Schematics of a food processor.
Food delivered in a food slot.
The food synthesizer (aka food processor or, more colloquially, food slot) was a receptacle for synthesizing foods and beverages that were a commonly integrated into Federation starships and starbases in the 23rd century. Unlike the replicators of the 24th century, food synthesizers were seen as a supplement to a starship's chef.
History and specifics[]
In the standard Starfleet food slots 2260s, food orders were often made by inserting a record tape into a slot on the synthesizer, although voice command was eventually available. Even by the turn of the 2270s, the food synthesizer technology was questionable at best, with notable failures occurring aboard some vessels, such as the USS Enterprise. Some instance of food synthesizer malfunctions include an occasion when a food slot's voice command was disabled by a non-corporeal intelligence, causing the computer to carry out voice instructions unpredictably, or even interpret conversation among cremembers as meal requests. Eventually, synthesizer units stopped responding altogether, continuously producing meals, and filling a recreation room with food. (TAS episode & Log Six novelization: The Practical Joker)
The processors could be infested, as when hordes of tribbles aboard the Enterprise made their way into the ship's processors. (TOS episode & Star Trek 3 novelization: The Trouble With Tribbles)
More mundane failures were common. On one occasion, patterns of flavors were reversed and strict carnivore Snnanagfashtalli was given a raw steak that tasted like avocado and Spock received a salad that was flavored as bœuf bourguignon. The two traded lunches. Spock shared his faux steak with Hikaru Sulu, who had received salmon that tasted like chicken and Marietta Cheung, whose duck lu-se-te tasted like wood chips in sugar syrup. (TOS novel: Enterprise: The First Adventure)
A similar device, referred to as an autokitchen, was available in student housing units on the campus of Berkeley University in the late 2260s. (TOS novel: Prime Directive)
In the year 2270, B-class food processor unit FS-137-B malfunctioned, becoming obsessed with oatmeal while tapping power from the warp drive. Some circuitry was replaced to repair it. (TOS - Which Way Books novella: Voyage to Adventure)
Portable food processors such as Portable Kitchen Unit 03 were beamed to Sarsithia to aid residents during a famine in 2273. (TOS comic: "Quarantine")
Appendices[]
External link[]
- Food synthesizer article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.