Driveby Xenogears entry.

[myaru]

So, many of us agree that Shitan probably can't cook to save his life. They might even mention that in the game somewhere! The question is why. reynardfox contends that he's just so absent-minded he'll get distracted with almost anything while cooking, and therefore whatever it is will end up burnt to a crisp or somehow explosive. I think he doesn't have a clue about cooking because in Solaris there's nothing to cook. You open a can of Soylent and there's dinner - maybe it's even self-heating! This is Solaris after all.

Then we got onto the subject of food in Solaris. I mean, it's not like you can avoid it. (That's canon!)

Shevat has hydroponic gardens. They also have real air, so I'm not sure if such a thing is possible in Solaris. :P It makes sense they'd have some kind of vegetable production because that's essential to proper nutrition. Vitamins can only do so much for you, no matter how many additives you pump into the manufactured food. We don't know how many people live in Solaris, but I figure if they do grow any kind of vegetables, the First Class citizens get first pick, and are probably most likely to afford them. Rare commodity = profit.

Shitan is technically Third Class, so I wonder how much of that he saw. He's military, which means rations. On the other hand, he took a lot of missions to the surface, so it's not like he didn't have opportunity to taste the finer things in life.

Actually, don't you wonder what he ate while he was at home? Because seriously, why would anybody put Solarian food into their mouth when they know what's in it?

But then: could they synthesize vegetables? Did they sell Soylent mainly as meat, but try to make some of it look... like not-meat? Or maybe they imported from the surface. They've got all of that free manpower on the Third Class level! The fuel might be killer, though. Zohar doesn't power 100% of everything.

This is all to say: Shitan wouldn't know how to cook veggies because, well, that's just not in the Solarian repertoire. Why he can't cook anything else is beyond me. Maybe all of his genius is aimed at tactics and engineering, and he just doesn't have the headspace for skills like boiling water.


Re: fic meme - I have ideas, will work. :D

Comments

[nyuna.livejournal.com]

I would say

1.) he sucks at seasoning
and
2.) they imported most of the stuff from the surface and maybe cultivated something small like herbs/cherry tomatos. Also, they are in the middle of the ocean, so maybe they used seaweed to synthesize additional fibers?

[myaru.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, I didn't think of harvesting kelp! That's a really interesting idea. The various types are supposed to be very nutritious and good for body care and such as well.

Maybe they could have harvested a small amount of fish as well. Depends on how that works out in the middle of the ocean though. I've no clue. That... would make Solaris's diet completely unpalatable to me. :P But that's a given anyway with the Soylent issue.

Hahaha, oh Shitan. Maybe he uses too much pepper, and doesn't know things like garlic, paprika, thyme, and other things even exist. :P

[krynmark.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm reminded of Arcana's old fic "Cooking With Shitan" when I read this. That was one of those fics I laughed out loud at based solely on good writing and even better comedy!

*shudder* Soylent....I swear that whole idea came from some cult B-movie I heard about. I just can't remember the name.

[myaru.livejournal.com]

Ahahaha, I forgot all about that fic. XD That was hilarious! He always came up with ideas like that, didn't he? I think he's allergic to taking the game seriously, which is probably a good thing.

Soylent Green, right? I remember the reference being really obvious to everyone except me, because I'd somehow never heard of the movie. I was completely surprised to find out what was in Solarian rations while everyone else had a clue way ahead of time. XD;