HOUSTON — Tacos will soon be on the menu for astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) thanks to a national high school competition called the NASA HUNCH Culinary Challenge.
HUNCH stands for “High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware,” and in this case, they brought the plasticware, competing to have their taco-themed dishes served to astronauts aboard the ISS.
The finals competition took place April 28 at Space Center Houston and witnessed the collision of science and food innovation. The center has hosted the event for 11 years and counting.
Special ingredients are required to prepare the food astronauts eat in space. This year’s dish theme was tacos, and 10 high school culinary teams from across the country competed to see if their taco filling would meet the challenge.
Expert judges, celebrity chefs and astronauts sampled all the gourmet taco fillings suitable for space.
Two Texas high school teams were among the finalists: Gladys Porter High School from Brownsville and North Side High School from Fort Worth.
“To make it to the actual finals on our first try at something that we love to do, we have no words for it. We’re very excited, and we’re very proud of ourselves as well,” said Lindsay Estrella, a Porter High student who shared how the team was “over the moon.”
Judges sampled Porter High’s chile lime tilapia taco. The stars also aligned for the North Side team, who made a birria mushroom and tofu taco with tangy slaw.
“The judges, they’re all really astonishing because you realize there’s a lot of cooks and a lot of sous chefs and actual chefs and astronauts, you know. It’s crazy,” said Rafael Ortiz, a North Side student.
Space Center Houston President and CEO William T. Harris said students had to think about “the chemistry that’s involved, food preservation, nutrition” when making their dishes.
“The best seasoning is salt, but you can’t have a lot of salt in space, so how do you achieve that?” Harris said. “So, those are things that the students have to address with their recipes.”
Thomas Bille is the chef and co-owner of Belly of the Beast in Spring, Texas, just north of Houston. He’s also the winner of the James Beard Foundation’s 2025 Best Chef in Texas award.
“It’s an honor to be invited here to be a guest judge,” said Bille. “Every generation needs a mentor to guide them in the right way and show them their mistakes along the way, so that they can improve upon the next generation.”
Astronauts Ben Bailey and Katherine Spies also sampled the tacos and shared their thoughts.
“This was such a great opportunity to see what the students from all over the country were bringing,” Bailey said.
“We are so thankful to get to be here,” said Spies. “The food was incredible. The food was so well done. All of the students did an incredible job.”
Judges are expected to announce the winning team within the next couple of weeks.
“We’re all about innovation, STEM learning, and really encouraging everyone to lean in and participate in human space exploration. And hey, we all gotta eat,” said Harris.