Food Slots?

[Idran]

Replicators were said to convert energy into matter.

No, they're said to convert stores of matter into other forms based on stored molecular patterns. Like the transporter, only instead of sending something from one end to another, you put in enough matter of the various necessary elements and in the proper quantities as input and get whatever it is you want back as output.

Not on-screen.
On-screen dialogue repeatedly states that 'replicators turn energy into matter' (it doesn't get simpler than that).

Okay, I checked into it, and you're right that no episode references what I said about the functioning of replicators. Still though, I can't find that quote anywhere either; I can't actually find any reference in-episode to how precisely a replicator works, let alone repeatedly saying that statement.

However, the closest I could find to explaining how a replicator works, in "Year of Hell", had Janeway say the watch Chakotay replicated represented a meal, a pair of boots, etc., which does seem to support your interpretation more than what I thought. That alongside Timo's point suggests that canonically you're right.

I still would rather it worked like I said, since that seems more logical and efficient to me, but I can't argue with in-show evidence.

 

[Deks]

Well, to me it seems evident that SF found a way to convert actual energy into matter and that for them it's much more efficient given the abundant power generation SF has in general and probably removes the limits on what they can create.

SF of the 22nd and 23rd centuries was relying much more on the refined recycling process by breaking matter down into base elements and then re-arranging it into something else.
A replicator does essentially the same thing, only with with energy as the means to create something (and probably on a sub-atomic scale).

As for where it was repeatedly stated... check TNG, DS9 and VOY.
Voyager alone has several mentions of this (especially in that season 1 episode where Kim was converted into energy by the photonic beings).

 

[scotpens]

If the tribbles were in the food slots and the food was delivered via transporter or replication, isn't it too too convenient that the tribbles end up ON the food rather than the plates and food materializing overlapping them?

The result of a teleportation experiment gone horribly wrong . . .

 

[MLJames]

Don't even want to think what the tribble in the spider's web looks like!

 

[Green Shirt]

I just figured that there was a guy cooking meals on the other side of the food slots, and he just took your order and whipped it up and slid it through the slot. Kinda like the little dwarves the banks hire to sit in the ATMs and count out your money, or the guy who lives in the roof of my garage and raises/lowers my door when I press the button. Yeah.

At least these are better jobs than being a Tidy-Bowl man.

 

[throwback]

From "The Trouble with Tribbles" -
SCOTT: They're into the machinery, all right, and they're probably in all the other food processors too.
KIRK: How?
SCOTT: Probably through one of the air vents.

If we are talking about the differences, i think it's helpful to know that the correct terminology for these machines is food processors, and somehow they are connected to the environmental systems aboard the Enterprise.

I remember characters in TNG and later series set in the 24th century complaining about the quality of the replicated food.

 

[Deks]

Only a very small % of the characters were 'complaining' about the quality of replicated food, and for all we know, that can easily be attributed to a psychological reaction alone because it's not 'home cooked' (which was the main and idiotic reason for the complaints in question).
It would be like comparing home-made pizza with the one made in a restaurant... and if you developed a higher appreciation for the former, then of course the 'latter' will 'taste different or not be of the same quality'.
It's highly subjective for one thing, and it's very reasonable to think that a simple adjustment in the 'recipe' before replication to include whichever personal preferences would do the trick.

 

[scotpens]

Tribbles make a lousy pizza topping. An hour later, you're still picking fur out of your teeth.

 

[Saturn0660]

Only a very small % of the characters were 'complaining' about the quality of replicated food, and for all we know, that can easily be attributed to a psychological reaction alone because it's not 'home cooked' (which was the main and idiotic reason for the complaints in question).
It would be like comparing home-made pizza with the one made in a restaurant... and if you developed a higher appreciation for the former, then of course the 'latter' will 'taste different or not be of the same quality'.
It's highly subjective for one thing, and it's very reasonable to think that a simple adjustment in the 'recipe' before replication to include whichever personal preferences would do the trick.

I'd go with that to a point... I'd wager most of those people grew up on replicated food. Maybe at a party somewhere they tried "real" food.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

I watched the TNG third season opener "Evolution" and as the nanites are wreaking havoc upon random systems (which would happen again later this season in "Hollow Pursuits"), one of the earlier victims is the sickbay replicator. Doctor Crusher clearly calls it a "food slot", nomenclature which is confirmed by the computer. Is Crusher an ol' fashioned country doc to do so?

Mark

 

[throwback]

From "Evolution" -
CRUSHER: Computer, fix the food slot.
COMPUTER: The food slot is functioning properly.
CRUSHER: Well, check again.
COMPUTER: The food slot is functioning properly.
CRUSHER: Computer, deactivate food slot.

I am thinking that a food slot is a component of a larger process. I am thinking that what changed is the machinery. In the 23rd century, food was processed by food processors. In the 24th century, food was processed by replicators.

