Would It Be Easy To Be Vegan In Space

I watched The Martian when I was in fifth grade. I was struck by the beauty of space, the danger astronauts subject themselves to for the sake of discovery, the courage of each astronaut, perhaps especially Matt Damon – imagine being the only person on a whole planet, especially a dry, desert planet like Mars. I was also struck by the fact that potatoes were his diet. Fifth grade was a time when my culinary taste stretched as far as “potato pizza” – sliced up pizza microwaved with cheese on top (thanks to the friends who taught us this recipe!)

Now, I wonder – would it be easy to be vegan in space? Ecologically, plants evolved earlier than animals, at least on earth. Animals need sustenance; either plants or other animals to eat. Primary consumers like mice eat producers like grasses. Secondary consumers like snakes eat primary consumers like mice. Tertiary consumers like hawks eat secondary consumers like snakes. These tertiary consumers are (in this example) at the top of the food chain. For a sustainable system, you can see that many animals all depend on plants.

In The Martian, Matt Damon plants and grows potatoes. He would need a reliable quantity of plants to be able to feed an animal. On earth, it takes much more corn to feed cattle that will feed humans – than it will take corn to feed humans.

Thus, I believe space would be conducive to veganism. Now, I just need to find out how to verify my claim. 🪐