Food Pills: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

** There are also Soldier Pills, used to make the characters stronger by providing a burst of Chakra, and Blood Pills that can replenish lost blood.

** Several characters also use them to fuel particularly high-energy consumption attacks that would otherwise leave the ninja dead from rapid malnutrition. For example, Chouji has a three-pill provision [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|that he's only supposed to use in dire situations.]] After chomping on all three (including the last, red pill, whose side effects include ''death'') Chouji goes from his usually obese side to as skinny as Naruto.

 

== [[Film]] ==

** Now [[Truth in Television]]... kinda. "Dippin' Dots", anyone?

* The processed colored slabs of "food" from the film ''[[Silent Running]]''.

* ''[[WALL-E]]'' has the food juice. "Cupcake-In-A-Cup, available now!"

* There are several references throughout the ''Riddick'' series in regards to stuff like "protein waffles" being served at various slams throughout the galaxy, among other things. While not strictly pills, in this sense, it implies that raw nutrients have been converted into something more digestable, which is effectively the same thing. BRB, putting some vitamin C pills into my waffle iron.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* Robert Heinlein's short novel ''Methuselah's Children'' involves, at one point, trees that produce food flavored like "mushrooms and charcoal-broiled steak", "mashed potatoes and brown gravy", or "fresh brown bread and sweet butter".

** Heinlein, writing in the early days of artificial flavorings, seems not to have realized that there's more to enjoyment of food than taste: the above-described flavors applied to fruitlike "growths the size of a man's hand", "creamy yellow, spongy but crisp", and the temperature of just-picked fruit (about room temperature), sounds less than appetizing.

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

** That's an ubiquitous military joke, that invariably pops up whenever soldiers and field rations exist together, regardless of country and even millennium. Just remember all [[Fan Nickname|Fan Nicknames]] for MREs. Hint: ''Meal, Refusing to Excrete'' is one of the mildest. ''Meals Rejected by Ethiopians'' was popular at the time news covered famine in Ethiopia.

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

** ...a much superior version of human-made<ref>not dwarven; Thorin & Co were given supplies of it at Lake-Town</ref> ''cram'' from ''[[The Hobbit]]''; it never goes bad either but according to Bilbo is not only completely tasteless but requires almost infinite chewing to ingest.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* The spray can foods in ''[[Phil of the Future]]''.

** Of course, to get a full day's nutrients, the Observers must consume three or four bowls. Or maybe fifteen.

* In an early episode of ''[[Doctor Who]]'', the TARDIS features a vending machine device which produces food in candy-bar form that mimics the flavor and texture of real meals when eaten. It's never seen again. In ''[[Doctor Who/Recap/S5 E1 The Tomb of the Cybermen|The Tomb of the Cybermen]]'', Victoria is offered chicken in pill-form by an archaeologist in the distant future. She is rather more reluctant to try it.

** "I like the yellow ones."

** [[Word of God]] is that the prop "yellow one" was every bit as disgusting [[Enforced Method Acting|as Carter's reaction suggested it was]].

** Except in the episode ''The Trouble With Tribbles'', when the Tribbles infest this system, and arrive piled on Captain Kirk's tray; one of them has even jammed itself into his drinking glass.

*** In ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' The Astro Megaship has the Synthetron, a machine that apparently creates any food or drink the user is thinking about. The Deltabase in ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'' has the same type of machine.

** A similar device shows up in ''[[Megas XLR]]'', which will create any food requested. Jamie tries to use it to create some women and money, but it doesn't work.

{{quote| '''Spock:''' [T]hey have taken human form and are therefore having human reaction.<br />

'''McCoy:''' If he keeps [[Orgasmically Delicious|reacting like that]], he's going to need a diet. }}

** Note that both of these are the sort of food eaten when being smuggled on a freighter, rather than being the bulk of the diet. Much grumbling is done over the expense of getting certain foodstuffs on deep space stations, though.

* ''[[Buck Rogers in The 25th Century]]'' not only has food pills, there's an episode called "Planet of the Slave Girls" where Buck, Wilma, and Major Duke Denton are investigating a case of poisoned food pills that are making the people on Earth sick.

* Food Tablets in ''[[GURPS]]: Ultra-Tech'' don't taste very good and stretch their longevity by suppressing the appetite rather than being especially filling.

* [[Traveller]] has various forms of this. However when not pressed for space real food is naturally preferred. P.69 of the volume ''Far Trader'' deals with this.

* ''Mutant Future''. Goo Tubes are filled with a nutrient-rich mush which comes in four flavors: green, red, yellow and white. No one in the post-apocalyptic world knows what the flavors were meant to duplicate. A Goo Tube is the size of a roll of quarters but can feed a man for an entire day.

* Mongoose Publishing's ''[[Starship Troopers]] The Roleplaying Game'' had MI Field Rations. They had all the calories, nutrients and minerals needed to sustain an athletic man or woman for a single day. However, they were almost flavorless, white, chalky bars and were usually a trooper’s last choice for food.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** The K-Bups appear to be marketed as some variety of candy-style snack food, while Chip Cheezum and General Ironicus jokingly refer to the Starkos as wedges of pure cheese in their [[Let's Play]].

* ''Ranch Rush 2'' has the antagonist trying to sell his "Wonder Food Pills". The protagonist, Sara, along with all of her non-Victor customers, insist that fresh food is best. Eventually, {{spoiler|they team up to create jellybeans}}.

* [[Red Alert 3 Paradox]]'s Allies issue these to special forces and paratroopers as part of their retro-future theme... along with appetite suppressors.

 

** This is often debatable with modern rations like MREs; while many have gotten terrible or average reviews at best, other civilian reviewers have enjoyed their meals and found them roughly on par with commercial canned or frozen meals in terms of taste. Of course, the Russians still feed their soldiers canned meat with half the can full of fat...

*** 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<ref>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.</ref>, 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 [[Real Life]] [[Food Pill]].

*** 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 wen they updated their field rations.

** The relative quality of the MREs received a fair amount of public attention after Hurricane Katrina, when the military supplied many of them to people displaced by the storm and the subsequent flooding. That said, everybody agreed that even the worst MRE beats starving.