Chef Jose Andres plans paella dinner for Axiom space voyage in April

March 23 (UPI) -- Meals are set to get a little more exciting at the International Space Station next month as celebrity chef Jose Andres and his company ThinkFoodGroup will send two dinners to space with a multinational crew joining astronauts already in orbit.

Andres is giving two dishes -- the popular rice dish chicken and mushroom paella and the pork and tomato offering secreto de cerdo with pisto -- to the company Axiom, which will launch a crew to ISS aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon in early April.

"The way that families, even today, eat paella, is that pan in the middle of the table. We believe in sharing," Andres said Wednesday in a press release.

"For me, the astronauts eating this all together makes me so proud," said Andres, who is also founder of World Central Kitchen, which has been distributing meals to Ukrainian refugees.

The Spanish native and his non-profit helped set up eight locations along the Polish border with Ukraine, while also creating partnerships with local restaurants and food trucks, to distribute meals to people at border crossings, shelters, train stations and other locations.

The organization is now serving some 180,000 daily meals to people displaced by the war.

The iconic rice dish chicken and mushroom paella and Andres' secreto de cerdo with pisto, which includes a cut of Iberico pork, tomatoes, onions, eggplant and peppers, will make the trip from Earth -- offering astronauts somewhat finer dining than they're used to.

Commander Michael Lopez-Alegría of the United States and Spain, U.S. pilot Larry Connor, mission specialist Mark Pathy of Canada and mission specialist Eytan Stibbe of Israel will be on the mission, which is the first all-private crew traveling to the space station.

The rice meal, in particular, was picked for the trip so the astronauts could enjoy a traditional family meal, Andres said.

Despite political issues between the United States and Russia, both of whom have astronauts aboard the ISS, Andres said he expects the entire crew on board to eat his creations together -- the way they were meant to be consumed.

"This meal will be shared by all astronauts," Andres told Fast Company. "Paella is a communal dish, and everybody in the crew will share it."

"I don't know that this is the beginning of the peace process, but it's good for people to eat together and see each other across a table."