AutoChef

An AutoChef is a piece of equipment frequently used on starships, space stations, and small outposts to replicate food and drink.

Due to the space and personnel limitations aboard starships, in can be impractical to sacrifice space for kitchens and storage, and to employ cooks for conventional food preparation. The AutoChef is a piece of equipment than can create nearly any meal that is programmed into it automatically by combining resequenced protein, water, and flavoring. An AutoChef (including the raw materials to generate the food) can take up maybe one-sixth the space as a kitchen and food storage, without including the space needed for employing food preparation personnel.

An AutoChef stores a set number of "canisters" of raw material, typically six to ten on most models, inside the machine itself though for extended voyages ships can store additional canisters in their hold. Each canister stores everything needed to produce meals except the water, which is piped in from the ship's water supply. About 80% of each canister is taken up by a dark, preprocessed protein sludge (which includes a mixture of additional nutrients) and the remaining space by the reservoirs for the flavor additives needed, that when blended properly can produce nearly any flavor. A protein sludge canister has a shelf life of about a year, and has built-in sensors that will notify the AutoChef computer when the contents have started to spoil so the canister can be taken offline and flagged for replacement. When you eat something from an an AutoChef, it is always the same thing, a healthy protein mixture that just varies in taste and texture.

AutoChefs are present on nearly every ship, though due to the stigma of eating resequenced meals on many ships that cater to more upscale passengers there can still be kitchens present, and an AutoChef is only used by the crew, lower-class passengers, or to supplement standard meals for more exotic requests. Most people say they can taste the difference, but in taste tests it's been proven that only the most discerning palate can identify the real food over the resequenced food - though this can depend on how well the AutoChef hardware is maintained and the quality of the meal programming.