Okay, space food fans, this beautiful event took place last year, somewhere in the late spring of 2025! What happened was a reported sushi consumption up in space, some 250 miles above Earth in the International Space Station. A photo of NASA astronauts eating sushi in microgravity went viral, and the internet loved it!
If sushi is so loved around the world, why wouldn’t it be loved in space too?
Two astronauts were laughing and having a good time as sushi was floating between them, those delicious rolls drifting in all their glory. This sushi space image got so famous and beloved because it made space exploration and space itself feel so familiar and human. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim shared a mouth-watering glimpse into the crew’s mealtime festivities on X. Kim revealed how the team came together to create “space sushi” for a recent crew celebration, using a clever combination of ingredients from their stash, including rice, Spam, fish, and a dash of gochujang, the spicy Korean chili paste, along with some wasabi for an extra kick, according to Food NDTV blog.
But one might really ask, how is sushi even possible in space? Well, for common folks it wouldn’t be but NASA food scientists found a way around it. The actually managed to engineer a solution in a way that they dehydrated seaweed wraps, vacuum sealed rice packs and freeze-dried fish. Afterwards they rehydrated and reheated all of it and the experience went astonishingly well.
“Space sushi isn’t quite the same as the fresh stuff on the ground, but it’s not bad!”, Kim wrote in his post on social media.
Sushi symbolizes harmony, balance, artistic gastronomical wonder of this planet Earth so it was destined to end up in space. It’s compact, light as well as full of nutrients so it’s perfect for long-duration space missions.
In this world torn with wars and division of all sort, a simple sushi dish in space reminded everyone how little we need to feel human, to feel loved, to just feel different and connected. Creativity, happiness and most of all food always connected people no matter what. It broke through the prejudices and brought us closer together. That’s why this sushi dish in the International Space Station not only showed astronauts as common people but sharing their love of food, but also made space travel something not so distant any more. It almost made space feel like home.
For those who want to learn more, you ought to know that the very first space sushi dates back some 15 years. It was made on February 24th 2010 by JAXA Astronaut Soichi Noguchi who was the first person to make sushi in space and thus he became the world’s first space sushi chef. He used floating rice and floating salmon to create a space maki everyone in the Internation Space Station loved as they also floated around.
When in space, well you have to eat good and stay in shape. The same applies to all of us down here on Earth so hurry up to your nearest Sushi&Sashimi Bar and grab your favourite bite.
