The nutrition of astronauts has been significantly improved in recent years. The crew even learned how to brew coffee and prepare fast food from vegetables grown in orbit. However, making real sushi in space turned out to be quite difficult. A striking illustration of this was a recent culinary experiment aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Improvisation in zero gravity
NASA astronaut Jonny Kim shared a photo on social media from the ISS of what he called “space sushi.” His creation would probably shock any professional sushi chef on Earth. But Kim assured us: “Space sushi isn’t quite the same as the fresh stuff on the ground, but it’s not bad!”
Space sushi isn’t quite the same as the fresh stuff on the ground, but it’s not bad! We had a crew celebration recently and one of our crewmates expressed how much they missed sushi (as do I). So we collected and pitched in our personal supplies of fish, spam and rice, coupled… pic.twitter.com/0xhOhPXiv8
— Jonny Kim (@JonnyKimUSA) June 16, 2025
The reason for the experiment is simple – nostalgia for a favorite dish. “We had a crew celebration recently and one of our crewmates expressed how much they missed sushi (as do I),” Kim explained. “So we collected and pitched in our personal supplies of fish, spam and rice, coupled with a dash of gochujang and wasabi, which made for a great meal.”
Progress in space cooking
This is not the first time astronauts have tried sushi in orbit. Back in 2010, Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi prepared it on the ISS. The videos show how the rice balls floated in zero gravity before they were wrapped in nori. This illustrates a key problem: preparing complex dishes without gravity is extremely difficult.
Although real sushi in space remains a challenge, overall, astronauts’ nutrition has advanced significantly. The main food is still supplied in dried form or in thermally stabilized packages that require the addition of water. However, regular cargo spacecraft deliver fresh fruit and special delicacies. The most important achievement was the experiments on growing fresh vegetables such as lettuce and cabbage directly at the station, which opens up prospects for a more varied diet in future long-distance flights.
We previously reported on how vegetables grown in orbit pose a health risk.
According to Digital Trends
