He’s sick of their shit

Food In Star Trek

I have an inordinate number of thoughts about this so I decided to collect them here. Maybe someone will be interested. 

There are no replicators in TOS. 

Replicators were invented sometime in the decades between TOS an TNG. Technically this is contradicted by the presence of replicators in Discovery, but it’s clearly a mistake on the part of the Discovery writers, and it can be hand-waved as the prototypes being tested on the ultra-advanced USS Discovery and subsequently lost along with other experimental technology like the spore drive. 

Instead of replicators TOS has the somewhat less advanced food synthesizers. Food synthesizers are programmed using cards, as seen in “And The Children Shall Lead.” The food eaten on the Enterprise suggests the synthesized food is more limited in both quality and variety than replicated food. In “Charlie X,” Kirk has a conversation with a cook about “synthetic meatloaf,” suggesting that producing synthesized food in mass quantities may also require some level of time and attention (whereas something simple like a chicken sandwich and coffee in “The Trouble With Tribbles” can be easily and readily dispensed). Also, sometimes the food comes out in the form of little multi-colored cubes. 

It’s unclear how often food synthesizers are used outside of starships. Non-synthesized food is demonstrated to be widely available on planets and space stations. Some colonies still rely on agriculture, according to the discussion of grain in “The Trouble With Tribbles.” Additionally, Kirk’s friend Tom Leighton claims to have made a scientific breakthrough that could end starvation in “The Conscience of the King,” suggesting this is a more complex matter than simply distributing synthesizers. This may be because synthesizers require a significant amount of energy. 

The exact differences between synthesizers and replicators is open to speculation. I believe synthesizers may require some amount of “raw material” in some form, but matter, rather than energy. However, it is also possible synthesizers are essentially early replicators limited to a few pre-programmed options, stored on the cards. 

Replicators require significant amounts of energy. 

Replicators are a development of transporter technology. They function by converting energy into matter, using the form of matter specified by the user, e.g. “tea, earl grey, hot.” They need energy to operate as well as the energy that is converted into matter, which could be a substantial amount. Voyager establishes that the energy cost of unrestricted replicator use is very great, forcing the crew to institute rations and rely on Neelix’s food when their access to energy sources is limited. Replicators are not truly unlimited, in that they rely on a steady source of energy. A damaged ship or a ship stranded in the Delta Quadrant, or perhaps a colony with limited infrastructure, cannot rely on replicators alone. Starfleet also issues field rations. These rations are likely replicated, but are made prior to missions, rather than supplying an away team with a portable replicator. This could suggest that replicators must be at least a certain size, or that a sufficient portable energy source does not exist. 

Non-replicated food

One of the most interesting aspects of food in Star Trek is that, even when unlimited replicator use is available, some people still choose to eat non-replicated food. However, some of this food is made with replicated ingredients. It appears that cooking is fairly popular, for clear social and recreational reasons. During a conversation in an episode of TNG, Keiko expresses surprise not that Miles O’Brien’s mother cooks, but that she uses “real meat.” I believe several episodes imply that by the 24th century, most meat in the Federation is replicated, though sometimes is replicated raw and cooked. I suspect plant-based ingredients are more likely to be non-replicated but I have no textual evidence of this. 

Sisko mentions on a few occasions that his father, who owns and operates a restaurant, prefers to use fresh, non-replicated ingredients. Interestingly, not all restaurants do this: Quark’s serves almost exclusively replicated food (though the alcohol is more complicated). Various characters on Star Trek profess to taste a difference between replicated and non-replicated food, and I believe they do. Replicators are incredibly precise devices that match the molecular structure of items. A person could, theoretically, make a perfect recreation of a dish they had cooked by programming the exact patterns from that dish into the replicator. But cooking is unpredictable, with a slight but almost certain variation in molecular structure each time a dish is prepared, even if the exact same recipe is followed. Using non-replicated ingredients adds an additional level of unpredictability. Non-replicated food may not necessarily be “better” but there is a real chemical difference, in addition to the psychological and social differences inherent to the experience of eating non-replicated food. 

Restaurants in the age of replicators

The existence of restaurants is absolutely fascinating. Sisko’s in New Orleans obviously provides food prepared by Joseph Sisko. But Quark’s serves replicated food. Starfleet officers living on Deep Space Nine are shown to have replicators in their quarters. Do civilians have them as well? If so, why are they paying Quark for food? Perhaps Quark has proprietary recipes--custom replicator patterns that cannot be easily recreated (anything can theoretically be recreated if the correct pattern is guessed). The Klingon restaurant on the Promenade may be the same way, as Federation replicators may not come with a wide variety of Klingon dishes pre-programmed, and Federation citizens may not know how to create the patterns. 

Replicators are not idiot proof!

It’s still possible to get bad food out of a replicator. Ultimately replicators are computers, which means they require the correct commands in order to give the desired results. Tom Paris becomes frustrated in one of the first episodes of Voyager because, despite offering several varieties of tomato soup, the replicator produces soup he doesn’t like. Perhaps if he had been more specific he would have been more satisfied. There is an absolutely maddening variation in the level of specificity used in replicator commands. From “tea, earl grey, hot” to “coffee, double strong double sweet” to people requesting water at specific degrees celsius. One can safely assume that personal replicators can be programmed to recognize consistent shorthand for regular orders, but many of these various commands are given to replicators in public areas or by guests. Presumably replicators will default to a certain version of an item if details are not specified and are also shown to sometimes request additional clarification. There is certainly room for people to create their own unique recipes by making specific requests of a replicator without physically cooking, leading to either good or bad results. 

Alcohol

Alcohol can be replicated, as shown in Up The Long Ladder. Presumably restrictions can be placed on this function. However, most of the drinks at 10 Forward are apparently synthehol, which does not induce intoxication (though Guninan does have real alcohol). Apparently synthehol is basically futuristic non-alcoholic beer and distinct from replicated alcohol. I believe the drinks at Quark’s are truly alcohol, though he could probably reduce synthehol if requested. It’s unclear if all forms of alcohol can be replicated, as Quark mentions stocking up on kanar for the Cardassians, and a ban on Romulan ale would be difficult if it could be replicated. (There would be some barriers to replication such as reverse-engineering the replicator pattern, and restrictions could be put in place to prevent replicators from dispensing it, but I imagine these could be fairly easily circumvented). 

All in all, food in Star Trek is complicated and very interesting, at least to me.