Ready for some space grub? Clockwise from left, enjoy a shrimp cocktail, a granola bar, some candy and scrambled eggs. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)

With recent news of Earth’s orbital population reaching an all-time high of 13 again, I’m sure a lot of you were wondering the same thing: Are there any good places to eat up there? Fine dining above the exosphere is certainly looking up, so now’s as good a time as any to look at what kind of grub astronauts, cosmonauts and taikonauts can stuff into their free-floating bellies.

For any potential space tourists out there looking to sample traditional American and Russian space foods, prepare to deal with a new lunchroom iron curtain. According to the New York Times, U.S. and Russian authorities recently installed new rules prohibiting food-sharing between astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS). So if you wind up looking to trade your bowl of borsch or a can of foxberry  juice for a little American space ice cream, you might find yourself out of luck. This division even extends to the toilets aboard the space station, with Russian and American crews encouraged to stay loyal to their own national porcelain.

Unsurprisingly, space morale has taken a hit — especially at the Russian table, I’m assuming, given that their space food has evolved at a much slower pace over the years than American fare.

Still, there’s a great deal of variety available up there, so long as someone freeze-dries it, packages it and hauls it into orbit. Float over to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Kibo laboratory at the ISS and, if anyone is home, you might be able to share some steamed noodles and maybe a little salmon.

Will there be space curry in the future? According to Times Online, a team of Indian military scientists hopes to develop traditional national cuisine for a planned 2015 manned mission into orbit. The sheer number of ingredients in many Indian dishes poses a challenge, as does the dehydration that would destroy some of the more fragile delicacies from the subcontinent. Plus, as you might imagine, there are some concerns on how some of the spicier and fattier dishes would affect an already unsettled and weightless stomach.

Yet, ironically enough, noted spice enthusiast and celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse has contributed custom space meals to NASA, as have Wolfgang Puck and Rachael Ray.

UPDATE: As Liz points out in the comments below, British cult sci-fi series “Red Dwarf” pushed the notion of space curry long before India’s current efforts took off. See? Science Fiction get it right, sometimes.

Give into your space cravings at HowStuffWorks.com:
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