History Main / OnlyElectricSheepAreCheap

* German sci-fi movie ''Film/{{Sturzflieger}}''. At the end, the protagonists grow rich when they discover a storeroom full of chicks (not as in TheChick).

Normally, this can be written off as ArtisticLicenseBiology. Making more of themselves is something that living things tend to be pretty good at, so supply isn't an issue. Moreover, you'd be surprised at how little energy animals need to survive. The human body, assuming one does not engage in constant strenuous activity, burns up an average 100 watts of power. You have appliances in your home that consume several times that amount of power. And keep in mind, most animals -- paricularly reptiles such as in the page quote -- run on even less than that. One of the reasons for this is cellular respiration being able to convert 40% of glucose's chemical energy into ATP. It doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind most top-of-the-line internal combustion engines struggle to convert just 30% of octane's chemical energy into motion. Animals are very efficient.

** In the 19th century there was even a rule in most prisons not to feed lobster to the prisoners more than a few times a week since it was considered cruel towards them. Although, being the 19th century, this probably refers to the [[Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise furry old lobster]] rather than the one we know now.

[[folder:Film]]

However, this trope can be justified if pollution or disease have directly attacked the remaining real organisms' fertility. For agricultural products, it may be further explained by an economy of scale -- once most people switch to the cheaper synthetic product, the real thing becomes even ''more'' expensive because it's made in smaller quantities. Moreover, plants are one of the few instances where life is quite inefficient. [[https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2011/solar-cells-more-efficient-than-photosynthesis- Even modern photovoltaic cells are more efficient than plants]].[[note]]Though the comparison isn't entirely fair as solar panels don't have to synthesize sugar.[[/note]]

* This trope is present throughout much of Creator/IsaacAsimov's fiction, although it's gone into more detail than usual in ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel''. Most of the humans in ''Caves of ''Steel'' eat food crafted from vat-grown yeast; having a piece of bread made from actual wheat is unheard of.

* This trope is present throughout much of Creator/IsaacAsimov's fiction, although it's gone into more detail than usual in ''Literature/TheCavesOfSteel''.

'''Zhora:''' Of course it’s not real. You think I’d be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?

* In Mamoru Oshii's ''Anime/GhostInTheShell 2: Innocence'', Togusa asks Batou if his basset hound is a clone, remarking that the real thing (as though a clone is any less real) is expensive. (Batou also feeds his dog real food, but this is not presented as an issue of cost, but one of taste.) ''Ghost in the Shell'' is set in a world recovering from war, not (demonstrably) one with a thoroughly devastated environment, however, so the trope borders on cliche here.
** Of course in a world where cybernetics and androids are so plentiful, it could be that some people keep robotic pets that don't have the living and training needs of a real live one.
** In the ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' series, the robotic Tachikomas regard all-natural motor oil as a real treat, much better than synthetic oil. Batou treating "his" Tachikoma differently from the rest, by regularly treating it to natural oil, is a catalyst for the robots developing individuality and self-awareness. [[spoiler:That and the anomalies caused by the oil corroding part of its circuitboard]].
* In ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 2.0'', this trope is played straight when the kids get shown a giant aquarium where specimens of pre-2nd impact sea life are preserved. Rei muses that they are the same as her and can't live outside this sheltered environment. Also, the fact that synthetic meat is the norm. The sheer dissonance between the kid's bewilderment at their first time seeing sea life, and Kaji and Misato's painful memories of the 2nd impact (Misato did not want to come because she would remember the event; Kaji wanted the kids to know what life was before 2nd impact), makes for a very dramatic moment as the viewer realizes this trope is in full effect. Slice of life AND backstory exposition AND character drama all rolled into one.
** At one point in the series, Misato thinks that buying the EVA pilots a steak dinner would bankrupt her. Realising this they take her to a fast food place instead. Becomes FridgeLogic when one realizes that she works for the most important and powerful organization in the world, has precisely ''two'' superiors - yet four steaks would wipe her out. If steak is ''that'' rare, is there '''anyone''' who can afford it?

