No it's not. You really feel that microwave pasta, with sauce and all, taste exactly the same as a homecooked pasta, with homemade sauce, minced meat fresh from a butcher, and fresh herbs?
Vegans and the Replicator
- Thread starter Vanyel
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No it's not. You really feel that microwave pasta, with sauce and all, taste exactly the same as a homecooked pasta, with homemade sauce, minced meat fresh from a butcher, and fresh herbs?
If it's the exact same ingredients - yes, I tend to think they taste the same.
Then I'll invite you over to the Netherlands one day and microwave a supermarket-bought pasta for you, and a true home-made one.
I don't eat meat for ethical reasons - I gave it up 26 years ago. I like meat - I'd happily tuck into a replicated steak.
Why would it have to be a scan of a piece of dead animal anyway ? A transporter type scan of a live cow should give enough info to replicate parts of it for consumption. Where's the problem ?
Why would it have to be a scan of a piece of dead animal anyway ? A transporter type scan of a live cow should give enough info to replicate parts of it for consumption. Where's the problem ?
But it isn't just the ingredients, if you put chilli peppers in your spaghetti sauce right from the start and let it cook for hours, the sauce will taste different than if you put the peppers in and fast boil the sauce two minutes before serving. Both sauces contain the same ingredients. If you "hard whisk" your scrambled eggs, as opposed to "soft folding" them, the taste of the exact same eggs will be different. Seer fry a steak verses broiling it.
How you prepare the food is just as important as what it's make from.
It might be more accurate to say "it all in the palate."
I can taste the difference between milk that comes from different breeds of cows. A Jersey milk cow as oppose to a Holstein milk cow, even after it's been pasteurized. So yes, I think people aboard a Starship would be able to taste that "something" was unusual about the artificial food from a replicator.
If you've ever watched a cooking competition on TV (I love these shows), the cooks are given the exact same meats, veggies, spices and other ingredient ... down to the milligram. The same utensils and cookware. But what they serve to the judges obviously taste considerable different.
Just that, it's a logical given. It's stipulated in the story.
In one of the Trek novels -- I think it was McIntyre's Enterprise -- one of the crew complains to the First Officer that his steak tastes meatless. Spock realizes that his salad appears to be steak-flavored, so they swap plates and go on eating while he explains that he'll talk to the chef about the replicator malfunction.
There something similar in one of the Duane novels. Kirk is in the officer's mess and orders a steak and salad. While delivered by transporter, no reference is made to a replicator. Kirk had instructed to be informed when Spock left the bridge.
When Spock left for the officer's mess, Kirk quickly finished the steak, deposed of the remains and was eating the salad when Spock arrived.
So as not to offend his veggie friend with the sight of him eating meat.
When Spock left for the officer's mess, Kirk quickly finished the steak, deposed of the remains and was eating the salad when Spock arrived.
So as not to offend his veggie friend with the sight of him eating meat.
Yeah, that scene is indeed in Enterprise: The First Adventure by Vonda McIntyre. Come to think of it, though, didn't they have those colourful cubes for food on the TOS Enterprise for their regular meals? There's that icecream scene in Charlie X but I can't remember whether we see the kids actually having their icecream. Maybe it comes in cubes, too?
Well, as I said, I used to love meat and ate a lot of it before I became vegetarian. And back then, the replicator would have seemed like the perfect solution to me.
However, since then, my perception of meat has changed in such a way that I doubt I'd eat it even replicated. But that's all theoretical, anyway. I wouldn't see it as unethical at all, though.
Something similar is happening with cheese since I became a vegan not too long ago. I'm not as strict on that and when I was staying at a friend's place I ate some and found it didn't taste that good or even kind of nasty. And I really loved cheese a lot. I always thought that I could never go vegan because of that. I read somewhere that cheese is an acquired taste so that might explain my reaction. Oh well, still weird.
However, since then, my perception of meat has changed in such a way that I doubt I'd eat it even replicated. But that's all theoretical, anyway. I wouldn't see it as unethical at all, though.
