one by one

1. Gravity Can we live without gravity ? Answer is undoubtly no, regardless all the common problems we can have with 0 gravity such as going to the toilets or washing.  Our body is designed to live under a gravity which value is around  10m/s². We need this gravity for our muscles and organs to work  properly. If we remain for a too long period within a zero gravity  environment, our body will weaken.

2. Resources supply  Living in space is not like living in a city on Earth. You cannot go  everyday to the supermarket to buy what you need. You will have to  deal with the resources you have locally.

3. Waste  As mentioned in the previous point, resources will be limited so  recycling is the key. You cannot extract what you need and then burn the  waste like on Earth. We have to use materials which can easily be  recycled. So organic matter is the key, but not long and complex  molecules like plastic.

4. Growing food  Unlike this is often showed in most science-fiction moves, you don't  need 3D printed or some artificial food to live. We must firstly answer  to this important question : Why do we need to feed ?

Every  living being (flora and fauna) need matter to grow, develop and replace  dead cells. Plants can extract minerals and water from soil and carbon  from air with the Sun's help. But we animals have to eat to extract what  we need every day. One thing you must know is that we humans have a  body disigned to eat vegetals, not animals.

We need a  certain amount of vitamins, minerals and energy every day we can find in  fruits and vegetables. No need to eat meat (dead food), except if you  have some problems to extract them from vegetables (this happens  unfortunately).

You will also have to forget the  single-crop farming. By using natural techniques (most used thousands  years ago) we have an efficiency (in pounds of vegetables / square  meter) several times more than "modern" farming, and with no fertilizer,  no pesticides and less water. Morover, these fruits and vegetables  contain 3 to 10 times more vitamins than their equivalent you buy at the  supermarket !

To sum up, since these vegetables contains  no trash, you will contract less diseases. Plus, due to their high rate  in vitamins, you need to eat less every day (which I experienced).  Finally, you can feed them with used water and your excrements.