Vegans and the Replicator

[Relayer1]

Getting back to the vegetarian / vegan point, as I said earlier in the thread - why would you need to kill an animal to replicate a steak ? Scan a cow and replicate the part you want as a raw cut.

You can use the raw cut and cook it (yourself or by chef) however you want - thus avoiding the 'it all tastes the same / too perfect' problem. You get hand cooked high quality meat dishes with no death, abuse or cruelty...you can also scan the resulting cooked steak for loading onto the replicator for those that don't want to cook it from raw.

 

[Paradon]

The food taste better, even the bad food, taste better when you eat with friends and family and if you take the time to prepare it. the setting and the mood does play a lot of role on how you like th e food. This is where the real food have advantage over the replicated food. People just love the idea of someone cooking for them because it makes them feel special.

 

[sevenstars]

What would be the fun in that...?

It's a REPLICATOR.

 

[T'Girl]

What would be the fun in that...?

It's a REPLICATOR.

It's a mircowave, you put frozen fake food in, and you get hot fake food out.

Like the microwave, what comes out of the replicator doesn't taste very good,
but it probably won't kill you.

 

[sevenstars]

It's a mircowave, you put frozen fake food in, and you get hot fake food out.

But that's just it! You don't have to put anything in. Not you personally, anyway.

 

[T'Girl]

According to the technical advisers to the show, by way of the TNG tech manual (non-canon),
something does go into the replicator, a sterile organic goo from a holding tank.

Which just might explain the finished product's taste.

 

[sevenstars]

Well, yes, true. Nothing comes from nothing. And I seem to remember, from Voyager(?), that there are levels of structure too subtle for the replicator to reproduce. They weren't talking about food, but still...

Didn't Kirk say something at one point about wanting the crew to have a Thanksgiving dinner that at least "looks like turkey"? Was he talking about replicated food?

 

[Count Zero]

Sounds more as if he was talking about those neon cubes they ate on the show.

 

[sevenstars]

Ah, yes, thank-you.

"On Thanksgiving 2266, James T. Kirk wanted his crew to celebrate the holiday by requesting to the chef that he make their synthetic meatloaf look like a turkey. (TOS: "Charlie X")" Memory Alpha

And yet, it was changed into actual turkey. Was this similar to replicator technology, or something far superior?

 

[scotpens]

. . . I read somewhere that cheese is an acquired taste so that might explain my reaction. Oh well, still weird.

Olives are also supposedly an acquired taste, but I can't remember a time when I didn't like olives. Or cheese.

. . . 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.

No shit? That's amazing. But I suppose it's no different than a connoisseur knowing dozens of different wines by taste, or being able to tell whether he's sipping a blended or a single-malt Scotch.

To me, milk is milk. And all liquor tastes like panther piss.

. . . If you're a vegetarian/vegan because of health concerns and replicator meat is just as unhealthy as say real red meat, then you'll probably avoid it.
I assume the OP was thinking more along the lines of people who become vegetarian or vegan due to ethical concerns. I'm a vegan for exactly those reasons, though not a very strict one. I wouldn't have an ethical problem with eating meat from the replicator because no animal got killed for it.
But, honestly, even though I really loved meat before I became a vegetarian, if replicator technology became available tomorrow I doubt I'd go back to eating meat because I now think of it differently.

I'd say that's probably how Vulcans feel about replicated meat. The Vulcans are vegetarians for ethical reasons, so they shouldn't object to eating replicated meat because no animal was killed to produce it. But Vulcans have been vegetarian for millennia, so they find eating animal flesh distasteful, even if it's not "real."

"On Thanksgiving 2266, James T. Kirk wanted his crew to celebrate the holiday by requesting to the chef that he make their synthetic meatloaf look like a turkey. (TOS: "Charlie X")" Memory Alpha

And yet, it was changed into actual turkey. Was this similar to replicator technology, or something far superior?

The Thasians gave Charlie Evans the power to transmute matter by pure thought. That's several orders of magnitude above replicator technology, I'd say.

 

[T'Girl]

Didn't Kirk say something at one point about wanting the crew to have a Thanksgiving dinner that at least "looks like turkey"? Was he talking about replicated food?

In The Trouble with Tribbles, Scotty spoke of "food processors." The Making of Star Trek, (iirc) referred to food fabricators. The impression I received is that replicators only date back a few decades before the TNG first season.

 

[Paradon]

I would imagine the use of antimatter allows technology like the replicators to exist because it takes a tremendous amount of energy to produce even a small meatloaf. But does the replicated food taste the same as the real deal? I guess that's opened to interpretation. On DS9...no! On TNG and Voy...maybe?

