Sci fi Cafe
Someone once said to me that there was no food which didn’t have a negative impact on your health, so you may as well go ahead and live on sweets! She was referring to health problems caused by fat, salt and sugar. These days we have a heap more problems to worry about, things such as:
• Is genetically modified food safe in the long term?
• Which foods have antibiotics in them?
• How many heavy metals does seafood contain?
• Which foods are contaminated by pesticides?
• Which foods have MSG in them?
Lots of the food we eat is now toxic to parts of the community – some people have allergies, others are susceptible to cancer. But most people put these issues in the too-hard basket and continue to eat as if there are no problems. Sci fi writers are just as prone to do this as anyone else.
How does Sci Fi Present Food?
Sci fi most often shows ordinary humans eating ordinary food, sometimes it shows aliens eating their own food, or humans eating each other, it rarely shows complex issues such as the slow poisoning of the food chain.
Ordinary Food
Science Fiction films and television shows present food most often in the form ordinary people eat it. This raises an ethical question: should sci fi be showing how real people eat or should it be showing how we should eat? When the O’Brien’s shared the cooking on Deep Space Nine Keiko’s cooking was very healthy, but so unappetising Miles wouldn’t eat it, and his stodgy food was presented as better, even though Keiko complained about it. This is an extreme example of sci fi’s attitude.
Food in sci fi is a signifier of comfort and stability, think of the family dinners in Kyle XY or Deanna Troi’s love of chocolate in The Next Generation. It’s also a sign of group cohesion, think of Chianna’s dinner in Farscape.
There are more references to food in the Star Trek franchise and sci fi products aimed at a younger audience, than in sci fi action. Food often sets a normal scene that will be disrupted by something unusual so that we move from the known to the unknown seamlessly. It’s no surprise sci fi presents a lot of unhealthy food choices.
What unhealthy food does Sci Fi show us eating?
First of all you have to realise that food names can be specific to place, for instance ‘fondant’ to an Australian means a kind of icing, but in the English context in Doctor Who seems to mean a dessert.
As well as this semantic problem some food items may belong in several categories, or be on their own e.g. is a dumpling really a cake? I’ve done my best, making sure unhealthy goes into unhealthy – after all, eggs may be good but not when eaten with chips!
Burgers Blue Moon Burger (Roswell: Blood Brother); Burger (Dinotopia: Contact ); Cheeseburger (seaQuest DSV: Whale Song/ Iron Man); Eclipse Burger (Roswell: Crazy); Hamburger (My Favourite Martian: Pilot/ Aliens in the Attic ); Sweet Burger (Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties );
Cake Banana Cake (Doctor Who: Fear Her); Birthday cake (Beware! The Blob/ Kyle XY Blame it on the Rain ); Blueberry Muffin (Red Dwarf: Back in the Red); Cake (Hyperdrive : Clare); Cheesecake Split (Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties );Cupcakes (Star Gate: Off the Grid / Stepford Wives 2/ Kyle XY: The List is Life); Danish (Torchwood: Meat ); Data cake (The Next Generation: Phantasms); Donut (Transformers the Movie/2 ); Double layer chocolate fudge cake (seaQuest: DSV: By Any Other Name); Dumplings (Flash Gordon: Life Source); Icoberry Torte (Deep Space 9 :Sanctuary ); Strawberry Shortcake (Enterprise: Horizon);
Chips: Beta carotene Chips (Earth Final Conflict: Keys to the Kingdom ); Chip butties (Red Dwarf: Back to Earth ); Chips (Doctor Who: World War II/Doctor Who: The Parting of the Ways ); Cold Chip Sandwich (Sarah-Jane Adventures: Revenge of the Slitheen ); Eggs, Ham and chips (Torchwood: Random Shoes];Fish and Chips (Doctor Who: Last of the Timelords/ Doctor Who: Turn Left );