* A deleted scene in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' mentions that the meat locker is the most heavily guarded area on a spaceship because the last remaining steaks, burger, fritters, etc, in the universe are there. Later in the series, we see the fleet is reduced to eating algae-derived food, and fruit and cigars are valuable black market commodities.
* In the [[Recap/BlackMirrorFifteenMillionMerits second episode]] of ''Series/BlackMirror'' '''all''' physical items are a sign of opulence. The everyday man can only purchase digital goods for his virtual avatar and the food is all grown in a lab. When the main character manages to become a famous TV star he splashes out and buys a real wooden penguin.

* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS15E4TheSunMakers The SunMakers]]", Gatherer Hade is shown to be one of the richest members of the evil company that controls a dystopian society on Pluto by his having a desk made of real mahogany. The member of the oppressed underclass who admires it has only seen a picture of a tree, and even the Gatherer himself mispronounces it "ma-ho-''ga''-ny". Later, he offers the Doctor a raspberry leaf as a rare treat.

** Later Jayne buys a bushel of apples and everybody reacts to this as an amazing treat and question his motives. Simon mentions that the food on a spaceship is considerably worse than planetside, but he ''is'' a Core-worlder, and isn't used to how Rim worlds don't have quality food. The apples remind Mal and Zoe of a rather nasty war story; during the Unification War, a favored tactic of Alliance soldiers was to leave fresh fruit lying around - with pressure-triggered ''grenades'' hidden inside.
--->'''Zoe''': Cap’n said wait, but they were so hungry… Don’t make much noise, just little pops and there’s three guys that kinda just… end at the rib cage.
** {{Inverted}} by the goods in the pilot episode; at first, they appear to be gold bars. However, they're eventually revealed to be concentrated protein bars wrapped in gold foil; each capable of feeding a family of four for a month, they're a ''lot'' more useful than mere gold. Also a nod to historical piracy and smuggling. During [[WoodenShipsAndIronMen the age of sail]], the most common booty cargo was molasses; non-perishable, high-calorie, packed with calcium and potassium... and that's ''before'' you turn it into rum.

* Eobard Thawne mentions in the season 1 finale of '"Series/TheFlash2014'' that, in the 22nd century, cows have become extinct, which explain his love of burgers in the 21st century.

-->'''Nerus:''' And this seedless watermelon--how do you get the seeds out?\\

-->'''Yueh''': One date palm requires forty liters of water a day. A man requires but eight liters. A palm, then, equals five men.

-->''How typical of a Harkonnen fief'', the Duke thought. ''Every degradation of the spirit that can be conceived.''

* ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} 2020'' plays this by the same lines as Shadowrun. Fresh food is an expensive commodity, only within the reach of rich people, and most of the population lives eating Kibble (a mass-produced food identical in all respects to the pet food that gives it its name) and what is basically artificial food not much better than Kibble. (Live) pets, short of wild animals, are expensive too, and one of the Chromebooks even features one corporation whose business follow the lines of pay-us-and-we-bring-you-the-animal-you-wants, even if it has to be stealing it from someone or worse.

** Inadvertently gets a laugh in the ''Tir Tairngire'' sourcebook, also from ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', when it's mentioned that the elves have somehow re-created extinct species for their wilderness areas. It's funny in that both of the named species, grizzly bears and gray wolves, are not only still alive and well today ''without'' any magical or cloning assistance, but they would have had to go extinct, all over the world and also in captivity, in ''less than a decade'' after the supplement was published, in order to meet the timeline suggested for their "extinction". Also, depending on wording, it's unlikely that the [[TaxonomicTermConfusion species]] ''Canis lupus'' ever went extinct in captivity, unless the setting is also completely devoid of ''dogs,'' since technically domestic dogs are a subspecies of gray wolves.[[note]]To be fair, the reclassification of ''Canis familiaris'' was fairly recent, and after thousands of generations of human-controlled breeding, dogs no longer look or act much like their wild cousins. Still, they are interfertile and are currently considered the same species.[[/note]]

* Played with in several Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novels:

* Played with in several StarWars ExpandedUniverse novels:

** The Dark Eldar apply this to birthrates: Their population is billions-strong, but most of it consists of vat-grown individuals called Halfborn who supply most of the soldiery (slave labor is provided by slaves, which is why they're always out raiding other species). Trueborn are the upper class, being born the biological way (due to the danger of Slaanesh claiming their souls during sex, and because the Dark Eldar wouldn't be the Dark Eldar if they didn't have an entire strata of society to look down on / plot to overthrow).

