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We’re about three months into our journey to Erid, and I’ve been out of real food for a week. Coma slurry is supremely unappetizing, and taumoeba is so pungent that I had to hold my nose shut when I tried it. The one saving grace is that the texture is tolerable. It’s a little gooey, but I can handle gooey. Still, I wonder if there was a way I could change that…
“How would I go about cooking something?” I say to myself absentmindedly. My mind is already pondering the possibility of using heat to make some sort of bar of taumoeba (taumoebar?) when Rocky speaks up.
“What is word after ‘about’, question?”
Right. We never talked much about food or the culture surrounding it due to Rocky’s aversion. He politely ignored me whenever I ate, and the limited conversations about my diet were mostly about what would keep me alive for the foreseeable future.
“It’s food related, but I suppose I’ll have to explain it to you anyway if I try it.”
“Explain. I not mind, better than hearing it with surprise,” he responds. I’m taken aback a little, normally he avoids discussion of food like the plague.
“Well, most human foods can’t be eaten straight away, or ‘raw’. They may be too tough to break apart with our teeth, or they may have diseases. They also may just taste bad raw,” I explain.
“Understand. Some Eridian food feel worse to break apart when raw. Food on Blip-A was heated to keep edible during mission.” That makes sense. He was in Tau Ceti for decades, his food would’ve gone bad if it were raw.
“Yes! Heating food is something humans do as well. A lot of food is placed in boiling water. This kills the microbes inside, and typically softens the food as well. Food can also be frozen, to preserve it.”
“Frozen? How eat if frozen, question?”
“It gets reheated when it’s time to eat. The process varies depending on the food. Some food is simply left out to warm gradually, while others are heated in a device called a ‘microwave’, which uses radiation to-” Rocky drops the contraption he was holding - some component for a larger screen-reader - and stares at me despite his lack of eyes.
“Humans use radiation for food question? How are not dead question?!”
His voice rises so sharply it startles me. I quickly realize why: radiation killed his crew. Of course he would be concerned, his only context for radiation is death! I mentally facepalm before elaborating.
“Not a deadly radiation. Microwaves use just enough to heat the food and kill microbes, nothing more. They’re also sealed, so no radiation gets out. Sorry I made you worry, I didn’t consider how you’d react,” I apologize. There’s a brief pause in the conversation, both of use just existing together, contemplating each others’ words.
“Is fine. Should have let you finish. Why you mention cooking in first place, question?” Right, I did just kind of say it out of nowhere. How should I go about this?
“I can’t eat ‘raw’ coma slurry and taumoeba for four years. A diet with varying flavors and textures is something a lot of people would consider necessary for mental health. Eating the same exact thing, in the same exact three rooms, for four years straight? I don’t think I can do that,” I explain. Rocky is still fully focused on me. Normally, he would be fidgeting with some gadget or doohickey during a conversation (whether that’s a trait all Eridians have or something unique to Rocky, I have yet to find out), but right now all his attention is on me. He can tell this is important to me.
“How cooking help, question? Taumoeba already dead, heating no change much.”
“That’s not all cooking is! Cooking also includes mixing different items together to create new tastes and textures. For example, salt can be added to a dish to preserve it, but also to change the taste! Unfortunately, my options are very limited here.”
“Fascinate. Gross, but fascinate. Erid no have anything like that for food.”
“It can get kind of gross, even for humans. Some combinations are very bad, or even chemically impossible. ‘Baking’ is a form of cooking that is much more based on chemistry, but getting the chemicals wrong can have disastrous results.”
“Disastrous, question?”
“I once lit my oven on fire trying to bake a ‘cake’. Cakes are a type of food normally eaten during a celebration, usually a birthday or similar special occasion, by the way, so my then-girlfriend didn’t take that too well.”
“Cooking crazy.”
“Yeah, sometimes. My point is, I want to see if I can change the flavor of taumoeba and/or coma slurry. I don’t know what exactly I could use to do that though. My first thought was to use an oven to make some sort of solid taumoeba brick, but I don’t know what exactly would happen, and I’d likely need some other ingredients to make it solidify. I could mix it with the coma slurry maybe…”
“Gross. Even for food, is gross sounding.”
“Hey! You asked in the first place. Speaking of that, why did you continue to listen?” I ask while grabbing a bag of coma slurry. “You’ve always despised the topic, I’m surprised you haven’t asked me to stop yet.”
“Is… embarrassing.” He’s suddenly speaking very quietly. I look over to see him slightly hunkered down, and he starts fidgeting with the gadget again. He isn’t really doing anything with it though, he’s just rotating it in his hands.
“It’s okay, I won’t judge you.” Now I’m a little concerned. Not concerned enough yet to put down the taumoeba container I just grabbed, but still a little concerned. Rocky shifts ever so slightly.
“Before I leave, Adrian study food.” I raise an eyebrow. “They writing a ♫♪♩♩, not know what human word is. Science text on certain topic, for career.”
“The human word, well, words, would be ‘research paper’ I think.”
“Yes, research paper. Examine why food and eating considered gross. Had section on what culture be like if not consider gross.” It’s for his mate! I smile as I place the coma slurry and taumoeba on the counter.
“That’s so sweet! I can tell Adrian directly though, when we get to Erid, if you don’t want to talk about it.” I grab a pouch of water, setting it on the counter next to the other containers.
“Thank, but I willing to talk about it now, in case…” Rocky quavers, his voice eerily similar to when he saw me getting crushed by the chair during the Adrian (the planet, not his mate) Incident.
“In case what?” I ask cautiously.
“In case you no make it to Erid.”
Oh.
Oh gosh. Rocky, concerned and scared that I may die of starvation before we reach Erid, put aside his cultural taboos to talk about something important to me and his beloved. I feel tears start to build up in the corners of my eyes.
“Oh Rocky… that might be the best thing I’ve ever heard. I have no intention of dying, but I’ll still put together a document on human food culture, for you to give to Adrian. I will be there with you when we get to Erid though. I promise,” I manage to say between sniffles.
“You cry?”
“Yes, but these are good tears. Happy tears.”
“Good. Sorry for getting emotion, I not talk about food partly because of culture, but partly because of Adrian. Should talk more about Adrian in future, question?” Rocky’s voice is closer to his usual sound, now that he’s gotten his emotions out somewhat.
“Yes. It would be good for you, and I’d love to hear about Adrian.” I begin mixing the coma slurry and taumoeba in the water pouch.
“Ok. What you doing, question?” he says with a curious tilt of his carapace.
“Oh! I’m trying out that coma slurry and taumoeba mixture I mentioned. Surely the combination can’t be worse than its ingredients.” I finish stirring and bring the pouch to my lips.
I take a sip.
The combination is worse than its ingredients.