CHEFS CREATE A CORDON BLEU IN SPACE

Richard Filippi, a cookery teacher in Périgord, found his mission in life when he heard on the radio one day in 1993 that Jean-Pierre Haigneré, a French cosmonaut, was complaining about the food he had been served on Mir, the Russian space station.

It took him three years but he eventually succeeded in putting French gastronomy in orbit. He *secured a contract to *resupply four Mir missions and will be caterer-in-chief to the next crew on board the ancient Russian spacecraft when they *dock with Mir for its final mission next spring.

Filippi will provide a selection of desserts, including his classic vanilla and apricot semolina and menus with *quails and *veal. This gourmet cuisine is light years from the food provided in the pioneering days of space conquest. When Yri Gagarin was rocketed into space in 1961 he had no food whatsoever. Food is now served on trays. Only juices and other drinks come out of tubes. Nowadays one can eat bread or biscuits in space.

(October 1998)

VOCABULARY

to secure = obtenir

to resupply = réapprovisionner

the crew = l’équipage

to dock = s’amarrer à

a quail = une caille

veal = veau

QUESTIONS
A. Who is Richard Filippi ?

1) a cosmonaut

2) a teacher

3) a president

B. What has he invented?

1) a faster way to go to Mars

2) better food for cosmonauts

3) a smaller space shuttle

C. What did Gagarin have in 1961?

1) nothing: no food

2) trays

3) bread

ANSWERS

A2 | B2 | C1