The 17th season of the “Great Food Truck Race” kicks off with a stop at NASA

July 1, 2024

— “The Great Food Truck Race” took off for its 17th season on the Food Network, landing at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Host and celebrity chef Tyler Florence welcomed nine fledgling food truck teams to George S. Abbey Rocket Park to get a first look at their trucks and compete in their first competition, the “Blast Off Challenge.” in Sunday night’s (June 30) season premiere.

“Where you are right now represents a giant leap in pushing humanity to its limits,” Florence said, as he and the teams were surrounded by the historic Mercury-Redstone and Little Joe II rockets, as well as the building housing one of the only Apollo-era Saturn V moon rockets still in existence. “Teams, I want you to channel that energy and jump right into your first challenge right here at the Great Food Truck Race!”

Competitors included Argentinian Empanadas from Wichita, Kansas; Bao Bei from Washington, DC; Cooks with Passion, a Caribbean cooking team from the “New South” from Atlanta, Georgia; Down to Get Tacos from Gilbert, Arizona; Fishnet from Baltimore, Maryland; Kalye, offering Filipino cuisine from New York, New York; Plates on Deck, serving eclectic soul food from Davenport, Florida; SOLA Po’Boys from Los Angeles, California; and Wally’s Waffles from Chicago, Illinois.

In just 40 minutes, the teams had to “prep, cook and land” their takeoff dish, which was to focus on a trait of the foods crew members prefer to eat while in space .

“Astronauts in space have a diminished sense of taste and smell, so they tend to crave food that really packs a punch. And you know what? Me too,” Florence said. “I want you to make me a rocket ship with out-of-this-world flavors, a Blast-Off dish. Show me who you are as a food truck and blow me away.”

The bland taste that food can take on while in space is partly due to “fluid shift,” or the redistribution of fluids in astronauts’ bodies without a constant force of gravity. Fluids that normally accumulate in the extremities are distributed more evenly, which, in the short term, can affect the sinuses and olfactory ability of astronauts.

On long-duration missions, crew members may also suffer from “nose blindness” because lingering odors emanating from the spacecraft or space station are “neutralized” by the brain.

To remedy this, astronauts tend to request spicy foods, like shrimp cocktail, and bring a salt solution, pepper oil, and sriracha sauce to round out their meals.

As the teams inspected their new food trucks, Florence was joined by a larger-than-life astronaut, the inflatable, walking mascot of Space Center Houston, the official visitor center of the Johnson Space Center.

“Hey Cosmo, are you ready to do this?” » said Florence, before turning her attention back to the teams. “Your time starts now!”

Empanadas Argentina decided to prepare Matambre A La Pizza, an Argentinian style beef flank pizza.

“The first thing we’re going to do is make our chimichurri. We mix parsley, cilantro, olive oil and onion, then we put it on the stove,” said Chad Freeman, team member. “And we’re grilling the steak – we’ll take NASA rockets to the moon, I promise.”

Down to Get Tacos cast aside its title and opted to make a quesarito instead.

“We should make something that will blow Tyler away from the first bite. We’re taking off, right?” Oz Gudino said. “The quesarito is a cross between a burrito and a quesadilla with a cheesy crunch on the outside.”

Other team dishes included Passa Passa pasta from Plates on Deck; Taiwanese fried chicken on a fried bao (“There are craters! It looks like the moon, right?”) from Bao Bei; Kalye’s Sinigang fried rice; a crispy wild sockeye salmon taco from Fishnet; a Belgian waffle with strawberries, banana, whipped cream and chocolate sauce from Wally’s Waffles; and Cajun shrimp and crab curry on rice cake from SOLA Po’Boys.

For this season, called “Games on the Gulf,” the top teams are awarded gold, silver and bronze medals each week, tied to the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, and each receive a cash prize. Down to Get Tacos finished third in the Blast-Off Challenge and received $100 for its quesarito. Plates on Deck finished second with $200 for its jerk pasta.

“There were a lot of great dishes here, but there was one that really got me,” Florence said. “For the Blast-Off Challenge, the gold and $300 goes to Cooks with Passion. I have to tell you, a quick way to win my heart is to eat shrimp and grits all day long. Nice job.”

Cooks with Passion made a shrimp and grits burger with fried grits as a bun and an okra dipping sauce.

After completing their first challenge, the teams packed up and left the Johnson Space Center for their next destination, downtown Houston. During this season, all nine teams will compete to stay in the race by heading east to a finale at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival in Miami.

“The Great Food Truck Race” is the latest culinary reality show filmed at Johnson Space Center and George S. Abbey Rocket Park. Previous series visiting NASA in Houston included Bravo’s “Top Chef” in 2022 and “Emeril Live” with chef Emeril Lagasse on Food Network.