* ''All'' material goods are scarce in ''TabletopGame/WraithTheOblivion'' since the Underworld is a quasi-real interstitial state that of being that was never meant to host a civilization or a significant population. Most of what there is are either fading memories of real items and buildings or goods fabricated by [[AndIMustScream soulforging]] Wraiths into HumanResources. A ''very'' small number of living things and "natural" resources exist that cannot be explained by one of these two phenomena, all of which are staggeringly rare and valuable. For instance, the Deathlords of Stygia have a small number of apparently-living horses in their personal guard - no one knows where they came from, but Stygian policy is that their survival is more valuable than that of their riders.

However, this trope can be justified if pollution or disease have directly attacked the remaining real organisms' fertility. For agricultural products, it may be further explained by an economy of scale -- once most people switch to the cheaper synthetic product, the real thing becomes even ''more'' expensive because it's made in smaller quantities. Moreover, plants are one of the few instances where life is quite inefficient. [[https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2011/solar-cells-more-efficient-than-photosynthesis- Even modern photovoltaic cells are more efficient than plants]].[[note]]Though the comparison isn't entirely fair as solar panels don't have to synthetize sugar.[[/note]]

* In ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion 2.0'', this trope is played straight when the kids get shown a giant aquarium where specimens of pre-2nd impact sealife are preserved. Rei muses that they are the same as her and can't live outside this sheltered environment. Also, the fact that synthetic meat is the norm. The sheer dissonance between the kid's bewilderment at their first time seeing sea life, and Kaji and Misato's painful memories of the 2nd impact (Misato did not want to come because she would remember the event; Kaji wanted the kids to know what life was before 2nd impact), makes for a very dramatic moment as the viewer realizes this trope is in full effect. Slice of life AND backstory exposition AND character drama all rolled into one.

* In ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'', the events of the film take place on the Moon. Certain items are hard to come by on the Moon and aren't cheap to have delivered from Earth, the most commonly-mentioned being wood (not the stuff used in cheap RealLife furniture, but actual wood). At one point, a mobster is mentioned by someone to have had a briefcase made of genuine alligator skin. Naturally, this immediately outed him as an Earther.

* In ''Film/DemolitionMan'', society is entirely vegetarian. When they visit the 'scrap' society, he eagerly eats a hamburger. It's not beef... but at least it's not human. It's actually rat. He doesn't care and keeps on eating. He even says it's the best burger he's had in years. [[note]]Which is, admittedly, a LampshadeHanging on the fact it's the ''only'' burger he's had in years, having spent the last 30 of them in [[HumanPopsicle cryogenic stasis]].[[/note]] It bears mentioning that unlike most examples on this page, meat eating isn't rare due to global disaster, it's a sign of how overly coddled and pacified human civilization has been rendered.

* ''Film/TheMatrix'' has elements of this, and ''all'' the food that isn't gruel is virtual. This is why, in ''Reloaded'', some Zionites give Neo bread as a sign of admiration. It's the equivalent of giving him [[MessianicArchetype gold, frankincense and myrrh]].

* German sci-fi movie ''Film/{{Sturzflieger}}''. At the end, the protagonists grow rich when they discover a store room full of chicks (not as in TheChick).

** ''Literature/DoAndroidsDreamOfElectricSheep'', the novella upon which ''Film/BladeRunner'' was based, goes into this trope in more detail than the film. Real animal pets are considered the ultimate status symbol, and new editions of a blue book are published listing each species's going rate. Many species are thought to be extinct. The main character owns an electric sheep, but conceals the fact that is artificial. At the end of the book, [[spoiler:he discovers a toad, thought to be extinct, and thus priceless, but it turns out to be artificial as well.]]
** In his short story "Breakfast at Twilight", an American family accidentally time-travel to WorldWarThree where they're accosted by a squad of malnourished American soldiers who have a ThisCannotBe reaction to their refrigerator stocked with milk, eggs, butter and meat. They plunder the contents and hide it in their transport before ThePoliticalOfficer arrives.