 

[scotpens]

I watched the TNG third season opener "Evolution" and as the nanites are wreaking havoc upon random systems (which would happen again later this season in "Hollow Pursuits"), one of the earlier victims is the sickbay replicator. Doctor Crusher clearly calls it a "food slot", nomenclature which is confirmed by the computer. Is Crusher an ol' fashioned country doc to do so?

The term “food slot” was never heard in any episode of Trek TOS. It may have been a RL phrase used by the cast and crew that was incorporated into later incarnations of Trek, like “Jefferies tube.” Or maybe “food slot” in TNG’s time is a bit of outmoded slang that’s still used occasionally, like calling a taxicab a “hack.”

 

[Deks]

I'd go with that to a point... I'd wager most of those people grew up on replicated food. Maybe at a party somewhere they tried "real" food.

Lol...
Well, if I'm not mistaken, there has been 1 or 2 mention on-screen that replicated food tastes the same like the 'real thing' (TNG?).
The only difference was basically in the small % of brains of those eating it.

Heck, even Harry Kim in one of the episodes stated: 'Mom's apple pie. Would have tasted better in San Francisco'.
Numerous people probably don't even complain.
Most of the 'complaints' were coming from those who were set apart from their 'loved ones' etc., and only as a lone throwaway line.

 

[lennier1]

I always assumed the old food slots to be a combination of more primitive replicators/synthesizers and something halfway between a letter chute and small elevators to transfer stuff from a central galley and/or storage compartments.

Could've simply been a Freudian slip because Crusher's previous ships still used the old system.

 

[Albertese]

Also in "Sub Rosa" (an episode I hold an irrational dislike for) it seems like Crusher was raised by her super old grandmother. Maybe she was raised calling it a food slot the same way like some people were raised saying "ice box" instead of "refrigerator".


@ scotpens, I can't say for sure about food slot, but "Jefferies tube" definitely was in "Journey to Babel"; the security dude that found the dead Tellarite specifically says "Jefferies tube" in his report.

--Alex

 

[scotpens]

@ scotpens, I can't say for sure about food slot, but "Jefferies tube" definitely was in "Journey to Babel"; the security dude that found the dead Tellarite specifically says "Jefferies tube" in his report.

Nope. He never says that.

JOSEPH: Security to Captain Kirk.
(Kirk's quarters)
KIRK: Kirk here.
JOSEPH (OC): Lieutenant Joseph, sir. I'm on deck eleven, section A3. I've just found one of the Tellarites murdered. I think it's the ambassador himself, sir.
(Corridor)
KIRK: How was he killed?
MCCOY: His neck was broken. By an expert.

If your source was this site, it’s a line of description that mentions the Jefferies tube, not a line of dialogue.

 

[T'Girl]

Major difference? On screen, at least, food slots require computer cassettes and ...

I thought the cassettes were like "meal cards," like the one I use at the dining hall in my university

Unless you have a taste for celery and multicolored cubes of, uh, something edible.

I had Campbell's vegetable soup for lunch today, little cube of white (potatoes?) and little cubes of orange (carrots?) and little semi-cubes of brown (meat hopefully?).

Only a very small % of the characters were 'complaining' about the quality of replicated food

But a equally small group would obviously seem to be enjoying what they're eating. There's Troi and her chocolate fudge ice cream, and Riker with some Klingon dishes. No other examples come to mind.

From what is seen on screen, it would be easy to believe that what comes out of a replicator doesn't smell or taste quite right, based upon Kurn, Scotty and others. Perhaps basic would be a apt description. With few exceptions no one seem to be overtly enjoying what's being dispensed.

I'd wager most of those people grew up on replicated food.

Maybe not Picard. His brother wouldn't have a replicator in his house and the impression I received was that Robert and his family were living in the Picard ancestral home, his father's house. So either Robert had any replicator removed, or Jean Luc didn't have one growing up.

 

[Saturn0660]

[/QUOTE]Maybe not Picard. His brother wouldn't have a replicator in his house and the impression I received was that Robert and his family were living in the Picard ancestral home, his father's house. So either Robert had any replicator removed, or Jean Luc didn't have one growing up.
[/QUOTE]

Maybe, however then the question becomes.. Why did they get the meat for making food? Are animals still raised for food then?

 

[T'Girl]

Are animals still raised for food then?

Easy answer would be yes, they're enslaved for their flesh!!!!

 

[Timo]

I thought the cassettes were like "meal cards," like the one I use at the dining hall in my university.

Phil Farrand gets some mileage out of nitpicking the "And the Children Shall Lead" scene where Chapel first tries to appease the kids with "each card is a different flavor" cards. But that was a special game Chapel arranged for the benefit of the kids, and shouldn't be taken as indication on how the cards and food slots normally are used. Most of the time, they might indeed be "credit cards" of some sort, although probably not for paying as much as for keeping tab on the dietary needs of the user.

Apparently, those seemingly inert and featureless cards in fact possess some sort of a display that informs the user of the contents. For all we know, they are as complex as today's mobile phones, and not only serve as data storage and transfer units but also as displays, processors and personal organizers. (They are no good for voice communications, but then again, neither are today's mobile phones...)

Timo Saloniemi