History Main / FoodPills

* Possibly the biggest problem with food pills is that the human digestive system (and probably most animal digestive systems) requires a certain minimum amount of fibre in order to avoid potentially fatal constipation.

* This [[poster http://www.zazzle.com/space_food_posters-228433674153585046]], part of a Zazzle Art series of {{Zeerust}}-style travel posters.

Today's science fiction food tends to be... well, food. If there ''is'' concentrated food--such as the "protein pastes" that may be Food Pills' spiritual descendants--it tends to not taste very good, ranging from bland at best to terrible at worst. See FutureFoodIsArtificial.

* The film ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' features a zero-gee "meal" sucked up through straws, and later a tray of what can only be called Astronaut Chow.

* A ''WesternAnimation/MrBogus'' claymation short had Bogus come across a container of dehydrated food tablets, along with a vial of water used for the re-hydration process. After he experiments with one of the tablets, Bogus then eats all of the tablets and drinks the entire vial of water, [[WeightTaller which causes him to become]] [[BalloonBelly massively bloated within seconds.]]

* Various mentions of combat rations and food pastes in StarWars novels tend to involve jokes on them being nearly as deadly as actual weapons.

* Though not literally pills, the Elven "waybread" lembas from ''TheLordOfTheRings'' serves the same function, in that it doesn't go bad and a single bite can fill you up.

-->-- LoreSjoberg

* In ''{{Daleks Invasion Earth 2150 AD}}'', the Robomen eat colored pills dispensed by an automatic kitchen.

* Referenced in one episode of ''StargateSG1''. Carter is working with Thor, an alien, on a new weapon. It's taking a while, so Thor offers her some food in the form of multicolored, bite-sized pieces. Carter tries one, and practically spits it right back out.

* Fantasy Games Unlimited's ''TabletopGame/{{Aftermath}}''. Super-K Rations were the ultimate in preserved nutrition. They were pastes stored in a squeeze tube that provided a full day's nutrition. However, they weren't very appetizing.

* Early players of the ''DungeonsAndDragons'' game often joked about the ''Create Food & Water'' spell making a cardboard-tasting, nutritious slop, although this wasn't specified in the spell's description. Though these jokes may explain the "Murlynd's Spoon" (Spoon of Substance in the SRD) magic item from later editions, which ''did'' create a cardboard-tasting, nutritious slop. Fortunately, the popular, common, low level, long lasting spell prestidigitation which explicitly covers "altering taste" as one of its ([[MagicTool many]]) functions exists along side it, though is typically inaccessible to most casters of Create Food & Water (though items of it are inexpensive).

** {{Deadlands}} had a similar spell called "Vittles", that expressly created nutritious cardboard-flavoured slop. This could however be augmented with another spell that made anything that was even remotely edible taste like a three-star eleven course meal.

* ''TomorrowTown'', a short story by KimNewman about a "community of the future" built in 1970's Britain that doesn't live up to its own hype. Like everything else about Tomorrow Town, the food pills don't work as well as they're supposed to. So much so that, by the end of the story, everyone in town is eagerly awaiting the arrival of an old-fashioned fish-and-chip van so they can have some proper food for once.

*** Because fat ''IS'' very nutritious and calorie-rich, and for a physically active man such as a soldier it isn't even nearly as harmful for health as for a modern sedentary urbanite[[hottip:*:Chief health disadvantage of fats is that they tend to accumulate if not consumed by the body, and a modern urbanite of an average lifestyle spends at most about 2200 kcal per day, while consuming about 3200 kcal, leading to obesity and cardiovascular problems. A soldier in the field OTOH can burn off as much as 6800 kcal per day.]], while being cheap and non-spoiling in a can. Around the world much of the traditional peasant food, created by the people who did a lot of hard physical labor, is a hearty, greasy fare. The main reason obesity runs rampant in modern society is a consequence of technology removing a lot of the hard manual labor with people largely not changing their traditional high-fat diets to fit. See also: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemmican Pemmican.]]

* The ''TheFairlyOddParents" episode "Future Lost" had food discs (which also included drinks). Later, Timmy [[Chekhov'sGun used the juice food discs to give brain freeze]] to the [[BigBad Big Brain]].

