If Hollywood got one thing right, that's the practice of adding the word "space" to make a concept seem cooler. I mean -at least in my case- it works, and not just with films... Of all the food systems, I find space food systems the most exciting.
By "food systems", we mean mechanisms and principles that affect nutrition, food, and agriculture, and their effects on health, on economy, and on the environment.
But what does the addition of the word "space" mean in this case?
a) A space food system has to meet the nutritional requirements of astronauts.
Space food systems are meant to address the nutritional requirements of a specific group of people, with different requirements than the general population. This happens because being exposed to the environment of space changes a lot about a human's metabolism. That doesn't mean that observations and nutritional solutions cannot be applied on Earth; there are many people suffering from conditions affecting the body in a similar fashion. Think of osteoporosis, vitamin deficiencies, DNA damage.
b) A space food system has to comply with strict food safety requirements.
When travelling to space, you have to be at peak form. Even in a best-case scenario, where your stomach gets a bit upset from something you ate, as an astronaut you don't have the luxury to spend a day in bed or on the toilet. And in a worst-case scenario, timely medical help is not guaranteed. The standards for food hygiene and safety have to be very high when it comes to space travel. Of course, once again, that doesn't mean that these standards are useless for Earth, just because some of us have good access to hospitals. On the contrary, better food safety standards elevate living standards, and alleviate the healthcare system from easy-to-prevent health issues.
c) A space food system has to adhere to limitations of storage space.
There's not a lot of space in space. Payloads are expensive, and the structures we have for transport and storage are small. Very special food has to be developed - as many calories as possible in as little space as possible. On top of that, there are no fridges or freezers! A space food system has to be structured around food with long shelf life at ambient temperature, and even the packaging has to be as efficient as possible. Maybe that seems like something we don't have to worry too much about on Earth, but there are disaster response operations and defence missions where appropriate storage facilities are also an issue.
d) A space food system has to take into account the difficulties of eating in microgravity.
Gravity is helpful when it comes to preparing and consuming food. No mess, everything behaves in a predictable way and stays where it is placed. Space food has to be prepared and eaten in the absence of gravity. That translates to food that needs minimal handling - perhaps the preparation involves the addition of water, spreading, or a bit of warming up, but not much more. The packaging itself has to facilitate the process of preparation and eating, and to limit the chances of spillage. We might not be experiencing microgravity on Earth, but the absence of facilities and time to prepare and consume a meal is a real problem during disaster response operations and defence missions.
e) A space food system has to be extremely sustainable.
The resource limitations in space make sustainability indispensable. A space food system has to have recycling at its core, especially if we want to colonise other celestial bodies. Turns out the resources on Earth are also not unlimited, and we should stop treating them as such. We can learn a few lessons from a very potent space food system.
Hollywood uses space as a gimmick, in order to let the characters explore a classic storyline from a different angle. Why not use space to address the age-old problems our food systems have from a different angle?