* Neal Stephenson's ''Literature/TheDiamondAge'', in which one of the phyles bases its entire economy on providing luxurious hand-made goods for the Neo-Victorian elite, while everything else is produced in matter compilers. The TitleDrop is that diamond is now one of the cheapest materials you can have (because, being the absolute simplest pattern of the most common solid atom - a lattice of carbon - it's the easiest thing your matter compiler can make) but ''glass'' is a luxury good. The idea here is that the goods themselves are not important, but hand-made goods are valuable because they prove that you have enough power to compel another human being to take time out of their limited existence to make things for you, when you could have just gone to the nearest matter compiler and got the equivalent product with a snap of your fingers.

* Although the future depicted in the ''Literature/InDeath'' series is not especially dystopian, soy and vegetable imitation foods are very common, and it is a mark of Roarke's ImpossiblyCoolWealth that he always drinks real coffee, smokes real tobacco, and eats real beef. The coffee in particular is insanely expensive, and is made much of by Eve and her fellow cops.

* ''Literature/{{Schismatrix}}'' is set in a future founded by refugees of an ecological meltdown on Earth. Outside of cockroaches, most animals are extremely rare, and in certain places the same goes for food that isn't [[FutureFoodIsArtificial artificial]].

** Kirtan Loor wonders why Ysanne Isard's office is so spartan. Sure, it's a nice size, but any Imperial higher-up worth their salt would have filled it with ostentatious displays of wealth and power.... Then he remembers that they are on [[CityPlanet Coruscant]] and that having empty unused space in the galaxy's most desirable area is pretty much as ostentatious as displays of wealth and power get.

* In the [[Literature/VorkosiganSaga Vorkosigan universe]], this applies to some planets but not others. The heroine of the first two novels is from Beta Colony, a high tech but barely habitable desert planet, who winds up on on Barrayar, which has a breathable atmosphere, lots of running water, and trees all over the place, but is also socially and politically and to some extent technologically backwards on account of [[LostColony having been cut off from contact with the rest of the galaxy for a few centuries]] (only ending a couple of generations before the action of the books). She has to remind herself that on ''this'' planet things like wooden buildings and furniture mean poverty, not wealth.
* ''Literature/TheWarAgainstTheChtorr''. When the government wants to hire the luxury airship Hieronymus Bosch, they have to use chocolate (among other things like coffee, oil or gold) in payment as money is becoming increasingly valueless.

** The price and difficulty of importing foods is highlighted in one second-season episode when Garibaldi tries to obtain certain Italian ingredients (olive oil, garlic, butter and anchovies) for a [[YourFavorite birthday treat]].
* A deleted scene in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' mentions that the meat locker is the most heavily guarded area on a spaceship because the last remaining steaks, burger, fritters, etc, in the universe are there. Later in the series we see the fleet is reduced to eating algae-derived food, and fruit and cigars are valuable black market commodities.

'''Sarkoff:''' Ah, so you're an historian, are you?\\

** Another easy to miss example is the apple-peeling machine on Badger's desk in the pilot. On first glance it's just a weird instrument, but in the light of this trope and Badger's character, [[FridgeBrilliance it becomes apparent that it's one of his ways to demonstrate his higher status]].

* In past editions of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' which include the Elemental Plane of Air in their cosmology, ''dirt'' is considered a valuable commodity on that plane, as it's made up of gas-filled space. Anyone who wants to build a floating castle must either import some dirt to build it on, or (more cheaply) use magic to solidifly a cloud for a foundation.

** It's noted in the game and novel that animal life is held in higher regard then humans -- considering Crystal's reaction is nearly identical to walking in on a murder of a child.
** There is also a point in the game where [=McCoy=] mentions that cheese is a black market item, who's illegal distribution evidently comes with jail time.

* ''VideoGame/NexusClash'' plays InexplicablyPreservedDungeonMeat absolutely straight, but this trope comes up a lot in more serious role-playing. Fruits and vegetables can be grown in the abandoned city that became the battlefield of Valhalla, but there are few if any animals to eat, and meat, eggs and dairy can only be preserved for so long.

