"Food is another thing I have come to appreciate in a very different way today compared to how I felt about it before joining Starfleet.
I don't recall much about food on Cheron. My family, specifically my mother, made due with what meager provisions and ingredients we could afford and get ahold of. She regularly made a kind of watering stew made out of...whatever was available. It never tasted exactly the same, never looked identical to the last time she made it, and yet it was always 'Sustaining Soup'. I didn't hate it and I didn't like it. I simply ate it, because that's what my mother had made and that's what would keep us alive.
When I was out on my own, foraging and hunting in a manner I would never have imagined I'd be doing in a million millennia, I discovered...well...flavors. Some fruits and vegetables were dangerous, some full of nutrients, but even more incredibly, some tasted really bad and other really good. The same with meats! Herbs allowed me to change the taste of the food. It sounds silly to me know but it was a startling revelation at the time.
In Starfleet...pardon me, I need a moment. *Plays off rubbing her eye as she wipes away a tear while smiling all the while* My apologies, something in my eye. During my time here in Starfleet I've experienced such a wide variety of flavors and textures in food that I often can't wrap my mind around how such a thing is possible. I once eat to live and its not that I live to eat per se but I actually enjoy meals now and its a pretty wonderful experience. What makes it even better is having others to share food with. Be it in the Mess Hall or in a restaurant, sitting down with friends to have a meal together is one of the highlights of my off hours these days.
I'd like think to my parents would be happy for me but it makes me sad that they never had the chance to enjoy this life with me. My apologizes again. Lt. Commander Gravph always says 'food brings up memories' and it seems he's right. Even 'Sustaining Soup'.
The Restaurants of Starbase 25
I've spoken of the restaurants on Deep Space Station K-12 previously and while they are quite good, even very good, they don't have notoriety or diversity of those on Starbase 25. When I first defected to the United Federation of Planets and made the decision to join Starfleet, I went to Starbase 25 and my goodness, I had never seen so many different places to eat in my life. I would later learn that some of these are truly top rated restaurants. I'll describe only a few that I or one of my close crewmates have been to.
Tavern Keep! Another!
The Andorian restaurant Clan of Comfort Brew House is more bar than eatery but also a very interesting window into Andorian culture and history. Based on the ancient Brew Houses popular during the time of Krotus the Conqueror, the single, very large room contains two long tables with three [simulated] hearth fires. Lighting overall is low, allowing the hearths to generate a warm light akin to a crackling fireplace no matter where you are in the restaurant. The entire place has a rustic atmosphere. A Human friend said it reminded her of Earth's Medieval Europe.
Mostly the restaurant serves Andorian Ale, a bright blue, carbonated beverate not unlike and yet very different from Earth beer. It has a mildly sweet, berry-like taste. The Clan of Comfort Brew House carries over 50 different brands and types of Andorian Ale, ranging from the dark blue 'Stout of Andoria' to my personal favorite, 'Blue Moon Sour', which is very hard to find anywhere outside of Andor and its close colonies. It tastes a bit like sour blueberries, vanilla, and lightly sweet honey.
Only very basic food choices are available but most of them are quite good. Tuber Root sticks deep fried in animal fat from a native Andorian creature (ethically sourced) and seasoned 'Nut Shells', which are actually the baked, cast off shells of a Andorian land dwelling crustacean are both very popular (at least with Andorians).
The restaurant is run by two joined families in the Clan of Comfort, a Keth governing bars, restaurants, and hospitalities such as lodging, tourism, and other related industries.
Good Morning Starbase 25!
Good Morning/Good Evening is a bakery and cafe with signage saying 'Good Morning' early in station's day, open from 0600 hours until 1200 hours. It than closes until 1800 hours when it reopens with the sign now displaying 'Good Evening'. It remains open until 2400, when it closes until 0600 rolls around again.
As I understand it, while it is a well liked restaurant, the Good Morning phase has about twice the popularity and patronage as the Good Evening phase. I will say for myself, this place has some of the most delicious baked goods I've ever encountered. True, my exposure to such food is small but many of my fellow crewmates have said the same thing. They make all sorts of muffins, rolls, cakes, and similar bread items but there is this one...a salty, buttery roll or biscuit that is probably one of my favorite things to eat in the universe. I'm full after one but always considering getting a second one immediately after I finish the first.
Good Morning also serves excellent Coffee which, if you are not familiar with this beverage, is essentially the life blood of Human society and certainly Starfleet. The Captain always has a cup of coffee to start her day. Commander Carr likes his black or dark (very little milk) and very sweet. The first time I had it I had to spit it out. It was awful. Doctor Hanover realized the acidity of the drink was too low for my body. After adjusting the pH level of the water in it I tried it again and I was stunned. I loved it and it's near-magical awakening effect was like nothing I'd ever had before or since outside of a Medical Stimulant from a hypospray. Of course coffee a lot more pleasant than the later.
The owner of the establishment informed me that the restaurant is in the retro-style of Earth's 1950s 'Americana' period, with specialized lighting to give Morning mode and Evening mode very different moods.
Spicy and Comfy!
Oasis in a Desert Haze is a Zaranite restaurant that, for reasons I will go into, usually isn't especially busy and that is a shame. Both the food and the overall atmosphere there is wonderful. One sits on the ground, which is covered in wooly rugs, around a table carved by hand out of some sort of smooth sandstone. The food usually consists of two large plates with main dishes, two bowls of soup - one hot, one cold - and a dozen small plates of everything from vegetables and nuts to flat breads and deeply friend meats. Everyone takes a little of everything and puts it on their own plate so you can try it all.
While most of the food is what would generally qualify as spicy, some is savory, and some is sweet, all in the same sitting. The Zaranites do not appear to have 'courses' or the concept of 'dessert' as a separate meal, except on special occasions. Drink usually consists of one of several types of spiced [though not spicy] tea or a sort of sweet beer.
The Zaranites, a desert dwelling species from the planet Zaran (Mu Capricorni II), have an antagonistic history with the Andorians and friction with the Efrosians, resulting in many people giving them and their establishments a wide berth that I do not personally feel is warranted. Additionally, a Zaranite Phaser Engineer on the Prosperity, who has proven to be an honorable and heroic individual, invited me and a number of others to this restaurant and I can attest it was definitely something you should experience yourself.
All this talk has made me hungry *laughter*.
Who's up for a bite? Let's try some local cuisine...
AD
Barking Alien
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