Seriously, do they have sandwiches in the future?

[xvicente]

(I just saw a clip of Picard and Wesley eating sandwiches in that episode they are in a shuttlecraft. Then I remebered Scotty's famous line from ST09)

Do they have sandwiches in the future?

And cheese, and sausages, among other things?
Sandwiches were invented so people could eat outside and hold the moist, oily food between pieces of bread (itself an invention to conserve grain from spoiling)

Cheese was invented before refrigerators existed so to preserve milk. Sausages and salted, dried, smoked, jerked meats too, for the same reasons.

In the 1960s (and until today) the astrounauts' food was even more enginnered because of the necessities of storing and consuming in zero-gee etc.

But in Star Trek they have replicators! They can replicate fresh fruit and raw meat and grains and all kind of perishables like poof!-- fresh, no need for the food to be subjected to prehistoric techniques of preparation and storing.

In TOS Kirk is seen to eat small colored cubes. Is it possible THAT properly represents the food of the future, replicated nutrition from pure energy, unrestricted by storage and conservation requirements?

 

[The Old Mixer]

^In TOS, Kirk was also known to indulge in a chicken sandwich. See "The Trouble with Tribbles."

 

[bbailey861]

Why not replicate sandwiches. They're compact, convenient, great to eat, and the variations are only limited by your imagination. I really don't know anyone who doesn't like sandwiches and I don't know why they wouldn't remain popular well into the future.

 

[Solariabsg25]

Sandwiches were actually invented so an Earl could continue with his gambling without leaving the table for a meal. Pasties were invented to protect food from coal and dirt for miners.

We've had refrigeration for a century now, no-one's said that we may as well stop eating cheese as we don't need to preserve milk.

Just because food can be replicated doesn't mean that tastes in food may change. You look at TNG, they replicate a roast chicken, it looks like a roast chicken. In theory, they could make a chicken that's just a square block, with no bones, but they like the traditional look.

In TOS they had galleys (In Charlie X they were mentioned as being surprised by having actual turkeys in the ovens). The food cubes were probably simply an attempt at creating "future" food. Something they used or ignored at any time.

 

[Pondwater]

Tom said something Seven prepared needed more salt and she offered a peanut butter sandwich.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^I also remember Janeway saying that she lived on peanut butter and jelly while at the Academy.

--Sran

 

[T'Girl]

They have soup in the future, if only so Spock can throw it against a wall.

I think that the food on the 23rd century Enterprise is cubes, is because that's the way it comes out of their food machines. It's manufactured in a slab inside the machine and cut to uniformed sizes.

Consider present day Campbell's vegetable beef soup, little squares of beef, potato, and carrots in broth.

Kirk's "chicken sandwich" might have had perfectly square slices of bread and meat. Square slices of tomato, square pieces of lettuce.

A perfect rectangle of zesty pickle on the side.

 

[robau]

I want someone to invent a pill that makes food unnecessary.

 

[desertstarlover]

Little food cubes will likely become widely available in the future because they are convenient and compact, They are utilitarian and have their purpose. However, our species has been gathering around food since the dawn of time. Preparing and eating meals with others is as much of a social experience as it is a provider of sustenance. Sandwiches, pizza and other items that lend themselves easily to variety should become even more common, yet varied.

 

[Captain Rob]

I'm programming my replicator for peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches. My favorite lunch. And pepperoni pizza.

 

[T'Girl]

I want someone to invent a pill that makes food unnecessary.

Cyanide?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think that the food on the 23rd century Enterprise is cubes, is because that's the way it comes out of their food machines. It's manufactured in a slab inside the machine and cut to uniformed sizes.

That's an Andorian food called 'gristhera'. It's supposed to be VERY popular among aliens and that's why you always see it served at diplomatic functions.

 

[Kemaiku]

I want someone to invent a pill that makes food unnecessary.

Cyanide?

People love the texture, look, smell and taste of food. Military/Starlfeet rations and cubes serve a purpose for long term close-quarters environments like deep space assginments, but we've seen humans indulging in full meals whenever possible.

Kirk liked his sandwiches and was quite upset when they were eaten by the Tribbles, seemingly the final straw in getting them off his ship.

Restaurants are still popular on Earth and are constantly referenced or shown when either there, or talking about it.

Obviously actual 'food' is still very important to Earth and its populace.

 

[1001001]

A future without sandwiches is not worth living in.

 

[MacLeod]

But in Star Trek they have replicators! They can replicate fresh fruit and raw meat and grains and all kind of perishables like poof!-- fresh, no need for the food to be subjected to prehistoric techniques of preparation and storing.

In TOS Kirk is seen to eat small colored cubes. Is it possible THAT properly represents the food of the future, replicated nutrition from pure energy, unrestricted by storage and conservation requirements?

Well as you say in TNG they have replciatrs and can therofre replicate any meal they want so long as the pattern is in the database. Before replicators they would still have the same issues we have today. long term storage of food for deep space missions were resupply might not be easy or possible.

 

[Crazyewok]

I want someone to invent a pill that makes food unnecessary.

Were is the fun in that!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ The whole "food pill" thing is just part of the old concepts of the future that people always had around the 30's and 40's. They all thought we'd be flying around in bubble topped cars, with cities on stilts, wearing silver jumpsuits, eating pills instead of food, searchlights waving around for no reason, that type of Jetsons-inspired crap.

 

[Captain Clark Terrell]

^ The whole "food pill" thing is just part of the old concepts of the future that people always had around the 30's and 40's. They all thought we'd be flying around in bubble topped cars, with cities on stilts, wearing silver jumpsuits, eating pills instead of food, searchlights waving around for no reason, that type of Jetsons-inspired crap.

Looking back, it's funny people actually thought that. Why would people give up eating regular food? Apart from nutritional requirements, people eat food because it tastes good. Why would that not be the case in the 23rd or 24th centuries?

--Sran

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ For more on that, read William Gibson's The Gernsback Continuum.

 

[M'Sharak]

A future without sandwiches is not worth living in.

Damn straight.