The daily life of a 21st-century American scientist follows the classic breakfast / lunch / dinner pattern, squeezed in between work sessions on the UCLA campus. But as soon as Andrea Ghez goes up to observe atop Mauna Kea (Hawai‘i), everything shifts: you live at night, sleep during the day, and a "midnight meal" replaces dinner. Food adapts to the altitude (4200 m), the cold of the domes, and the need to stay awake and alert until dawn.

Among astronomers at large telescopes, black coffee is the signature ingredient: it marks the night, from dusk (when calibrating adaptive optics) until dawn when the dome is closed. Around it revolves a practical, energy-packed, portable cuisine designed for jet lag and altitude.