Hoewever, replicating food does not allow for the joy of cooking for someone? Cooking is all about getting together, eating and sharing our experience...and of course, drinking.

 

[Paradon]

Cooking allows people to have fun because they appreaciate the food more. I grew up around my grandmother and watching her cook. Seeing her go to the market and see how they grow the food from meat to poultry, to something like a mango, really help me appreaciate my heritage and culture even more... I'm so proud to be from Thailand!

 

[Timo]

I guess there's a happy medium where cooking is not too labor-intensive to be sheer torture, yet not too easy to be uninteresting, either. The "joy of cooking" would have been conspicuously absent from the food preparation processes of just a few centuries back, where you significantly shortened your lifespan by dragging in all the necessary wood and water, inhaling the toxic smoke, grinding flour and adding teeth-shattering gravel into the mix in the process, cutting yourself a dozen ways, and so forth. No doubt some 24th century people would shudder at the thought of having to do the early 21st century food preparation chores, too... And would take great pleasure in the shared experience of replicating food for the family!

The Vulcans are vegetarians for ethical reasons

I don't think we ever learned that Vulcans would be vegans, let alone that they would do this out of ethical reasons. We only know that Spock was shocked to realize how he enjoyed meat in "All Our Yesterdays", and that T'Pol often ate plant-based dishes. But for all we know, plomeek soup is made of the hind legs of baby sandrabbits.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Paradon]

Well, you see. I think people in America have different attitute. If you grew up here, that's what you would think. But a lot of childhood was spent in Thailand and I grew up surrounded by great cooks, like my grandma, aunts and mom. This is why people in Thailand and other parts of the world, for example Italy, seem to be food expert eventhough they aren't a chef and can cook pretty well compared to people here. That's today. But even back in the old days, people gathered and cooked over the open fire. That's when they tell stories, sing and dance. So it really did bring people together.

And I wonder how hard it is to make a duplicate of something right down to molecular level...? I'm sure it's pretty difficult and take long tidious work to do it correctly. It's more like an art form than a precise science so something is bound to go wrong, and thus, the replicated food doesn't taste quite like the real thing.

 

[Timo]

The thing is, "traditional" cooking in such places is a phenomenon of the past two hundred years or so. Before that, people didn't have it quite as easy...

Sure, you had fun while cooking. But mainly because that was the only time of the day you had time for fun. And it was worse still if your country happened to have seasons and weather.

I'm sure it's pretty difficult and take long tidious work to do it correctly.

Or then it takes the same time to do one molecule or three billion, and the repetitive nature of the process guarantees that there are no errors. Whereas those three billion things can go wrong with traditional cooking, creating taste errors or toxins or whatnot.

That's why "art forms" are typically considered "art forms": because there is so much room for error, which we take delight in.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Paradon]

I mean even today...we spend a lot of time talking at the table, not necessarily during the preparation all the time because of work. That's when we talk about how our days was and such and ejoying the meal. You can see the pattern which is very similar to the time of our ancestors. Even talking at the table is becoming a lost art! That's scary.

 

[T'Girl]

And would take great pleasure in the shared experience of replicating food for the family!

Probably about the same level as ordering delivery pizza.

The Vulcans are vegetarians for ethical reasons

... and that T'Pol often ate plant-based dishes.

I've considered the possibility that Vulcan (apparently) don't eat meat because they're biologically incapable of doing so. Vulcans are herbivores, the meat would basically pass straight through their bodies, providing no nutrition.

It's only Spock's hybrid nature that would let him be a omnivore. A gift from mommy.

 

[Timo]

Quite possible, that. Or then the Vulcan environment doesn't really allow for the raising of cattle, even though the Vulcan stomachs still retain the original (pre-transplantation) ability to digest a hefty beef.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Relayer1]

I've considered the possibility that Vulcan (apparently) don't eat meat because they're biologically incapable of doing so. Vulcans are herbivores, the meat would basically pass straight through their bodies, providing no nutrition.

It's virtually impossible for biologically adapted herbivores to attain intelligence and culture.

Putting aside the need for large ruminant type digestive system (possibly with several stomachs) leading to larger abdomens than those in humans or vulcans, higher thinking and social development requires free time. A lifestyle spent constantly grazing or foraging gives little opportunity to develop complex social structure, develop non survival skills such as art and crafts, writing, maths, science and philosophy.

For a lifestyle with free time to explore such niceities you need a plentiful supply of protein that you don't have to expend time obtaining every day - i.e. hunting for meat only every few days / week would free up much of your time.

OK, this is sci-fi, and a plausible scenario could possibly be constructed, but as I said, it's not likely...