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': Inverted. A spare part for a mechanical vehicle can cost as much as a healthy work horse, resulting in mechanical vehicles being used only by the military while civilians go around in horse-drawn carriages. Supplmentary material has also mentioned sugar to have become quite expensive.

* Free range or organic foods tend to be more expensive and luxurious than the industrial kind. Much like the gemstones above, this is almost entirely marketing.
* Wild-caught fish and shellfish and tend to be far more expensive than farmed. Same applies for hunted game, which is more expensive than farmed.

** In the 19th century there was even a rule in most prisons not to feed lobster to the prisoners more than a few times a week, since it was considered cruel towards them. Although, being the 19th century, this probably refers to the [[Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise furry old lobster]] rather than the one we know now.
** Russian sturgeon caviar. Some centuries ago, it was just a byproduct of fishing. Now it is VERY expensive to the point of [[BlackMarketProduce being illegal and restricted]], because sturgeon is close to extinction.[[note]]For the same reason, sturgeon itself is expensive. A few generations ago, young fried sturgeon and catfish were listed as a cheap Friday dinner for seasonal laborers. Now good luck finding any of them in other place than the most expensive fish shops.[[/note]] Similarly, there is an old Polish recipe for sauerkraut and caviar. That's right, people used caviar to ''season sauerkraut!''

* Thomas Edison once declared that, "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles", and he saw that future coming thanks in part to his [[UsefulNotes/NikolaTesla arch-rival]]. Whilst the latter half of this boast hasn't entirely come true (generic candles are fairly cheap), it is indeed much cheaper to run a light-bulb that produces the same amount of light as an equivalent candle for the same amount of time as that candle can burn for, even if you factor in the cost of the globe itself (as it can probably continue alongside hundreds of successive candles before burning out).

* As the standard of living in the developed world has risen since the middle of the 20th century the cost of labor-intensive products have risen dramatically to support this standard, while technology improvement has made the cost of products that can be mass produced fall dramatically. The result is that products once made by skilled craftsmen are now virtually unobtainable, while anything produced by machines are often so cheap to be completely disposable. One of the handful of exceptions to this is clothing. Cloth is an unpredictable material compared to metal and plastic, so sewing machines still require human operators. However, those operators don't have to be highly trained or educated to produce cheap, low-quality products quickly. This is why very little garment manufacture happens in the developed world.

** In Literature/AnneOfGreenGables chicken were served as a special meal for important guests and "eating chicken with salad everyday" was a part of imagined upper-class life listed among diamond jewellery and silk dresses.

* Order a soda at almost any restaurant in the U.S., and you can have it refilled as much as you like at no extra charge. The stuff is so cheap and profit margins so high that they can afford to practically give it away. On the other hand, ask for something that's reasonably healthy and natural, like fruit juice, and you'll pay for every glass. This is because the sodas come from soda fountains, which simply carbonate tap water and then mix in some small amount of concentrated syrup, while the juices (even if they're made with concentrated juice) are delivered in separate containers. The price for delivery and storage is therefore much higher (per serving) for anything but sodas. Also, this is mainly found in the US (which generally has very low food prices anyway), as restaurants in other countries usually don't miss the chance to charge a steep markup for what is basically sugared water. Outside of the States you can mainly encounter this in US-originated restaurants that simply carried this tradition with them, or in places trying to invoke an American feel, where the owners believe that the atmosphere is more important.
* And the reason ''why'' soda is so cheap in the US, along with candies and other sweets, is because of the invention of high-fructose corn syrup as a substitute for cane sugar that can be produced economically using the the vast (and heavily subsidized) corn crop of the American breadbasket. In the US, cane sugar is a rarity found only in organic and other specialty foods and drinks, thanks to competition from high-fructose corn syrup, a relative lack of places in the US where sugar can be grown[[note]]The lower Mississippi Valley, the Gulf Coast, Florida, and Hawaii[[/note]], and import tariffs designed to protect American sugar and corn syrup producers.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert "Food deserts"]] in the developed world; neighborhoods without access to fresh food, usually in very poor, densely-populated urban areas. Grocery stores in wealthier neighborhoods or suburbs can stock fresh produce, meat, and unprocessed staples. The convenience stores that may be the only "grocery" in walking distance (those living in that area are often too poor to own a car) will favor processed, shelf-stable "food" that offers calories and little else. What little fresh food they have will be under a steep markup. Again, this heavily varies with the level of [[WrongSideOfTheTracks urban segregation]] in the larger world, with many countries either not having it to the same degree, with the rich and the poor rubbing shoulders every day, or having functional public transport systems that allow the poor to affordably access the wider markets.
* The coffee plantations in South America and Africa are known for producing some of the best coffee beans in the world, but often the farmers can only afford to drink cheap instant coffee. This also applies in the developed world. Most coffee drinkers find that pre-ground, mass produced coffee is cheaper than fresh coffee beans from local roasters roasted in small batches. The latter is mostly the province of connoisseurs, with a few diehards experimenting with home roasting, something that also used to be routine prior to the development of mass-produced coffee in the 19th century.

