# Trek Food Synthesizers **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 22, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061 "2006-01-22T02:29:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/61 "2006-01-26T03:31:43Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Enuendo and out the other. Just like Neelix’s cooking. Or any Klingon dish, for that matter. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/62 "2006-01-26T04:10:07Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > Or any Klingon dish, for that matter. Do **not** play with your food! It will continue to perform the tricks you teach it in your stomach! ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/63 "2006-01-26T13:17:06Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > [/geek mode] > > It’s was _Spock’s World_, by Diane Duane, which (and whom) people generally either love or hate. It wasn’t a replicator, though, because the story was, obviously, set in the time of Classic Trek (sometime between the first & second movies). Spock is preparing the Enterprise for a mission and is musing on the items he and the quartermaster are competing to acquire first (he encourages the competition because it makes them both better at their jobs). I loved that book. Basically, they didn’t have the large storage available to keep the coffee fresh, so they half-transported the coffee and kept the patterns in the transporter until needed. That way, they were able to carry more coffee and keep it fresh. Probably why, in _Voyager_, Janeway was always jonesing for a cup of java…they had to clean out the transporter to save energy. > [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > yet there was no indication (until an episode of DS9, I think) Correct. There was a scene where Molly was done eating, and she put her dishes in the replicator and they were “dematerialized.” ---
**Author:** ![tagos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@tagos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tagos)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/64 "2006-01-26T14:21:13Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > So, why the hell _do_ they drink it? The intoxicating effects are why people drink alcohol in the first place. It’s intoxicating (or it was when it first appeared in TNG) but its effects can be easily willed away supposedly. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/65 "2006-01-26T14:26:43Z")
> [@Fabulous Creature](#): > > [/geek mode] > > It’s was _Spock’s World_, by Diane Duane, which (and whom) people generally either love or hate. It wasn’t a replicator, though, because the story was, obviously, set in the time of Classic Trek (sometime between the first & second movies). Spock is preparing the Enterprise for a mission and is musing on the items he and the quartermaster are competing to acquire first (he encourages the competition because it makes them both better at their jobs). Holy crap - I bow to your Trekkishness! But the point is, actual coffee had to be stored, however they did it, because the replicator couldn’t make good coffee. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/66 "2006-01-26T22:31:52Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > So, why the hell _do_ they drink it? The intoxicating effects are why people drink alcohol in the first place. Same reason some people drink non-alcoholic beer, I suppose… ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/67 "2006-01-26T23:39:24Z")
> [@tanstaafl](#): > > Same reason some people drink non-alcoholic beer, I suppose… I don’t recall anyone on _The Next Generation_ being married. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/68 "2006-01-27T02:08:04Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t recall anyone on _The Next Generation_ being married. I thought that non-alcoholic beer existed so that the designated driver could have something a bit more manly than a Diet Coke. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/69 "2006-01-27T02:16:06Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > the designated driver could have something a bit more manly than a Diet Coke. Nah, real men designated drivers don’t screw around. They drink chicory coffee. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/70 "2006-01-27T06:56:33Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I don’t recall anyone on _The Next Generation_ being married. I believe Chief O’Brien got married during the course of the show (to one of the nurses, IIRC), they both transfer to DS9 after the 6th season of TNG. Worf and Riker were also married (no, not to eachother you pervey slash fiends! :eek: ), but not during the course of TNG itself. ---
**Author:** ![Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Spatial\_Rift\_47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spatial_Rift_47)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/71 "2006-01-27T07:24:26Z")
O’Brien married not a nurse, but a botanist, Keiko. They had a traditional Japanese wedding in Ten Forward, and Captain Picard officiated. Later, on DS9, Miles and Keiko have two children, Molly and Kirayoshi. The latter of the two is partially named after Kira, since she carried the baby to term after Keiko was injured in a shuttle accident. [/huge geek] ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/72 "2006-01-27T07:28:24Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > I believe Chief O’Brien got married during the course of the show (to one of the nurses, IIRC), they both transfer to DS9 after the 6th season of TNG. As said, Keiko Ishikawa is a botanist. You’re thinking of Alyssa Ogawa. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/73 "2006-01-27T11:43:19Z")
> [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > O’Brien married not a nurse, but a botanist, Keiko. They had a traditional Japanese wedding in Ten Forward, and Captain Picard officiated. Later, on DS9, Miles and Keiko have two children, Molly and Kirayoshi. The latter of the two is partially named after Kira, since she carried the baby to term after Keiko was injured in a shuttle accident. [/huge geek] Keiko, had her first child on the Enterprize. The baby was delivered by Worf because the ship had suffered a massive breakdown and they were stuck in Ten Foward. Bow to my Trekness!! ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/74 "2006-01-27T12:15:42Z")
> [@Merijeek](#): > > This would be the same technology that can duplicate a HUMAN BEING, right? My last 3 computers are all the same technology. Attempting to play Warcraft III on my two-times prior one would have caused the damn thing to commit seppuku, although it runs fine on this one. The same with the transporters and replicators. Transporters are a whole other level of power compared to replicators. (For various reasons, the most important being, it just doesn’t NEED to be as powerful. You only need transporter-level quality when transporting (and, really, only when transporting living organisms, or a handful of materials). Real coffee, chocolate, whatever, is easy enough to get that the replicated kind being inferior isn’t that big a deal.) > [@Spatial Rift 47](#): > > O’Brien married not a nurse, but a botanist, Keiko. They had a traditional Japanese wedding in Ten Forward, and Captain Picard officiated. Later, on DS9, Miles and Keiko have two children, Molly and Kirayoshi. The latter of the two is partially named after Kira, since she carried the baby to term after Keiko was injured in a shuttle accident. [/huge geek] Which was a much more interesting way of incorporating Nana Visitor’s pregnancy than having Kira get pregnant, I must say. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/75 "2006-01-27T12:31:55Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Which was a much more interesting way of incorporating Nana Visitor’s pregnancy than having Kira get pregnant, I must say. The father was none other than Alexander/Siddig El/Fadil/Siddig, AKA Dr. Bashir. They later married, but sadly, are now divorced. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2006, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/76 "2006-01-27T20:45:48Z")
_Sí_. At one point during her labor with Kirayoshi, Kira even snaps “this is all your fault!” at Julian. It’s a favorite moment of mine. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/77 "2006-01-28T02:32:24Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Keiko, had her first child on the Enterprize. The baby was delivered by Worf because the ship had suffered a massive breakdown and they were stuck in Ten Foward. It was not a breakdown. The ship was damaged by impact with a quantum filament (which is a completely different phenomenon than a quantum string). Worf cut the umbilical cord with a phaser. Molly went on to stumble through a hole in time, and to meet Rumpestiltskin. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061/78 "2006-01-28T06:06:25Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > The father was none other than Alexander/Siddig El/Fadil/Siddig, AKA Dr. Bashir. They later married, but sadly, are now divorced. I always thought it kinda amusing that there were scenes of Siddig pretending to administer prenatal care to his own child. And I will never bow to the Trekness of others, because I knew without checking that the episode was titled “Disaster” and can recite the major plot points from memory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trek-food-synthesizers/341061.md?page=3)