what does Star Trek food taste like?

[Dusty Ayres]

Hasperat's probably more of an Italian-American dish. Something akin to a hot pepper cheese pepperoni roll. Minus the pepperoni.

Um, did you even watch Deep Space Nine? In the Season Six opening arc, in one of the most important episodes, Ziyal makes a souffle out of hasperat. Also, in "Wrongs Darker than..." when Meru and Nerys are taken to Terok Nor and given food, hasperat is on the table and I believe it looks more like a cream type thing.

So sorry, I don't think your analogy works. I've never even heard of making a souffle out of a hot pepper cheese roll.

I always thought that hasperat was the Bajoran hamburger.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

I wonder what Tribble tastes like?

Damn, you got me. That tastes like chicken.

The stuff about replicated food tasting better is psychological. Starfleet has done extensive blind taste testing. There is no difference, even for tomatoes.

Gagh tastes like all sorts of stuff, but all of it is nasty.

 

[Terengo]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that kanar was based on fish, so it would probably be pretty nasty.

Hasperat is supposed to be very spicy.

As for replicated food, one of my pet theories is that a replicator is a stripped-down version of the transporter, using stored patterns instead of an object to transport, and most importantly lacking a Heisenberg Compensator. So foods that are replicated would be "stripped-down" versions and somehow lack the zing of real food.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that kanar was based on fish, so it would probably be pretty nasty.

I suspect that whoever wrote that confused kanar (Cardassian booze) with hot fish juice (Cardassian breakfast).

 

[drasche]

I wonder what Tribble tastes like?

Damn, you got me. That tastes like chicken.

The stuff about replicated food tasting better is psychological. Starfleet has done extensive blind taste testing. There is no difference, even for tomatoes.

Gagh tastes like all sorts of stuff, but all of it is nasty.

And it is a weird sensation the first time you feel it move in your stomach (sorry, couldn't resist)

 

[Jeri]

Nice idea for a thread. I was watching ENT: Doctor's Orders today, wherein at one point Phlox goes to the galley for a sandwich, pulls out a jar from the fridge, and eats something he calls a leech.

He tells Porthos that if he wants one, it will clean out his digestive tract; so I'm not sure if it's food or medicine. But it looks like black chanterelle mushrooms, and that's what I thought it tasted like.

 

[Red Ranger]

Hey, something does taste like chicken in ST! After all, in Tomorrow is Yesterday, when Mr. Kyle asks the hapless Air Force sergeant what he wants to eat, he jokingly asks for chicken soup. Kyle gets it for him, and he's astonished that it is chicken soup! So there! -- RR

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that kanar was based on fish, so it would probably be pretty nasty.

You sure that's not fish juice you're thinking of? (The favorite Cardassian breakfast beverage.)

Or maybe kanar has a fish head at the bottom of the bottle (which we've never seen thanks to how thick it is) kinda like tequila has a worm.

Hasperat...I've always imagined that like jalapeño or habanera or something like that.

Now the one I've always wondered about is yamok sauce. For some reason I always think of something like sweet-and-sour sauce, or maybe teriyaki. Definitely something that would evoke Asian cuisine. Hard to understand why Quark had so much difficulty unloading the stuff, in the latter case...in the former, it might make more sense.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Hasperat = spicy but not hot like jalepenos.

Yamok sauce = funky mayonnaise.

Plomeek soup = too bland for human tastebuds to taste like anything much...maybe a slight celery flavor.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

Oooh...for plomeek soup, maybe that soup you get at the hibachi restaurant before your meal.

And your idea for yamok sauce...EW, dang!! That puts kim chee to shame! I think I'll stick with the "sweet-and-sour sauce" idea, for my own purposes...

(No offense to anyone here who likes kim chee. Personal preference!!)

 

[Therin of Andor]

From my website:

Andorian cuisine

"Commander Benjamin Sisko recalls an incident involving Curzon Dax, Science Officer Kustanovich of the USS Livingston, and eight helpings of Andorian redbat. [Invasive Procedures.] Lieutenant Jadzia Dax enjoys Andorian tuber root more than Sisko and he lets her steal some off his plate. Seyetik presents a recipe to the station's officers that requires the use of an Andorian boiler. [Second Sight.]

