NASA HUNCH Culinary Challenge

Student teams develop a lunch or dinner entree suited to spaceflight around a yearly theme, which is a Mediterranean dish for 2026-27. High school students can take part through a class, club, after-school program, or homeschool, and no culinary program is required. Teams register on the NASA HUNCH website through a teacher, teacher registration for the 2026-27 school year has reopened, and the highest scoring teams from preliminary competitions are invited to a final at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Teams at the finals in Houston can receive scholarship and award opportunities from program sponsors, with amounts not listed on the page. The team teacher must complete an American Culinary Federation food safety course that costs $10. Who pays for finalist travel to Houston is not stated.