* Because maple syrup is so laborious to produce, can only be produced during a relatively small window of late winter/early spring [[note]]Well, okay, it ''can'' also be produced in late fall and early winter, but syrup produced in the fall is thought to be lower quality, because the sap is thought to be lower quality. [[/note]], and it takes many gallons of sap to produce even a small amount of syrup, the real thing is expensive. Pancake syrup, however, is little more than corn syrup with artificial, vaguely kinda-sorta-not-really-maple-y flavoring and caramel coloring. It can be had for as little as $1.

Normally, this can be written off as ArtisticLicenseBiology. Making more of themselves is something that living things tend to be pretty good at, so supply isn't an issue. Moreover, you'd be surprised at how little energy animals need to survive. The human body, assuming one does not engage in constant strenuous activity, burns up an average 100 watts of power. You have appliances in your home that consume several times that amount of power. And keep in mind, most animals -- paricularly reptiles as in page quote -- run on even less than that. One of the reasons for this is cellular respiration being able to convert 40% of glucose's chemical energy into ATP. It doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind most top-of-the-line internal combustion engines struggle to convert just 30% of octane's chemical energy into motion. Animals are very efficient.

Normally, this can be written off as ArtisticLicenseBiology. Making more of themselves is something that living things tend to be pretty good at, so supply isn't an issue. Moreover, you'd be surprised at how little energy animals need to survive. The human body, assuming one does not engage in constant strenuous activity, burns up an average 100 watts of power. You have appliances in your home that consume several times that amount of power. And keep in mind, most animals -- paricularly reptiles -- run on even less than that. One of the reasons for this is cellular respiration being able to convert 40% of glucose's chemical energy into ATP. It doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind most top-of-the-line internal combustion engines struggle to convert just 30% of octane's chemical energy into motion. Animals are very efficient.

However, this trope can be justified if pollution or disease have directly attacked the remaining real organisms' fertility. For agricultural products, it may be further explained by an economy of scale -- once most people switch to the cheaper synthetic product, the real thing becomes even ''more'' expensive because it's made in smaller quantities. Moreover, plants are one of the few instances where life is quite inefficient. [[https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2011/solar-cells-more-efficient-than-photosynthesis- Even modern photovoltaic cells are more efficient than plants]].[[note]]though the comparison isn't entirely fair as solar panels don't have to synthetize sugar[[/note]]

Normally, this can be written off as ArtisticLicenseBiology. Making more of themselves is something that living things tend to be pretty good at, so supply isn't an issue. Moreover, you'd be surprised at how little energy animals need to survive. The human body, assuming one does not engage in constant strenuous activity, burns up an average 100 watts of power. You have appliances in your home that consume several times that amount of power. And keep in mind, most animals -- paricularly reptiles such as in the page image -- run on even less than that. One of the reasons for this is cellular respiration being able to convert 40% of glucose's chemical energy into ATP. It doesn't sound like much, but keep in mind most top-of-the-line internal combustion engines struggle to convert just 30% of octane's chemical energy into motion. Animals are very efficient.

