Could any of them cook better than Neelix?

[Guy Gardener]

Gods how they complained, but Neelix worked his fuzzy little ass off and it's a crude thought to think how any of the bridge crew would handle kitchen duty.

Actually, I'm surprised that Tom wasn't peeling Leola root in 30 days?

(yes Tuvok can make cakes, but that's hardly the same as maintaining 3 healthy balanced services for 150 people every day. It's utterly a horse of another colour... Seven had that teaser that got cookblocked and...)

 

[Timewalker]

There actually was an episode where Seven cooked for the command crew and did very well at it. She could have made sure the crew got 3 nutritionally- balanced meals each day, but they might not have been very creative ("Nutritional Supplement Paris 1" vs "Tomato Soup").

 

[dsfjr1190]

Seven was shown to be a much better cook than Neelix, and I believe Tuvok was as well. Unfortunately, they don't cook for the crew because they have more important things to be doing; leaving the poor souls with the choice of braving Neelix's food or replicating food.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Replicator energy was rationed and conserved.

A new pair of boots meant that they had to sit down to dinner in the mess for a couple nights.

"Important" is a very relative term.

Seven may have been arguably the best engineer on a ship in which over two thirds of the crew were excellent engineers... But how many on board the ship could keep a hundred people fed and entertained?

In the beginning Tuvok would have vetoed any Maquis volunteering to prepare food for Starfleet crew.

 

[exodus]

I guess Chell wasn't so bad considering they gave the job to him after Neelix left.

 

[Guy Gardener]

No body gave Chell that job. He took it. Volunteered really, but that a crewman could volunteer for a job that wasn't assigned you would have to wonder how at that late date that they hadn't learned to moderate their usage of a much greater power reservoir that the mess wasn't superfluous.

Besides, that's why Admiral Janeway really chose then and there to arrive in the past, to spare herself 14 years of that man's cooking and awful puns.

 

[BlobVanDam]

We all know there infact were no replicator rations. Harry Kim was making Flotter dolls just for the fun of it. And Neelix couldn't feed 150 people a night.

I think the entire thing was just a diversion to keep Neelix occupied so he wouldn't bother the crew or turn up on the bridge. And then every day they'd just send a few Ensigns there as some kind of hazing ritual. Sure it would backfire occasionally when the ship got sick from cheese, but otherwise it made the trip a whole lot nicer for the crew.

 

[MacLeod]

There actually was an episode where Seven cooked for the command crew and did very well at it. She could have made sure the crew got 3 nutritionally- balanced meals each day, but they might not have been very creative ("Nutritional Supplement Paris 1" vs "Tomato Soup").

Well that all depends on which variety of Tomato soup it was. :P

 

[Valikdu]

I'm guessing, the answer is "everyone"?

 

[Kadratis]

Paris and his toast w/peanut butter probably beats leola root any day.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I think that as Leoloa-Root-butter is an indistinguishable substitute for peanut Butter, that this root is a credit, a victory and a celebration to tubers everywhere.

 

[od0_ital]

If ya go back to TNG 'The Wounded', ya can see Keiko's reaction to the idea that O'Brien's mother would cook - touchin' meat with her own hands!!! EEEEWWWW!!!!

Go back a bit further to TNG's second season, and ya can see that Riker cookin' for others on the senior staff was treated like a big deal.

On DS9, Sisko cookin' for his senior officers was a big deal, too, but apparently takin' one of 'em with him to the holosuite for a baseball game was even more important.

Its a society with replicators, so cookin' real food is seen as more of a hobby that not everyone will pick up, and those that do make it an occasion, not a daily activity.

And since most everyone aboard Voyager used to be part of the Federation (or still were part of the Federation), I'd say that no one could, and they welcomed, grudgingly, Neelix's efforts.

Plus, as seen in the first season, Neelix knew the native plants that wouldn't kill ya.