It's food, but not as we know it.

Here 's some dried spinach. Just add water…

Not the tastiest of meals.

On the International Space Station, the eating experience is a little different.

Food tastes bland and has a life of its own.

British astronaut Tim Peake, however, wants more of a gourmet experience when he's on the International Space Station next year.

And so he 's launched a competition for school children to come up with a meal for him to eat in space.

Some of the food on board the Space Station isn't quite as nice as it could be.

It's nutritional, but some of it is quite mushy and it lacks taste, it lacks texture.

And so I thought this is a great idea for,

a great way of people to come up with an idea of something that is both nutritional, healthy, tastes good,

and also can have a bit of a, a Britishness about it as well.

It would be more appetizing if it would be in a bowl or something

that you can, you know, smell and give it a nice scent.

Bacon or sausages so that you can have like a British classic fry-up maybe.

So the challenge for school children across the country will be to develop the first great British dinner to be eaten in space.

Paul Abkush, BBC News.