*** Not to mention his FamousLastWords after being stabbed: "Tempered steel...is that really...tempered steel?"

->''"Is this a real snake? Of course it’s not real. You think I’d be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?"''
-->-- '''Zhora''', ''Film/BladeRunner''

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In many near-future {{dystopia}}n science fiction settings, prices on some items, particularly natural things created by natural processes, are quite high, as opposed to mass-produced via synthetic processes. This is particularly the case if the setting is specifically shown to be one of [[GaiasLament severe environmental degradation]], where agriculture is difficult, natural foodstuffs are unsafe, most natural-born animals are extinct, and resources are stretched so thin that raising something as superfluous as a live animal in your house is madness. Either way, people just take it for granted that certain things are not to be had for regular folks, or that if they are, they're grown in batches in laboratories or, in the case of animals, may be machines designed to look like the real thing.

See also FutureFoodIsArtificial, CommonPlaceRare, BlackMarketProduce, MundaneLuxury. A counterpart is WorthlessYellowRocks; both can exist in the same work.

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[[quoteright:345:[[Film/BladeRunner https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bladerunner_snake.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:345:''Is this a real snake?''\\
''Of course it’s not real. You think I’d be working in a place like this if I could afford a real snake?'']]

* In the Video Game tie-in to the ''Film/BladeRunner'' movie, the player character Ray has an artificial dog named Maggie you can play with [[spoiler:players probably realize it'll lead to a heart-rending PlayerPunch later]], and the crime Ray was initially investigating involves the slaughter of several real animals including a rare tiger. [[spoiler:Then it gets complicated: the shop owner was selling fakes but fudging records and tests so they were considered 'true' (and more expensive) animals]]

** In the ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' series, the robotic Tachikomas regard all-natural motor oil as a real treat, much better than synthetic oil. Batou treating "his" Tachikoma differently from the rest, by regularly treating it to natural oil, is a catalyst for the robots developing individuality and self-awareness. [[spoiler: That and the anomolies caused by the oil corroding part of its circuitboard]].

-->'''Blake:''' No, but I did study some natural history.

** In an inorganic variant, a bandit chieftain in the story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS17E3TheCreatureFromThePit The Creature from the Pit]]" was once seen to wax rhapsodic about the amazing treasures his group has stolen: precious items of iron, zinc, and even ''nickel!'' Needless to say, this scene takes place on a MetalPoorPlanet, where only members of the elite [[spoiler: who got them by robbing and betraying an inoffensive alien ambassador]] can boast such prizes.

** Inadvertently gets a laugh in the ''Tir Tairngire'' sourcebook, also from ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'', when it's mentioned that the elves have somehow re-created extinct species for their wilderness areas. It's funny in that both of the named species, grizzly bears and gray wolves, are not only still alive and well today ''without'' any magical or cloning assistance, but they would have had to go extinct, all over the world and also in captivity, in ''less than a decade'' after the supplement was published, in order to meet the timeline suggested for their "extinction".
*** Also, depending on wording, it's unlikely that the [[TaxonomicTermConfusion species]] ''Canis lupus'' ever went extinct in captivity, unless the setting is also completely devoid of ''dogs,'' since technically domestic dogs are a subspecies of gray wolves. (To be fair, the reclassification of ''Canis familiaris'' was fairly recent, and after thousands of generations of human-controlled breeding, dogs no longer look or act much like their wild cousins. Still, they are interfertile and are currently considered the same species.)

* In the Video Game tie-in to the ''Film/BladeRunner'' movie, the player character Ray has an artificial dog named Maggie you can play with [[spoiler:players probably realize it'll lead to a heart-rending PlayerPunch later]], and the crime Ray was initially investigating involves the slaughter of several real animals including a rare tiger. [[spoiler: Then it gets complicated: the shop owner was selling fakes but fudging records and tests so they were considered 'true' (and more expensive) animals]]

