# In the 24th Century, Do They Know What an Omelet Is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 13, 2020, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485 "2020-11-13T02:48:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/101 "2020-11-17T17:20:00Z")
To be perfectly honest, I’d pay to watch that. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/102 "2020-11-17T17:21:45Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > > [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > > > Watching the scene in question, Riker never says he’s making an omelette. Maybe the doc was just confused about what they were going to have. > > They’re not chicken eggs, but Riker doesn’t seem to realize that’s an issue: eggs are eggs, right? And he credits his father with his cooking acumen, because his father hated cooking and left it to Riker to make all the food. And everyone is appalled when they taste the eggs. And Riker has one of the most famous egos of science fiction, and may not be the best judge of his own talents. > > I don’t think the doc is confused. I think Riker has no goddamned idea what an omelette is. There’s also an episode I recall in which Riker spent some time aboard a Klingon ship and he learned to enjoy Klingon food. So that might explain why Worf is the only one who lives those eggs. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/103 "2020-11-17T17:48:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > There’s also an episode I recall in which Riker spent some time aboard a Klingon ship and he learned to enjoy Klingon food. So that might explain why Worf is the only one who lives those eggs. Yeah, I definitely remember that one. Maybe he’s taste-blind. If I encounter a cuisine that’s famously hated by another group, and I’m feeding it to members of that other group, I warn them first. I’m not going to make durian custard for a bunch of Minnesotans without telling them what the fruit is first; nor will I make Klingon cuisine for a bunch of humans without contextualizing the meal. I kinda like the idea that he has no idea what good food tastes like, doesn’t realize his shortcomings, and has built himself up in his own mind as some sort of master of subtlety and flavor. It seems very Riker ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/104 "2020-11-17T17:58:18Z")
I don’t think the omelette is supposed to be Klingon food. It’s just from strange alien eggs Funny thing is that I don’t recall that they show Rijer himself trying then. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/105 "2020-11-17T18:51:58Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > I would expect people to devote far more time to creating art, writing, playing sports and music. I think on the Enterprise you’d probably have a bartering system of some sort to trade whatever unique items or skills are available on the ship. I think people would tend to do anything they could to gain some advantage and standing over others and have something unique that can’t be recreated in a replicator. Quite frankly, I’d rather just sleep and watch TV. 😴 . ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/106 "2020-11-17T19:02:44Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > > [@Jasmine](#): > > > > Actually, that’s a very good question for another thread. How would the replicator affect prices? I mean, if you could replicate virtually anything, what would that do to the concept of “worth”? > > In theory, the Federation has no economy. There is no material means of “worth.” In practice, many civilizations in the Alpha Quadrant trade in gold-pressed latinum, since latinum can’t be replicated. Yeah, I was watching one of the “The Trouble With Troi’s Mother” episodes, and it seems that when Picard is playing private eye on the holodeck, he’s got a huge bar tab because he keeps forgetting to include currency in his costume. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/107 "2020-11-17T19:04:53Z")
What I wonder is where does Riker get the latinum to gamble at Quark’s Dabo tables? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/108 "2020-11-17T19:06:04Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > To be perfectly honest, I’d pay to watch that. Not if money isn’t a thing anymore! ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/109 "2020-11-17T19:19:40Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Not if money isn’t a thing anymore! Can I trade tickets for an omelet then? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/110 "2020-11-17T19:31:00Z")
An omelet would cost two red tickets, or one red and two pink. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/111 "2020-11-17T19:52:38Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > BTW in TOS they _did_ show a few times that the phasers had more settings between “stun” and “completely vaporize”. But I never saw the one for “vaporize only the metal outside, leave contents intact”. Those are some fine tuned weapons! Not to extend a hijack, but it always bugged me that vaporizing a person in the ST universe just caused them to rather benignly evaporate. More likely, seems to me, would be something akin to a steam boiler explosion, with a blast radius of twenty meters or so. Definitely something one would not want to do in an enclosed space. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/112 "2020-11-17T22:27:43Z")
“All phasers emit a beam of energy similar to the light beam emitted by a Laser [_sic_], but of a pulsating nature that can be “phased” to interfere or interact with the wave pattern of any molecular form. … They can be set to _dematerialize_ (converting matter into energy), _disrupt_ (breaking down cohesion), _heat_ (increasing molecular velocity), or _stun_ (neural impact).” _ **TMoST,** _ p. 193 ---
**Author:** ![Frazzled](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frazzled/32/3368_2.png) [@Frazzled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frazzled)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/113 "2020-11-17T22:37:18Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They can be set to _dematerialize_ (converting matter into energy) Converting a regular person to energy (E=mc^2) is going to have undesired physics effects for the rest of the room. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2020, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/114 "2020-11-17T23:16:21Z")
That was my first thought as well. You just turned a bad guy into a small nuclear device. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/115 "2020-11-18T00:00:26Z")
Actually, an exceedingly large nuclear device. If the reason a person disappears when he’s shot by a phaser is because he has been completely converted to energy, the energy released would be over 1 billion megatons of TNT. The largest nuclear device ever detonated in real life, the Tsar bomb, released about 60 megatons. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/116 "2020-11-18T00:13:23Z")
Whoops, correction, I was off by a factor of a million there (computed tons of TNT instead of megatons). The explosion would actually be around 1000 megatons, which is still more than 10 times the size of the Tsar bomb. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2020, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/117 "2020-11-18T00:46:23Z")
^ Since you’re in a computin mood, could you convert that into anti-matter? Thnx. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/118 "2020-11-20T17:04:45Z")
> [@Frazzled](#): > > I would expect people to devote far more time to creating art, writing, playing sports and music. > [@terentii](#): > > Quite frankly, I’d rather just sleep and watch TV. When I contemplate UBI, if it gets implemented I figure 80% of the population will take **terentii** ’s track rather than **Frazzled** ’s. Ah, but that 20%… ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/119 "2020-11-20T17:18:56Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > An omelet would cost two red tickets, or one red and two pink. 😁 " A red trip slip for a five-cent fare, a pink trip slip for a ten-cent fare…" ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485/120 "2020-11-20T17:23:57Z")
Incidentally, I’m making a plain omelette right now. I’m going to use it as a ‘tortilla’ for a sausage-and-cheese wrap. (Basically a sausage-and-cheese omelette rolled up with the ends closed so I can eat it like a burrito.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-the-24th-century-do-they-know-what-an-omelet-is/925485.md?page=7)