*** Because fat ''IS'' very nutritious and calorie-rich, and for a physically active man such as a soldier it isn't even nearly as harmful for health as for a modern sedentary urbanite[[hottip:*:Chief health disadvantage of fats is that they tend to accumulate if not consumed by the body, and a modern urbanite of an average lifestyle spends at most about 2200 kcal per day, while consuming about 3200 kcal, leading to obesity and cardiovascular problems. A soldier in the field OTOH can burn off as much as 6800 kcal per day.]], while being cheap and non-spoiling in a can. Around the world much of the traditional peasant food, created by the people who did a lot of hard physical labor, is a hearty, greasy fare. See also: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pemmican Pemmican.]]
*** Referenced in ''MetalGearSolid3'': Snake loves the instant noodles and calorie mates that he's able to find, but he simply can't stomach the Russian rations that restore most of his stamina bar (in a game where the amount of stamina restored is related to both the taste and the calorie content of the meal).
*** Mainly because he missed on a crucial detail: traditional Russian canned meat is supposed to be eaten ''hot'', with the crushed biscuits or cereals added to the pot, creating a kind of a porridge/gravy. Eating it cold out of a can like luncheon meat is an acquired taste indeed.

** The British Army went to quite a bit of trouble to avert this one a few years back when they updated their field rations, and even the previous generation weren't too bad, except for that one dessert you had to break up with a rock. Being far better than American MREs, British Army units have been known to trade boxes of ration packs to US counterparts for some of their better kit.

* Canned food originated for military purposes, as feeding an army is rather difficult. During the first years of the Napoleonic Wars, the notable French newspaper Le Monde, prompted by the government, offered a hefty cash award of 12,000 francs to any inventor who could devise a cheap and effective method of preserving large amounts of food. Glass jars and champagne bottles were used at first but they break rather easily. So metal cans were developed.
-->"An army marches on its stomach." -- '''Napoleon'''
** Unfortunately, early cans were sealed with lead, which probably ended up killing the soldiers faster than actual combat.
** Also, the tin opener was invented some years after the tin, so soldiers resorted to opening tins with bayonets and the like.

*** Because fat ''IS'' very nutritious and calorie-rich, and for a physically active man such as a soldier it isn't even nearly as harmful for health as for a modern sedentary urbanite[[hottip:*:Chief health disadvantage of fats is that they tend to accumulate if not consumed by the body, and a modern urbanite of an average lifestyle spends at most about 2200 kcal per day, while consuming about 3200 kcal, leading to obesity and cardiovascular problems. A soldier in the field OTOH can burn off as much as 6800 kcal per day.]], while being cheap and non-spoiling in a can. Around the world much of the traditional peasant food, created by the people who did a lot of hard physical labor, is a hearty, greasy fare. Of course, fat might be not much appetizing, but that's basically what makes it a RealLife FoodPill.

** The British Army went to quite a bit of trouble to avert this one a few years back wen they updated their field rations.
*** Even the old ones weren't too bad, except for that one dessert you had to break up with a rock. Being far better than American MREs, we used to be able to trade boxes of ration packs to US units for some of their better kit.

* ''TabletopGame/Paranoia XP'' supplement ''Criminal Histories''. The Vita-Yum Meal Substitute Bar Substitute Pill.

* In ''TimeSquad'', Otto and Tuddrussel's rations consist of microwaveable pellets. Plate one and nuke it for a few seconds, and it pops into [[InstantMassJustAddWater a delicious full-sized meal]] (such as chicken cacciatore). [[CordonBleughChef Larry 3000]] doesn't appreciate the fact that they prefer the pellets to his home cooking.

*** More impressively, some of their beans have the flavours of fizzy beverages... and they actually fizz!

* Nutraloaf is a loaf of food (of various sorts) served in solitary confinement in US prisons, as it's filling, meets basic dietary needs, and requires no utensils, meaning no improvised weapons. It's also bad enough that lawsuits have been filed against it being served in some states, on the basis that it violates the law that food cannot be used as a punishment.