[Cthulhu_]

Indeed; even if they can make lettuce grow, it's very low in nutritional value so they'd need to sacrifice a lot of space and energy into creating something edible. Potatoes would work better. Space pigs, too, but they'd require a lot of nutrients to keep alive and grow. iirc they need ten times as much food than what their meat is worth in nutritional value.

The future is probably artificially produced food, like the porridge / sludge shown in the Matrix. Something out of a chemical process instead of a biological one.

[Pfhreak]

Potatoes are an interesting case, but they require rooting around through soil to harvest. (Having grown potatoes in my garden last year, it was a much messier endeavor than my greens.)

I'm not sure we're ready for all that soil to be floating around in the ISS, literally mucking things up. Not saying it isn't possible, but why not use lettuces to solve all the 'simple' problems about growing things in space first.

Also, don't discount the quality of life improvement of eating some fresh lettuce.

[eutectic]

Aeroponics or hydroponics would help eliminate the mess issue.

[molsongolden]

Algae and fungi have been popular in some recent "near-future" sci-fi.

[kiliantics]

This makes much more sense, then you can make soylent with it.

[jelliclesfarm]

I agree. Artificial food can be 3-D printed for various textures and flavours can be added to make it seem familiar for those need the nostalgia.

[IndianAstronaut]

>The future is probably artificially produced food, like the porridge / sludge shown in the Matrix. Something out of a chemical process instead of a biological one.

I imagine we can synthesize relatively simple molecules such as glucose to supplement calories when needed by astronauts.

[infinite8s]

Well, there is the recent innovation in vat-grown meat that supposedly has the same texture as 'real' meat.