Italian astronaut celebrates 'Mother Earth Day'

10 dicembre 2014

1 min di lettura

(AGI) Turin, Dec. 10 - Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetticelebrated "Mother Earth Day" on board the International SpaceStation on Wednesday. "To taste our food is very important,both in space and on Earth," she wrote in a tweet to mark theday. She said she wanted to celebrate "with my friends of SlowFood" the 25th anniversary of the food campaigning association."I have always been an enthusiast for good, healthy andnutritious food and I have at heart all the issues relating tohealthy eating, both for us and for the environment. I wouldreally want to debunk the legend according to which advancedscience and technology are worlds apart from traditional food,"she said in a video message. She went on: "This is why I wantedto bring with me to the Space Station healthy and nutritiousfood with the right nutritional values, but which is alsoimportant for our Earth's biodiversity. Legumes, in particular,are an ingredient we should upgrade in a healthy diet. So, evenup here in space, I will be able to taste an excellent beansoup which, among its ingredients, contains many of theelements recommended by Slow Food. And I used the word 'taste'advisedly because it is something important both in space andon Earth." The astronaut will share with her team-mates a beansoup containing four Slow Food "Presidia": piattellacanavesana, a white flat bean that grows on a climbing stalk,lentils from Ustica, fava beans from Carpino and blackchickpeas from Murgia, the Apulian karst region. (AGI) . .