Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Fictional Foodstuffs: The Snacks Of Science Fiction
A recent paper by Jean P. Retzinger titled Speculative visions and imaginary meals: Food and the environment in (post-apocalyptic) science fiction films (published in Cultural Studies) has gotten me thinking about science-fictional food. Helpful Pasta&Vinegar has offered three short quotes (under the "fair use appetizer" clause, no doubt).
Unfortunately, this essay costs serious money to download (I could easily purchase take-out for the family with that much cash), so I decided to prepare my own article out of the ingredients at hand in my own little database.
Here's the first excerpt:
No one went further for food than Lazarus Long and the Howard Families. In Heinlein's Methuselah's Children, mysterious aliens offer genetically modified plants with incongruously familiar flavors:
Lazarus was not particularly hungry but he felt compelled to humor such friendliness, so he plucked and ate.
He almost choked in his astonishment. Mashed potatoes and brown gravy!
". . . didn't we get it right? - . ." came an anxious thought.
"Bub," Lazarus said solemnly, "I don't know what you planned to do, but this is just fine!"
And nothing demonstrates tongue-in-cheek "unfamiliar food" better than this image from Galaxy Quest, in which the eager-beaver engineers of Thermia have created foodstuffs for the different crew members based on the "historical documents," which turn out to be episodes of a television show.
"Familiar foods serve as an anchor in an altered world (evoking both nostalgia and parody), whereas unfamiliar food may become one of the clearest measures of how far we have journeyed from the present."
Lazarus was exploring alone some distance from the camp. He came across one of the Little People; the native greeted him .. and led Lazarus to a grove of low trees still farther from base. He indicated to Lazarus that he wanted him to eat.
(Read more about genetically modified food)
("Are you enjoying your Kep-mok blood ticks, Dr. Lazarus?")
Here's another bit from Retzinger's article:
In nearly every instance where food is prepared, shared, and eaten in science fiction films, it aids in what Vivian Sobchack (1988) describes as science fiction’s central theme: a ‘poetic mapping of social relations as they are created and changed by new technological modes of ‘‘being-in-the-world’’ ’
Douglas Adams remaps corporate-wise with the Nutri-Matic:
He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The way it functioned was very interesting. When the Drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic examination of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well.
(Read more about Adam's Nutri-Matic)
Fans of course recall that the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation, which manufactures the Nutri-Matic, has a complaint department which "now covers all the major landmasses of the first three planets in the Sirus Tau Star system."
Here's a radical remapping of social relationships:
(Soylent Green wafers from Soylent Green)
The last of the Retzinger vintage:
"The presence of food at the critical junctures in which the familiar and the strange, the past, present, and future all collide lends materiality to the answers being worked out on screen. (…) Science fiction food scenes help obscure, expose, perpetuate, and challenge the divisions of culture and nature. “
I'm not entirely sure what this passage means; however, I think it would go down better with a nice glass of cold, blue milk from the original Star Wars film.
(Bantha Milk from the original Star Wars film)
The only conclusions that I can draw from looking at my Food in Science Fiction section is that 1) sf fans are a carnivorous bunch who would frankly prefer to grow their own protein. ChickieNobs (Atwood, 2003), Pseudoflesh (Herbert, 1969), Carniculture Factories (Piper, 1961) and Butcher Plants (Simak, 1961) - it's a long list.
And 2) convenience is very important, viz. Automated Restaurants (Burroughs, 1912), Autonomic Food-Processing (Dick, 1964), Food Brick dispensers (Niven, 1970), Synthetic Food Dispensers (Campbell, 1934) and more.
(Star Trek food synthesizer)
I'm curious if readers have any favorite sfnal foods - let me know.
Thanks to Pasta&Vinegar for bringing Retzinger's SPECULATIVE VISIONS AND IMAGINARY MEALS to our attention; see also the news articles in Food in Science Fiction for current efforts at sfnal food in the real world outside your local theater and bookshop.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 9/30/2008)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 3 )
Related News Stories - (" Food ")
Holland Factory 3D Printing 500 Tons Of Steak Per Month
'...I don’t understand technical things — tell me, does it ever feel anything?" - Margaret St. Clair, 1955.
Robochef Robotic Food Prep
'No hand touched the food...' - Edgar Rice Burroughs, 1912.
Drone Deliveries Instead Of Waiters In Restaurants?
'It was a smooth ovoid floating a few inches from the floor...'- H. Beam Piper, 1962.
SliceIt! Why Not Teach Robots To Use Knives?
'One building now gushed forth smoke and another stench that was unmistakable.' - Anne McCaffrey, 1996.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Huawei Pura X Folding Phattie Phone
Why can't we get more innovative phone configurations?
Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
Robot Baristas Learn Their Trade Without Paying Royalties
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
JAXA Int Ball 2 Coming Right Along As Star Wars Remote
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
Robot Bricklayer Or Passer-By Bricklayer?
'Oscar picked up a trowel. 'I'm the tool for the mortar,' the little trowel squeaked cheerfully.'
Robot Gas Station Attendant Pumps Gas For You
'... he waited for the robotrix attendant to finish fueling up his ship.'
Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed
The Roujin Z system provides care to fully bedridden patients - and then some!
Tiny Flying Robot Weighs Just One Gram
'Aerostat meant anything that hung in the air. This was an easy trick to pull off nowadays.'
Some Ringworld Configurations Are Stable
'The Ringworld had no horizon. There was no line where the land curved away from the sky.'
TRANSFORM Dynamic Furniture Concept Becomes What You Need
'An adjustment panel outside the door would cause it to extrude various appurtenances in memory plastic...'
Harvard Metamaterials Change Structure Instantly
'Annealed in any shape for a time, and codified, the structure of that shape is retained down to the molecules.'
SnapBot Robots - You Choose Their Legs And They Choose Their Gaits
It's not really polite to tear the limbs off robots.
Dino From Magical Toys An AI Companion To Children
'...the imaginary companions discovered by needful children.'
Humanoid Robots Building Humanoid Robots
''Pardon me, Struthers,' he broke in suddenly... 'haven't you a section of the factory where only robot labor is employed?''
Darpa 'Defiant' Unmanned Autonomous Ship
'There was no wheel, and no steersman!'
What's The Best Way To Ship And Unpack Humanoid Robots?
'I opened the oblong box, where lay the automatons side by side...'