Something similar is happening with cheese since I became a vegan not too long ago. I'm not as strict on that and when I was staying at a friend's place I ate some and found it didn't taste that good or even kind of nasty. And I really loved cheese a lot. I always thought that I could never go vegan because of that. I read somewhere that cheese is an acquired taste so that might explain my reaction. Oh well, still weird.
I remembered the first time I had butter... I almost gaged. The same thing with cheese, but now, I'm use to them and actually can't get enough of them.
And the children shall lead.
As I recall, the ice cream was rounded on top, so perhaps instead of perfect squares out of some food machine, they were perfect spheres?
Maybe we're underestimating the taste contribution of stray human skin cells-- ever seen Julia Child and Jacques Pepin strain an egg white through their hands?
I've done that... I made a French egg suffle for my nephew with pamasan cheese and fried shellots and spinach on top. It turned out pretty well.
I'm actually a foody and I can cook pretty well. Most people love my food. And i think the replicator really takes the fun out of cooking and not teaching kids to appreciative of the life, art in general and the cultures that surrounds it. You know...nothing brings people together like good food, and of course, beer.
I'm actually a foody and I can cook pretty well. Most people love my food. And i think the replicator really takes the fun out of cooking and not teaching kids to appreciative of the life, art in general and the cultures that surrounds it. You know...nothing brings people together like good food, and of course, beer.
I still want a replicator.
As a fellow foody and hobby-cook, I fully understand and agree!
If you prepare it yourself and it's good, everyone will go...wow! And when you cook for someone you feel connected and you've done something meaningful.
This sort of reminds me of Voyager - Nothing Human, where there was the issue of whether it was ok to use knowledge that was gained through cruel experimenting on humans.
I don't know if the meals in the replicators are entirely programmed on computer once they know the basic composition of the ingredients, or whether they have chefs prepare meals and just scan them directly in to the replicators. If it's the latter, I could definitely see vegans/vegetarians having an issue (or even the former, but more so with the latter). Although killing one animal so that people can eat that meal limitlessly without any more animals dying sounds like a reasonable enough trade-off to me.
As for the replicated food not tasting as good as prepared food, I always found that a bit silly. The "natural is always better" thing gets really tiring for me. I just watched DS9 - Paradise the other day, so that's fresh on my mind.
If the food tastes bad, I'd think it was more a matter of the recipe not being good, but I see no technical reason it shouldn't taste just as good, considering how advanced the replicators seem to be. I'm sure someone could prepare a good home cooked meal, and scan it in somehow. It would probably also be easy enough to program in slight randomization of quantities of ingredients, if people think there's an issue of the food being "too perfect" somehow.
I don't know if the meals in the replicators are entirely programmed on computer once they know the basic composition of the ingredients, or whether they have chefs prepare meals and just scan them directly in to the replicators. If it's the latter, I could definitely see vegans/vegetarians having an issue (or even the former, but more so with the latter). Although killing one animal so that people can eat that meal limitlessly without any more animals dying sounds like a reasonable enough trade-off to me.
As for the replicated food not tasting as good as prepared food, I always found that a bit silly. The "natural is always better" thing gets really tiring for me. I just watched DS9 - Paradise the other day, so that's fresh on my mind.
If the food tastes bad, I'd think it was more a matter of the recipe not being good, but I see no technical reason it shouldn't taste just as good, considering how advanced the replicators seem to be. I'm sure someone could prepare a good home cooked meal, and scan it in somehow. It would probably also be easy enough to program in slight randomization of quantities of ingredients, if people think there's an issue of the food being "too perfect" somehow.
Microwave two slices of bread with cheese between them.
Now fry a proper grilled cheese.
It's not just the ingredients. Not by a long shot. Cooking method/time, and I'd argue that yes, it matters how much effort you put into it. Food you put a lot of effort into tastes so much better than the alternative.
But I'm a trained chef, so take that with a grain of salt I suppose.