Chocolate: Delvian Chocolates (Deep Space 9 : Improbable Cause ); Chocolate Bar (Stargate:SG1Bane);Chocolate Cake (The Next Generation: Parallels); Chocolate Caramels (BG2: Exodus ); Chocolate Eruption (Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties);Chocolate Ice cream (Bionic Woman: 200Faceoff);Chocolate Sundae (The Next Generation: The Price); Chocolate Walnut Cookies (Stargate:SG1: Forever in a Day); Choco Poppers (NTZ A Little Peace and Quiet); Eskimo Bar (Jupiter Moon); Kai Winn chocolate soufflé (Deep Space 9 : Life Support); Milky Way (Slaughterhouse-5 N ); Plain Chocolate (The Next Generation: Liaisons /Hyperdrive: Weekend Off ); Starbars (Silver Sun); Three Musketeers Candy Bar (Slaughterhouse-5 Novel );
Desserts and Biscuits Blueberry Pancakes (Kyle XY: Blame it on the Rain ); Blue Jelly (SGA The Game ); Blue String Pudding (The Clangers); Bread Pudding Soufflé (Deep Space 9 : Homefront ); Caramel apples (Lois and Clarke: The Green, Green Glow of Home ); Crepes (Kyle XY:To C.I.R With Love ); Croissants (The Next Generation: Attached / Doctor Who: Turn Left); Fondant Supreme (Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol); Jell-O (SGA Michael ); Macaroons (SG Line in the Sand); Mrs. Angela’s Rhubarb Surprise (Doctor Who: Forest of the Dead); Nepco Wafers (Jeremiah: To Sail Beyond the Stars); Peach Cobbler (The Next Generation : Liaisons ); Popcorn (Lois and Clarke: The Green, Green Glow of Home/ Stargate Atlantis: Doppelganger/Earth Final conflict: Through Your Eyes );
Strawberry Fondant Surprise (Doctor Who: The Happiness Patrol ); Suet pudding (Goodnight Sweetheart: Who’s Taking You Home Tonight? );
Tellurian Mint Truffles (Deep Space 9 : The Assignment ); Waffles (BG1980 The Super Scouts );
Hot Dogs Chilli Rock Dog (Roswell: Crazy); Chipolti (Babylon 5 : Knives); Hot dog (Deep Space 9 :Starship Down/ Flash Gordon: Random Access/ Aliens in the Attic );
Ice Cream: Banana Split (The Next Generation : Suddenly Human); Double double chocolate fudge (Lois and Clarke: : The Man of Steel Bars );Fudgy Budgy Cone (Dark Angel: Dawg Day Afternoon); Hot Fudge Blast Off (Roswell: The Morning After); Hot fudge Ice Cream (SG1 Holiday): Plain Ice Cream (Torchwood: Meat /Close Encounters of the Third Kind);Ice Cream Sundae (seaQuest DSV: Vapors ); Mint Chocolate Ice Cream (Red Dwarf: Pete);
Pasta: Angel Hair Pasta (Enterprise: Regeneration); Angel Hair with Tomato and Basil (Lois and Clarke: The Rival ); Pasta al Fiorella (The Next Generation: Birthright); Pasta Boudin (Deep Space 9: Paradise Lost ); Pasta Carbonara (BW2007: Everything Will Change );Pasta Special (Dinotopia: Marooned); Spaghetti (Kyle XY: Does Kyle Dream of Electric Fish? );
Pie Asteroid Pie (Roswell: We Are Family ); Blueberry pie (The Next Generation : Pre-emptive Strike); Men in Blackberry Pie (Roswell: The Balance); Pie (SG1 Urgo /Tripods: England); Shepherd’s Pie (The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells); Sweet Potato Pie (X-Files: Jose Chung’s From Outer Space);
Pizza: American Feast (Torchwood: Everything Changes); Double Cheese Pepperoni (FG Assassin ); Jubilee Pizza (Torchwood: Everything Changes ); Mr. Pink Pizza (The Incredible Hulk 2008); Pepperoni Feast (Torchwood: Cyberwoman );Pepper Undefined Pizza (Earth Final Conflict: Truth/ Doctor Who: Rose/ Stargate: Atlantis: The Return/ Heroes: Four Months Later/ Iron Man/ The Incredible Hulk 2008/ Torchwood: Meat/V2009 episode 3);
What else do you notice? Americans eat pizza, sweet pies, pasta, hot dogs and burgers, while Brits eat pizza, Shepherd’s pie, chips
Healthy Food
What we consider healthy to eat differs from person to person. Many people choose to be vegetarian and will think meat and poultry are not healthy choices, but compared to the above they are very nutritious! Take heart from the fact that most of the sandwiches are vegetarian, or close to it ( we have to assume Worf would have something alive on his wrap). The soup is vegetable based as well.
