Auto Kitchen: Difference between revisions

In several science-fiction works, the job of food service is relegated to automated slots in the wall. They may be [[Matter Replicator|Matter Replicators]]s or simply a dispenser of stored food like a vending machine.

* In the short film ''Design for Dreaming'' (basically an extended advertisement for Frigdidaire's "Kitchen of the Future" and General Motors' Motorama), the female model demonstrates the features of the Kitchen of the Future by telling it to automatically mix and bake a birthday cake. Amusingly, the cake already has candles in it when the woman removes it from the oven.

* ''[[2001: A Space Odyssey (Film)|2001: A Space Odyssey]]''. When the astronauts want to eat, they go to a wall unit and press buttons. Within a few seconds, trays of food are heated and appear behind sliding glass doors. Watch it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vEDmNh-_4Q#t=0m24s here].

* Sir Kofa Yokh from ''[[Labyrinths of Echo (Literature)|Labyrinths of Echo]]'' has a portable miniature kitchen, which looks like a small chest and is run by miniature cook figurines. The food they prepare is perfectly edible (and delicious) thanks to powerful magic.

* [[Andre Norton]]'s ''No Night Without Stars'': Sander lives in a [[Post Apocalyptic]] world. During the novel, he finds an underground installation from the Before Days, the civilization that existed before the Dark Time. While exploring it, he finds a box with knobs on it. When he presses certain knobs, the box produces food.

* The Nutri Matic in ''[[The Restaurant At the End of The Universe]]'' analyzes the nutritional needs of the user and produces a suitable meal which always ends up being almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

* ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]''

** ''[[Star Trek: the Original Series (TV)|Star Trek theThe Original Series]]'' had slots in the wall which could produce any food desired by inserting the correct computer tape.

** ''[[Star Trek: the Next Generation (TV)|Star Trek theThe Next Generation]]'' and all later series in the timeline had replicators.

* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' has talking machines that produce a microwave container. Holly's opening comments sometimes state that they have enough food stored for 30,000 years, but are out of "Shake'n'Vac".

* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]''

* ''[[Lost in Space (TV)|Lost in Space]]'' episode "Wild Adventure". When the Robinsons (and Dr. Smith) sat down to eat, the Environmental Computer sent their meals out of a slot on the wall.

* Most food in ''[[Eclipse Phase (Tabletop Game)|Eclipse Phase]]'' is produced by nanofabricators. Ones specialized for production of edibles are called "makers", the cheapest ones only make beverages, ration bars and nutrient paste, more expensive ones can fab anything from yoghurt to fugu testes.

* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and& Dragons]]'': Module S3, "Expedition to the Barrier Peaks", took place inside a crashed starship. Kitchen areas had computer operated food dispensers that worked like this. If the PCs could learn how to operate the controls they could get food to eat. Unfortunately there was a 50% chance that the food would be poisonous.

** Inside the underwater SAMURAI facility, the PCs can find a kitchen area with a large machine. If properly activated, it can process seaweed into edible food with a variety of flavors, temperatures, textures and colors.

* ''[[Shadowrun (Tabletop Game)|Shadowrun]]'' supplement "The Neo-Anarchists' Guide to Real Life": [[Bland -Name Product|McHughs]] restaurants have computer-controlled food preparation equipment. When the customer makes his selection, the food items are automatically moved to the appropriate preparation equipment, defrosted/heated as needed and delivered to the customer.

* ''[[Wallace and Gromit]]'' have [[RobinsonRube Goldberg Contraption|Robinson Goldberg ContraptionsDevice]]s to do all their cooking for them. One of the "Crackling Contraptions" shorts has a robot chef that predictably goes haywire.

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[[Category:TropeFood Tropes]]