** Seafood in general used to be considered poor-people food (because of the lack of refrigeration and fast goods delivery, fish could only be sold locally, and thus did not command high prices). The original reason the Catholic Church specifically does not consider seafood to be "meat" was so that poor people would have something to eat on "meatless" Fridays and during Lent.
* Russian sturgeon caviar. Some centuries ago, it was just a byproduct of fishing. Now it is VERY expensive to the point of [[BlackMarketProduce being illegal and restricted]], because sturgeon is close to extinction.
** There is an old Polish recipe for sauerkraut and caviar. That's right, people used caviar to ''season sauerkraut!''
** Not quite on the same level as caviar, but the demand that the employer not feed them salmon more than two times a week was fairly standard for hired hands seeking employment in XVIII century Russia.
** When your great-grandma was young fried sturgeon and catfish were listed as a cheap Friday dinner for seasonal laborers. Now good luck finding any of them in other place than the most expensive fish shops.
** Before XIX century lobsters, oysters and basically all kind of seafood used to be cheap meal for inhabitants of the coasts. Development of the railway allowed to import them fresh to inland cities where they acquired status of high-class gourmet food.
** They say that UsefulNotes/LouisXIV used to have a cavalry regiment meant exclusively for bringing him fresh fish.
* In Creator/JackLondon's stories set in the Yukon, salmon is mentioned repeatedly as mainly fit to be sled dog food, while actual settlers and Gold Rush pioneers pay exorbitant prices in hard-dug gold for any non-locally manufactured food such as eggs.
* In the U.S. lobster used to be a poor man's food ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobster#History see The Other Wiki]]) until it was possible to ship it to urban centres, where it became a delicacy. Cod and red-fleshed bluefin tuna are going the same way nowadays due to overfishing.
** Back in the 19th century there was a rule in most prisons not to feed lobster to the prisoners more than a few times a week, since it was considered cruel towards them.
** Although, being the 19th century, this probably refers to the [[Literature/TheAreasOfMyExpertise furry old lobster]] rather than the one we know now.
* Cod is already a delicacy in Brazil, where it is highly sought after for traditional portuguese dishes. Decades ago, it was the cheapest meat available.
** Cod stocks over the world are actually on the verge of collapse due to the ''heavy'' overfishing, so most mass-market cod-based dishes have long been adapted to other, cheaper and more abundant whitefish species, such as pollock, and if you want to have the real stuff you're usually in for the heavy markup.
* Speaking of tuna, sushi and sashimi used to be the Japanese equivalent of fast food (fish was originally transported in vinegared rice as a preservative, and poor people buying the goods would end up eating the rice as well as the fish). Nowadays, sushi is considered fancy food, and ''auctions'' are held for who gets to eat bluefin tuna sashimi first, even reaching ''[[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-20919306 $1.7 million!]]'' While higher-quality sushi is still available at sushi restaurants, sushi is also available in supermarkets.
* Similarly, oysters were once the food of the poor in Britain (though still considered a treat). Noah Claypole the "charity-boy" in Literature/OliverTwist eats a large quantity.

* As the standard of living in the Developed world has risen since the middle of the 20th century the cost of labor intensive products have risen dramatically to support this standard, while technology improvement has made the cost of products that can be mass produced fall dramatically. The result is that products once made by skilled craftsmen are now virtually unobtainable, while anything produced by machines are often so cheap to be completely disposable.
** One of the handful of exceptions to this is clothing. Cloth is an unpredictable material compared to metal and plastic, so sewing machines still require human operators. However, those operators don't have to be highly trained or educated to produce cheap, low-quality products quickly. This is why very little garment manufacture happens in the developed world.

* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert "Food deserts"]] in the developed world; neighborhoods without access to fresh food, usually in very poor, densely-populated urban areas. Grocery stores in wealthier neighborhoods or suburbs can stock fresh produce, meat, and unprocessed staples. The convenience stores that may be the only "grocery" in walking distance (those living in that area are often too poor to own a car) will favor processed, shelf-stable "food" that offers calories and little else. What little fresh food they have will be under a steep markup.
** Again, this heavily varies with the level of [[WrongSideOfTheTracks urban segregation]] in the larger world, with many countries either not having it to the same degree, with the rich and the poor rubbing shoulders every day, or having functional public transport systems that allow the poor to affordably access the wider markets.

* Because maple syrup is so laborious to produce, can only be produced during a relatively small window of late winter/early spring [[note]] Well, okay, it ''can'' also be produced in late fall and early winter, but syrup produced in the fall is thought to be lower quality, because the sap is thought to be lower quality. [[/note]], and it takes many gallons of sap to produce even a small amount of syrup, the real thing is expensive. Pancake syrup, however, is little more than corn syrup with artificial, vaguely kinda-sorta-not-really-maple-y flavoring and caramel coloring. It can be had for as little as $1.