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Anil Menon gives glimpse of growing, cooking food in space
The astronauts harvested several leaves of the space-grown crops and used them to prepare what they described as one of the best meals they have cooked in orbit.
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Staff Reporter - Tue, 18, Aug 2026
- 00:59 EDT
- 95
ANIL MENON / NASA
NASA astronaut Anil Menon, along with a colleague aboard the International Space Station (ISS), has harvested and cooked fresh greens grown in space, offering a glimpse into how food can be produced during future long-duration missions.
In a post on X, Menon shared a video titled “Chez ISS — Cooking on @Space_Station with @Astro_Jessica and Anil.”
ALSO READ: NASA astronaut Menon shares trickiest part of being in space
In the video, Anil and astronaut Jessica were seen preparing a simple meal using kale and wasabi mustard that had been grown aboard the space station for about a month.
The astronauts harvested several leaves of the space-grown crops and used them to prepare what they described as one of the best meals they have cooked in orbit.
The experiment is part of NASA’s efforts to understand how plants can be grown in space and potentially provide fresh food for astronauts on future missions.
“On this episode, we give you farm-to-table, simple, and delicious. This Kale and Wasabi Mustard was grown on ISS over one month. We harvested several leaves and put them to the test. It might be the best meal we have cooked so far,” Anil wrote on X.
Chez ISS - Cooking on @Space_Station with @Astro_Jessica and Anil
— Anil Menon (@astro_anil) August 17, 2026
On this episode we give you farm to table, simple, and delicious. This Kale and Wasabi Mustard was grown on ISS over one month. We harvested several leaves and put them to the test. It might be the best meal we… pic.twitter.com/Oq9narSiu9
Growing vegetables aboard spacecraft could supplement packaged meals while also providing astronauts with fresh produce during missions that could last months or even years.
He thanked NASA’s Veggie team, which helped guide them through the plant-growing process and provided simple cultivation techniques that could eventually support food production during future space travel.
The space-grown meal also brought a touch of science fiction to reality. Anil said that Mark Watney, the fictional astronaut from The Martian who famously grows potatoes on Mars, “would be proud.”
Meanwhile, Menon and astronaut Sophie Adenot are set for a spacewalk on Aug. 18. They will venture outside the International Space Station for an approximately six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk. The pair will replace a Space-to-Ground antenna that enables high-speed communications between the Mission Control Center in Houston and the orbital complex.
This spacewalk will be Menon’s second and Adenot’s first. Adenot will become the first French woman to conduct a spacewalk.
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