Voyager, Neelix and Replicators.

[Formless]

Putting aside the issue of gas or electric for a moment, why the hell is there a colander on the burner?

My assumption with these things and everything else related to Neelix's kitchen items is that they were selected to look exotic, futuristic, and possibly alien. Much like how in one episode Neelix suggests using the high energy plasma whatsit from a nebula to make his stove hotter/cook faster-- its supposed to sound cool even as common sense would suggest he's just going to burn something. It is of course the kind of stupid that is obvious to anyone who has actually worked with food, which unlike Voyager's science is practically everyone who has lived away from their parents/a college dormitory for more than a year.

Then again, in universe that may be how Neelix really wants to operate. Its all about the aesthetic he presents so as to encourage people to come to his mess hall for lunch, even if most people end up using the replicators rather than eating his cooking. None of the people on this ship have ever met a Talaxian before, so he can always bluff and bluster about how this is how his culture does things. If you want to be charitable, you could say that Neelix understands the role of moral officer enough to see the importance of having an area dedicated to socialization even if he secretly knows he is a shitty chef. If you want to be cruel, you could chalk it up to his need to be the center of attention, whether or not he warrants any.

[bilateralrope]

Putting aside the issue of gas or electric for a moment, why the hell is there a colander on the burner?

So that the fat from the food can drip onto the burner, catch fire, increase the flame temperature and thus cook the food faster while reducing how much needs to be thrown away.

I can see several things wrong with that justification, but I can see Neelix believing it. I wonder how often Neelix set the kitchen on fire.

[Isolder74]

We see him do it on screen at least twice.

[Ted C]

I wonder how often Neelix set the kitchen on fire.

If Federation starships didn't have automatic force field containment systems to smother uncontrolled fires, it would probably have happened more than once a week.

[Isolder74]

I have to wonder if the appalling state of Nelix's kitchen was supposed to be a joke of some sort, but nobody got it. Either that, or nobody connected to the show had ever actually done any cooking in real life... which seems improbable to me.

Much of the way Neelix acts and his stuff is staged was based on the dictates of B & B. So it does makes a bit of sense that one of the many set designers on the show stuck many of those things in just to spite them.

It would not surprise to find out that many high level Television and Hollywood writers and producers have never ever set foot in a kitchen in their lifetime. There are some normal people who have only ever eaten frozen dinners and restaurant food(including fast food). Some people are just plain lazy, which is sad because homemade food is yummy.

I wonder how often Neelix set the kitchen on fire.

If Federation starships didn't have automatic force field containment systems to smother uncontrolled fires, it would probably have happened more than once a week.

I wouldn't doubt it. In both instances I can think of when Neelix's food has caught fire he stared at them uselessly for what felt like forever before doing something about it.

[Rossum]

I'm curious how beaming up foodstuffs from alien planets could be more efficient than replicating it.

The process of beaming things up obviously has to use energy (at least the energy required to lift it all that way... unless the beam negates the pull of gravity or turn the object into particles with no mass).

Plus, the logistics of getting food ingredients from any alien planet they come across. I'm pretty sure anyone regardless of cooking skill would have trouble reliably making dishes using completely different ingredients as they go, and often never seeing that particular ingredient again when it runs out.

Say, if Voyager came across a planet and beamed up a ton of Zorgian corn. A chef could test the stuff and maybe make bread, cooked corn, or stew using it. But the subtle flavors and uses of it could elude them (particularly if their other ingredients are similarly mixed). His initial meals using it could be terrible but experimentation lets him make some decent food with it... only to use up the last of it and never be able to get another sample without turning the ship around or replicating the ingredients.

It could well be the standard cooking tactic for space hobos / or scavengers to just cook the hell out of whatever they find and wolf it down regardless of how it tastes.

This doesn't excuse Neelix of course, but the point is that anyone trying to cook with those constraints is going to have problems even if they did have a functional knowledge of kitchen safety.