Sandwiches, wraps and rolls : Avocado sandwich (Beware! The Blob);
Burrito (4400 Becoming / (Hyperdrive: Asteroid);
Cheese and Pickle sandwiches(Torchwood: Meat);
Galaxy Melt (Roswell: Four Square); Galaxy Sub (Roswell: Meet the Dupes/1); Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches (seaQuest DSV: Brothers and Sisters );
Sandwiches (The Next Generation : Samaritan Snare/ Beware! The Blob );
Tuna Sandwich (Stargate:SG1:Rules of Engagement );Tuna Salad Sandwich (The Day the Earth Stood Still 2 );
Watercress sandwiches (The Next Generation : Journey’s End ); Worf Wrap (Roswell: To Serve and Protect);
Soup Bunya Chowder (Babylon 5: A Distant Star);
M15 soup (Goodnight Sweetheart: Who’s Taking You Home Tonight?); Mock Oyster Soup (Goodnight Sweetheart: Who’s Taking You Home Tonight?);
Pepper soup (Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp);
Tomato Soup (Voyager: The Caretaker);
Vegetable Soup (The Next Generation : Attached );
Poultry Chicken (Doctor Who: The End of Time); Chicken a la Sisko (Deep Space 9: Shattered Mirror ); Chicken Drumsticks (Lexx: Bad Carrot ); Chicken Enchiladas (Lois and Clarke: Honeymoon in Metropolis );Chicken Legs (Doctor Who: Forest of the Dead); Chicken Soup (My Favourite Martian: There is No Cure for the Common Martian); Chicken Tikka (Goodnight Sweetheart: Who’s Taking You Home Tonight? ); Curried chicken and rice (Deep Space 9: Blaze of Glory);
Tofu Chicken (Stargate: Atlantis: McKay and Mrs Miller );
Turkey (Doctor Who: Voyage of the Damned);
Vindaloo (Red Dwarf);
Vegetables Asparagus (Deep Space 9: By Inferno’s Light/ SQDSV By Any Other Name); Aubergine and seaweed curry (Dinotopia: The Cure); Broccoli (Earth 2:Natural Born Grendlers);
Carrot (Doctor Who: The Waters of Mars ); Corn on the Cob (Voyager: The Caretaker); Corn on the Cob/Cream Corn (Lois and Clarke: The Green, Green Glow of Home );
Heavenly Hash Special (Roswell: Monsters);
Potato Casserole (The Next Generation : The Wounded );
Swede (Doctor Who :Last of the Timelords);
Tuber (Stargate: Atlantis: The Game );
Salad Endive Salad (Deep Space 9: Whispers); Greek God Salad (Roswell: The End of the World);
Fruit Apple (Battlestar1980: The Super Scouts/ Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour ); Bananas (Doctor Who: Midnight ); Citrus Fruit (Stargate: Atlantis: The Game );
Power Fruits (Blackstar); Strawberry (Lexx: Nook/Firefly/ Stargate: Atlantis: Brainstorm );
Fish and other Seafood Anchovies (Doctor who: The Unicorn and the Wasp); Blackened redfish with creamed spinach and sautéed beets (Deep Space 9: Equilibrium); Blowfish Sushi (Lois and Clarke: Vatman ); Caviar (The Next Generation : Sins of the Father );
Fish fingers and custard (Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour );
Gumbo (Quantum Leap: Southern Comforts; Frankenfish );
Kelp buds (The Next Generation : The Wounded );
lobster (The Invaders: The Peacemaker);
Plankton Loaf (The Next Generation: The Wounded);
Redfish (Deep Space 9 : The Visitor); Redskin Basket (Roswell: River Dog);
Sea Berries (The Next Generation : The Wounded ); Shrimp Creole (Deep Space 9: The Abandoned); Smoked Salmon (Torchwood: Adam );Sushi (Bionic Woman: 2007: The Education of Jaime Sommers); Squid (Deep Space 9: Blaze of Glory );
Eggs
Egg Salad (Quantum Leap: The Color of Truth ); Eggs (Goodnight Sweetheart: As You Wave Me Goodbye);
Frijola Frittata (Roswell: Wipeout! );
Green Eggs with Moonrock Hash (Roswell: The Convention);
Sweet and Sour Tortillas (Roswell: To Serve and Protect );
Meat Bacon (Goodnight Sweetheart: As You Wave Me Goodbye/ Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour ); Chitlins (Quantum Leap: The Color of Truth );