"Authentic Andorian ale is available from Quark's bar [Meridian] as are Andorian Sunset cocktails. [DC Comics' The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine crossover mini-series]. An Andorian Fast Food outlet (Shop 01-754) is located on The Promenade [as seen on the directory board in the television special The Science of Star Trek].

"An Andorian citric beverage sampled by Nog tasted like a clear, fizzy version of the smell of a Terran goat in lemon oil. [Avatar, Book 2 (Pocket, 2001) by SD Perry.] Roasted Andorian flatroot is a delicacy popular with the Ops staff. [Mission Gamma, Book 2: This Gray Spirit (Pocket, 2002) by Heather Jarman.] This is also known by its Andorian term, hari.

"An Andorian stimulant beverage, katheka, is similar to Terran coffee. [Andor: Paradigm by Heather Jarman in Worlds of Deep Space Nine, Book 1 (Pocket, 2004).]

"Recipes for Andorian Tuber Root (in a pie, topped with marshmallows!) and an Andorian Ale (a yellowish, nutty version with a foamy head, not blue as eventually seen in Enterprise) are featured in the Star Trek Cookbook by Ethan Phillips and William J Birnes (Pocket, 1999).

Roasted flatroot, a brownish orange Andorian vegetable dish, and imparay redbat, a meat dish, go well with faridd, an Andorian beverage. [Enterprise: Rosetta (Pocket, 2006) by Dave Stern.]"

 

[jgdst]

The coloured food cubes from TOS's protein resequences either taste like chicken, or Play-Doh...

I don't know why, I always imagine Hasperat to be like seaweed until I saw it on screen.

Romulan ale, I imagine, tastes like cleaning fluid. Though I did always wonder why even the Romulans call it Romulan ale And why would they only make one variety of it?

I did also wonder why Phlox's jar of leeches was handwritten (and why presumably Phlox couldn't draw an N the write way round). Maybe that labelling machine that tagged up everything else on the ship was out of tape The leeches I imagine wouldn't taste of much, but you'd be chewing it for a few hours...

Anyway, enough of this speculation, I'm going to go and have some Earth Coffee.

 

[Green Shirt]

I wonder what Tribble tastes like?

Bush

 

[bryce]

I wonder what Tribble tastes like?

Bush

Well, you gotta shave 'em first silly....

 

[K'Ehleyr]

I know it's slightly off track but I was taken to a very posh Chinese restaurant recently and had Sea cucumber. It was disgusting, like eating a slug! and very difficult to do with chopsticks! Yuck!

 

[bryce]

I imagine hasperat to be more of a wasabi type hot. It's obviously something pickled since you need a "good brine" to make it. So maybe something kim-chee like, but without the fishy taste...

Plomleek soup...like a weak leek broth.

Food cubes...like marshmallows!

 

[Green Shirt]

I wonder what Tribble tastes like?

Bush

Well, you gotta shave 'em first silly....

WHAT!!! Half the fun is pulling hair from your teeth or gagging on some that went down too far.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

The one time I remember seeing hasparat, it looked like an organic Indian burrito a local grocery chain carried all too briefly. So I imagined it to have a grainy curry texture to it, probably tasting like creamed spinach and the fires of hell.

Plomek soup struck me as a plain seaweed dashi. Unadorned seaweed broth is a bit... flavorless.

Kanar looked like syrup.

Gagh probably tastes like live octopus.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

The one time I remember seeing hasparat, it looked like an organic Indian burrito a local grocery chain carried all too briefly. So I imagined it to have a grainy curry texture to it, probably tasting like creamed spinach and the fires of hell.

I remember seeing hasperat in "Second Skin," and it definitely looked like a burrito. Which is probably why I equated it with Mexican spices.

That and for whatever reason I'd already equated Cardassian food with Southeast Asian food (descriptions of the food reminded me of things I'd eaten in Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants)--and so whatever Bajoran food was, it could NOT be THAT.

Kanar looked like syrup.

That was SO nasty when it ran down the mirror after Damar threw that glass.

Alcoholic molasses. Mm-mm-good.

NOT.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Oooh...for plomeek soup, maybe that soup you get at the hibachi restaurant before your meal.

Don't drink the finger bowl.