Its curious they would even go that route unless there was some serious efficiency differences between replicating and using up fuel and power to buy space oats.

Or, it could be the Voyager crew likes collecting exotic samples of stuff including plants and spices and Neelix making crummy stew out of it is just a way to get utility out of it.

Either fly home quickly using replicated food and avoid a bunch of alien planets, or stop off at every half-interesting place, take samples, take notes on the samples properties, make a bunch of scientific papers on their findingd... and have Neelix cook it all in a big pot because he doesn't really care what the stuff is.

So... the Voyager crew might just enjoy collecting stuff from planets and Neelix claiming he can use the stuff to cook with gives them an excuse to do so in their minds. Why they need this particular shithead to ruin their food is unexplained, but its something to think about.

[Rossum]

I wonder how often Neelix set the kitchen on fire.

If Federation starships didn't have automatic force field containment systems to smother uncontrolled fires, it would probably have happened more than once a week.

I wouldn't doubt it. In both instances I can think of when Neelix's food has caught fire he stared at them uselessly for what felt like forever before doing something about it.[/quote]

Hmm, in "Up the Long Ladder" somebody mentioned the fire containment unit would seal in the fire until it used up all the air and a person could suffocate from this if they were too close.

Maybe somebody was hoping Neelix would himself on fire and "unfortunatly" get killed in the process. Unfortunately, that never happens despite Neelixs repeated attempts.

Unless he knows about this and set his kitchen up into a fire hazard on purpose. While he's "smart" enough to not let himself get killed like that, everyone thinks its only a matter of time and they don't want to replace him. Whoever has to take over could either get killed by the death trap or would have to fix it and risk that Neelix wouldn't die in his own grease fire.

[PeZook]

The process of beaming things up obviously has to use energy (at least the energy required to lift it all that way... unless the beam negates the pull of gravity or turn the object into particles with no mass).

It's actually simple: you'd need to beam the replicator feedstock, too. In fact processing materials into feedstock probably takes energy as well: you find a bunch of nitrogen compounds, you beam them to the cargo bay, then you use replicators to separate the compounds into elements for storage, and only then do you use the elements to synthesize organic matter for consumption.

They obviously think it's more energy intensive to do that than beaming away teams down, having them collect food and beaming all of that back ; Just by how much? Impossible to tell. Still, it's their ship so they probably can tell how much juice each process uses up

[Isolder74]

The only way collecting from a cloud of space material might be less intensive is if they used the bussard scoops to drawn the material in. again we then need to consider the need to separate the stuff into usable items and discarding anything not worth keeping.

Hydrogen and Deuterium being fairly common in the universe kind of slipped the minds of the writers until late in the series.

[aussiemuscle308]

Today militaries don't exactly serve gourmet food for troops in the field or deployed.

a better comparison would be the doco on the carrier Regan, shows the us navy eats ok. not gourmet, but healthy and tasty (according to the couple sailors they asked).

[Isolder74]

The Navy gets the Gravy but the Army gets the beans!

[Connor MacLeod]

Its possible that there were multiple '-ponics' bays throughout the ship. Maybe Kes maintained only one she started (nothing says she has to be the only crewmember who devotes time or effort to such a project.) Likewise, we could expect Neelix might be only one cook amongst others. I kinda find it hard to believe he could singlehandedly feed an entire ship given the way he ran his kitchen, even with limited help from the replicators.

As far as the replicators themselves are concerned..I always felt that whatever 'base materials' they used for running the replicators were either finite, or slow to produce (indicating some sort of bottleneck) and thus the need for rationing and recycling and 'alternative' methods. (As for why they didn't just make stuff and then recycle it back.. that assumes the recycling process is 100% efficient, after all..) I never quite bought that 'energy' itself would be the bottleneck given the way their powerplants run (unless you *need* antimatter to run the replicators.)

Edit: Or basically everything PeZook has said at this point *Shakes fist at the stolen thunder*