It wasn't even that Kanaya needed it to work. She still had blood, and no amount of steak raw or irradiated could provide her with what she now needed to sustain herself. But she wouldn't have objected to cooking for Jade, not at all- if only they could make it work.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have someone else do it?" What sort of technological skills did Jade have? Would there be an explosion?

...well, with Equius, there would probably be an explosion anyway, so.