Vulcan vs. Earth Cultural Difference Thoughts

Taken from the wiki: "First and foremost, Vulcan is a hot planet. Daytime temperatures routinely range from 43.3ºC (110ºF) to 51.6ºC (125ºF), and in the peak of summer can reach or exceed 65.5ºC (150ºF). The rays of Vulcan's orange sun, 40 Eridani A, usually shine down through the red sky unbroken by clouds from dawn to dusk, as rainfall throughout the planet typically averages less than 635mm (25in) per year and is heavily concentrated in the six-week period immediately following summer's end.

In addition, winds tend to be mild except along the coasts, providing little relief. (The exceptions, the continent-spanning sandstorms, provide no relief at all.) Only nightfall brings a break to the incessant heat, dropping the thermometer to 7ºC (45ºF) or below. In Vulcan's winter months, the mid-latitude deserts often experience freezing temperatures at night...

...The planet Vulcan has no axial tilt, so that there is no natural progression of the seasons from north to south and back again as on Earth. Instead, seasonal changes occur planet wide as the result of Vulcan's elliptical orbit around its sun."

It is a desert planet with wild temperature ranges of scorching hot in the day, and frigid in the night. It also...doesn't rain much there. And I think that's really important to remember when it comes to cultural differences. For example: the area I live in has an average yearly rainfall of 42-43 inches a year--with an additional average of 21-22 inches of snow on top of that. That is roughly 2.5 times MORE annual precipitation than Vulcan. I also live in an area where temperature changes often...but not to the degree of a desert. I looked up average desert temperature at night...and it's around 25F or -4C. No fuckin' thanks. My area is (aside from a few large cities spread pretty far apart) also a pretty heavy agricultural area. It's near Bloomington, Indiana--the hometown of Captain Janeway. The area is known for producing Corn, Soybeans, Poultry, Swine, Mint (for candy companies) and Watermelons. Note, it isn't uncommon to see big sales of 25 lbs watermelons for $3 in my area. My Japanese friends hate me for it. We're also no slouch when it comes to producing wood for furniture.

My point is, it's a green fuckin' area. I can only imagine someone from Vulcan getting lost and (ten minutes after leaving campus) finding themselves in front of a corn field that stretches hundreds and hundreds of acres. It would be a mind-boggling scene of agricultural plenty. Or, perhaps, they'd come across one of the fish farms the Bald Eagles like to chill at. Just THOUSANDS of gallons of water, just sitting there. Enough to raise FISH. Enough for WILD WATERFOWL to just CHILL THERE.

Meat requires a TON of water. A quick google tells me your average pound of beef costs 1847 GALLONS of water to produce. That's so much fucking water. That's why humans can AFFORD to eat meat all the damn time. The vast herds of cattle would seem ABSURD to a Vulcan. (Note, one time my neighbor's cows broke through their fence and the roads were FUQUED until he rounded all 300+ of them up).

The Vulcan Science Academy has an agricultural department. You don't see agricultural departments that often in the United States. It's considered kind of...a sign that you're a 'hick school' in some circles. But the ILLUSTRIOUS VULCAN SCIENCE ACADEMY has a whole-ass department for it. They greatly respect the agricultural sciences. In comparison, on Earth we are SPOILED with an overabundance of water (when our governments don't fuck it up.) Humans often learn how to swim. Hell, my area has flooding problems in the early spring. Drownings are a very real and not uncommon threat over here.

I can only imagine Vulcan visitors just staring at Earth Food and internally counting out how much water was required to make that. And the planet's surface is covered 70% by water. 70 PERCENT. No wonder humans can afford to eat meat, dairy, and sweetened products. They have water to SPARE--so much that their cultures developed cuisines entirely based on the ENJOYMENT of food. My friends and I often go hunting for Morels and foraging for other wild goodies. The planet is so FULL OF LIFE that you can just FIND STUFF TO EAT wandering around. Farmers in my area are worried about the aging hunter population because there are so many god damn deer out here they are an agricultural menace. I have gotten calls at 9pm asking my partner and I to come over for some Surprise Venison. It would seem so...decadent.

I've read a number of fanfics where Vulcans comment on how much humans seem to love useless, decorative plants. When you get as much rain as we do, you can go WILD with plants that only exist for aesthetic purposes. They wouldn't be used to the concept. Someone might have a breakdown at the concept of Flower Farming--because that space should be used for FOOD except we HAVE ENOUGH ALREADY.

I just imagine some Vulcan wandering (because you CAN accidentally end up in a farm field 10 minutes from Bloomington's campus) into a famer's market and BALKING at how cheap everything is. In this part of the country, people like to grow their own veg. So it isn't a surprise when someone throws a party/bbq and 3 people EACH show up with a watermelon and corn from their own garden and another 2 show up with 4 dozen eggs each because they got too many chickens and the eggs DO NOT STOP. I myself discovered a few years ago that Chinese Eggplants do EXCELLENT here, and I have more than once ding-dong-ditched my neighbors with bags of eggplants--only for them to leave a dozen zucchini on my porch when I'm doing errands and cannot defend myself from this vegetable violence.

And this is where the cultural differences come in. As mentioned in Plomeek Soup for the Soul, giving an unmarried man water or food directly can be interpreted as a MARRIAGE REQUEST. Y'all out here that is just being polite. Hospitality is Serious Business. I keep water and gatorade bottles in a chest on my porch for USPS employees and anyone who wants one.

It would be SO EASY for someone who did the idiotic move (a friend did this) of planting a DOZEN ZUCCHINI PLANTS accidentally ending up Vulcan Married because they had to End the Torment of the Plague of Zucchinis in their home before it expands and destroys the house from the inside from the sheer volume of vegetables within.