Regardless, quite a a few good points were brought up, and I look forward to digging into them to explore.

Aliette de Bodard, yeah. You do know I asked her to this Mind Meld for good reason, right?

Babylon 5 is another tv source which sometimes did things with expense and scarcity of food, with fine dining and varied rituals.

Food is a major social marker. What kind of food is made, how it’s cooked, whether it’s mass-produced or privately cooked.

It is that kind of food experience that is perhaps lacking in science fiction and fantasy, at least to a satisfying degree. I’ve never understood the idea that progress would mean popping pills. Who doesn’t like the taste of food, even when in a hurry? Even fast food offers an arguably satisfying experience from a taste standpoint even if that taste is predominately salt. To me it has always made sense that if technology made the kind of advancements that would make our lives easier then our desires to savor good food would lead to more time spent consuming and enjoying good meals because of all the free time we would have.

Someone above mentioned “Immersion” which I just read for the second time this week in preparation for Friday’s short story post here on SF Signal (shameless plug) and one of the many things that made the story so endearing is the portrayal of a family owned and run Asian restaurant. I could practically smell the food as I read it. “Immersion” is a current example of science fiction where food, although only briefly touched on, is still FOOD and I hope to see much more of that in the future.