Fricandeau Stew (Deep Space 9: Whispers ); Jambalaya (Deep Space 9: Homefront )/Deep Space 9: The Jem’Hadar);
Lamb’s Tails (Goodnight Sweetheart: Just one More Chance );
Meatballs (Battlestar Galactica1980: The Night the Cylons Landed);
Roast Beef (Stargate:SG1: Arthur’s Mantle/ Doctor Who: Midnight );
Salisbury Steak (Stargate: Atlantis: The Game ); Schnitzel (Stargate: Atlantis: Irresponsible ); Steak (Stargate:SG1:Upgrades );
Odds and Ends
Baked Beans (Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour); Blue Moon Queseolla (Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties);
cellular peptide cake (The Next Generation : Phantasms); Cheese (Goodnight Sweetheart: As You Wave Me Goodbye);
Fajita Fajita(Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties ); Froot Loops (Stargate:SG1: Window of Opportunity);
Goobers ( aka peanuts) (Stargate: Atlantis: Doppelganger/Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties);
Jalapeno Shooters (Roswell: A Tale of Two Parties );
Koopa special (Super Mario Brothers);
Nourishment Gel (Hyperdrive: Weekend Off );
Oatmeal (Stargate:SG1:Window of Opportunity ); Oyster Mushrooms (Dinotopia: The Big Fight);
Peanuts (Doctor Who: Midnight ); Power Bars (Stargate: Atlantis: Epiphany/ Stargate: Atlantis: Harmony );
Saturn Rings (Roswell: Blood Brother ); Spirulina (Earth 2: Memory Play);
Taquitoes with green sauce (Lois and Clarke: Vatman );
Walnuts (Doctor Who: The Unicorn and the Wasp);
Yoghurt (Doctor Who: The Eleventh Hour ); Whatsit’s (Hyperdrive: Weekend Off );
Zagnuts (Roswell: The Summer of ’47);
What you notice about healthy food is that it is dominated by sandwiches, soup, meat and chicken. There’s not a lot of imagination in the meals except for Roswell where the characters were working in a tourist cafe, making up lot of interesting names and using Mexican dishes. The Star Trek franchise doesn’t dominate this section. Deep Space 9 shows the Sisko family making traditional Southern American dishes, and presents Keiko O’Brien’s seafood choices, but not much else.
It’s interesting that fruit and salad are so under-represented. Perhaps the Killer Tomatoes had a bad influence on salad, but Lexx’s bad carrots haven’t had the same effect. At least the salad names are interesting. Even the vegetable dishes are limited and boring.
Alien Food
This involves alien animals, vegetables and fruits, sometimes made into sweets and puddings or other recognisable food formats. What’s interesting here is the limited number of series and films (forget books!) that imagine alien food:
The Star Trek franchise dominates: Deep Space Nine; The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise. This is a universe where there are many friendly aliens as well as hostile ones. Voyager has an alien chef finding the crew edibles on planets in the Delta Quadrant.
Farscape – This series also had friendly aliens, some of whom lived on Moya with John. Food would inevitably be a problem for such a varied group.
Babylon 5 – Once again a universe with friendly aliens with whom the crew made alliances. The aliens here deride human food as often as alien food is shown.
Stargate Atlantis and Roswell have one entry each, not surprising for earth bound Roswell, but an interesting omission for Atlantis.
So far the dominant alien food imaginers have been American. Two English series show alien food in a less positive light:
Red Dwarf has interesting alien food that sometimes crawls off the plate or attacks the crew.
Lexx has revolting alien food which the crew enjoys. But Lexx also shows humans being turned into alien food.
