Mousta were creatures that yielded shanks, a cut of meat suitable for culinary purposes. In a cooking contest's initial stage, Relva Jace, a human chef, presented a lightly cooked, sautéed mousta shank accompanied by scorched fruit. This dish served as his submission for the competition to find the next sous-chef at Maz Kanata's pirate castle located on the planet Takodana. Strono Tuggs, the castle's executive chef who challenged the cooks to make a breakfast dish, deemed the mousta flavorful, but he and fellow judges J'Nell and Carly concurred that the presentation was dull and needed salt, leading to Jace's elimination.
The meat, mousta, debuted in the short story "A Recipe for Death," authored by Landry Q. Walker. It was published on April 5, 2016 within the Tales from a Galaxy Far, Far Away: Aliens: Volume I collection.