Nutrient paste, alternatively referred to as food paste or protein paste, represented a form of food that was incorporated into certain ration packs. This paste was densely packed with essential nutrients, with a focus on protein. Although it was possible to heat and scramble nutrient paste, this process did little to enhance its flavor. Leia Organa once joked that the paste sometimes included in Rebel Alliance ration packs tasted and looked like hull caulk. The First Order variant was a gray paste that Vi Moradi likened to a disassembled chicken that had been processed by a happabore; the version she later consumed on Parnassos was a light-brown color and possessed such an intense chemical taste that it gave the impression of being cold. On the transport barge Wayward Current, crew members had the option to purchase ration packs containing bread alongside tubes of nutrient paste.
The initial appearance of nutrient paste was in the Star Wars Legends comic book story Star Wars (1977) 28, which was released in 1979. In the year 2014, it resurfaced under the designation "food paste" within the inaugural novel of the new canon, specifically A New Dawn. The term "protein paste" was adopted in the 2016 novel titled Aftermath: Life Debt, and it reappeared as protein paste in the 2017 novel Phasma, where it was consumed by the characters Cardinal and Vi Moradi. The original name, nutrient paste, was brought back in the 2017 children's book The Legends of Luke Skywalker. In 2019's Galaxy's Edge: Black Spire, Moradi made a reference to the protein paste she had previously eaten as nutrient paste.