There is a myth that Tang, the powder used to create a pseudo fruit flavoured drink, was developed by NASA for astronauts.
I don’t think this is true, although I believe that astronauts did use it in the 1970s.
I still think of Tang as a very 1970s thing. I think that I first encountered it in late 1978 (around the time of my first communion) when a sample package was placed in our letterbox, to the mild bemusement of my parents.
I hadn’t seen Tang in years, although I recently did some casual searching for it online through the Coles website, which suggested that it was still around, although not available through Coles.
But then, to my delight, I discovered Tang is still available for sale. Last month, I took my mother to the Footscray Market (her big regular adventure) and we browsed through the independent supermarket in the back. And there, on a shelf beside the butcher section, there were a few packs of Tang in different flavours. Some of the flavours were a tad too exotic for me, but I was pleased to see that the traditional citrus flavours were available. Given that I have an abundance of fresh oranges on my trees at the moment, I chose to buy a lemon flavoured pack of Tang.