The Alien Menu
Alterian chowder (Deep Space 9 : Armageddon Game) ; Andorian Tuber Root (Deep Space 9 : Second Sight);
Bok rat liver (Deep Space 9 : Soldiers of the Empire ); Breen (Babylon 5: Walkabout); Bregit Lung (The Next Generation: A Matter of Honor ); Buffalo wings (Doctor Who : Voyage of the Damned ); Bularian Canapés (The Next Generation: Journey’s End);
Chee’lash fruit (Deep Space 9 : Hard Time); Coltayin Roots (The Next Generation: Liaisons ); Crispy Grolak (Farscape: Lava’s a Many Splendored Thing);
Delovian Souffle (The Next Generation :The Child );
Feragit Goulash (Voyager: Parallax); Flaked Blood Fleas (Deep Space 9 : Rules of Acquisition );Flamed Mange Cat (Flash Gordon: Revelations); Fungilli (The Next Generation: Galaxy’s Child):
Gagh (The Next Generation : A Matter of Honor /Enterprise: Sleeping Dogs);
Gladst (Deep Space 9: Melora); Gramilion Sand Peas (Deep Space 9 : Rules of Acquisition );
Hasperat (Deep Space 9 : Rejoined ); Heart of Targ (The Next Generation: A Matter of Honor );
I’danian Space Pudding (Deep Space 9 : Babel/ Deep Space 9 : The Search);
Jelassa Berries (Lexx: Trip); Jellied Gree Worms (Deep Space 9 : Ferengi Love Songs); Jilnak (Farscape: Lava’s a Many Splendored Thing); Jumbo Romulan molluscs (Deep Space 9 : The Maquis);
Koberry Torte (Deep Space 9 : The Homecoming ); Ktarian Chocolate Puff (The Next Generation: Liaisons);
Lingta (Deep Space 9 : Looking for Par’Mach in All The Wrong Places); Lokar beans (Deep Space 9 : Rules of Acquisition); Lorvan Crackers (Deep Space 9 : Defiant);
Mantickian Pate (The Next Generation : Half a Life); Matapin rock fungi (Deep Space 9 : Business as Usual); Mobifruit (Deep Space 9 : Rejoined );
Ongilan Caviar (The Next Generation : Genesis ); Orion Wing Slugs (The Next Generation :Ménage a Troi ); Oskoid (The Next Generation : Ménage a Troi/ The Next Generation : Half a Life);
Palamarian sea urchin (Deep Space 9 : Business as Usual ); Pipius Claw (The Next Generation : A Matter of Honor ); Plomeek broth (Enterprise); Plomeek Soup (Deep Space 9 : The Maquis); Puree of Beetle (Deep Space 9 : The Assignment);
Q’lavos (Deep Space 9 : The Ship ); Q’Parol (Deep Space 9 : The Assignment ); Quadruple Chocolate dipped sweet cluster fry (Lexx: Eating Pattern)
Racht (Deep Space 9 : Melora ); Raw Slug Liver (Deep Space 9 : The Assignment ); Regava Eggs (Deep Space 9 : Destiny ); Rokeg Blood Pie (The Next Generation : A Matter of Honor );
Slug Steaks (Deep Space 9 : Ferengi Love Songs); Spiny Lobe Fish (The Next Generation: Frame of Mind ); Space Weevil (Red Dwarf: Legion);
Tarvokian Powder Cake (The Next Generation: Liaisons); Thalian Chocolate Mousse (The Next Generation: The Dauphin ); Tojal in Yamok Sauce (Deep Space 9 : Destiny ); Tube grubs (Deep Space 9 : Rules of Acquisition ); Tulaberries (Deep Space 9 : Rules of Acquisition ); Tuttleroot Soup (Stargate Atlantis: Critical Mass); Tuwaly Pie (Deep Space 9 : Shakaar);
Uttaberries (The Next Generation : Ménage a Troi); Utaberry Crepes (Deep Space 9 : Armageddon Game);
Vak Clover Soup (Deep Space 9 : Melora ); Veklava (Deep Space 9 : Rejoined); Viinerine (The Next Generation: Face of the Enemy );
Wentlian Condor Snake (Deep Space 9 : Business as Usual );
Yigrish Cream Pie (Deep Space 9 : Distant Voices);
Zilm’kach (Deep Space 9 : Melora )
What does it all add up to?
Food in science fiction equates to comfort and belonging. This connection is so strong food becomes a metaphor for these human emotions.
But food also demonstrates the differences between us and aliens. These differences can be positive as shown by Deanna Troi digging into alien desserts, or revolting as in the case of Klingon gagh.
Doctor Who gives value to plain, old fashioned cooking and fatty English foods, presumably in protest against the globalisation of food. The Doctor waxes on happily about chips and pies to encourage us to eat local, if not healthy.
Alien food gives us a chance to play with words, inventing new fruits and animals in a variety of dialects, from Andorian to Vulcan. Roswell excelled at making up sci fi names for cafe food, fitting in with the Roswell theme.
Lots of positives and lots of room to improve!
