The USS Enterprise has a crew that numbers in the 200s (and it doubles in Star Trek: The Original Series). One thing is sure: Everyone on the Enterprise needs to eat. In Star Trek's 23rd century, an era before food replicators, matter synthesizers can create foodstuffs for meals. Of course, everyone prefers real food prepared by an actual chef, like Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Dining in the Captain's quarters is a hot ticket enjoyed by the senior staff of the USS Enterprise and distinguished guests.
Strange New Worlds Season 3 Brings Back Star Trek: The Original Series Colored Food Cubes
Captain Pike Has Colored Cubes In His Chef's Repertoire
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3's teaser trailer includes a glimpse of another dinner party in Captain Pike's quarters, but with a surprising sight in his kitchen: colored food cubes. The Crayola-toned meal can be seen on an island in Pike's kitchen while the Captain hoists a massive slab of roasted meat. Colored cubes often passed as food in Star Trek: The Original Series, in a very 1960s low-budget attempt to make food look 'outer space-y.'
It was a common sight in Star Trek: The Original Series for USS Enterprise crew members to sit down for a meal consisting of colored cubes, sometimes paired with a glass of milk. Of course, no one actually ate the cubes in Star Trek. It's amusing that colored cubes appear in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3, in Captain Pike's kitchen, no less. But Strange New Worlds is a prequel, so, logically, colored cubes would be served on the Starship Enterprise going into Star Trek: The Original Series.
Star Trek Introduced Real Cooking To Replace 1960s Colored Food Cubes
Replicators & Real Cooking Abound In Star Trek
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country continued making food otherworldly, including the blue squid-like dishes served on the USS Enterprise during their dinner with the Klingons. Starting in Star Trek: The Next Generation, however, real food that looked appetizing became the norm, whether prepared organically or from replicators. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine even made Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) a gourmet chef descended from a line of Cajun cooks.
Star Trek: Enterprise is set a century before Star Trek: The Original Series, and Captain Jonathan Archer's (Scott Bakula) NX-01 Enterprise had a Chef who could prepare anything from fried catfish to pecan pie. Yet somehow, brightly colored cubes ended up as meals on starships a hundred years later. Odds are, there will be a sly justification for why colored cubes are in Captain Pike's kitchen in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3.
