In traditional Cyberpunk fiction, the food was reflective of the culture. If the fiction took place in Japan, or some other eastern country, the food likely consisted of sushi, noodles, stir-fried dishes, soups, and other local cuisine. If the fiction took place in America, it would be hamburgers, hotdogs, and Philly Cheesesteaks (YUM!). Keep in mind that while these types of food were found in cyberpunk fiction, that doesn’t necessarily make them cyberpunk food. Seems like a bit of a contradiction, doesn’t it? I could take the easy route and say that cyberpunk food consists of whatever the local cuisine is (in a cyberpunkian world), however, that wouldn’t be much fun would it? We need to use some imagination here and come up with the perfect cyberpunk food. The future depends on it.
We’ve already established that the food of the future needs to be fast, convenient, nutritious, and inexpensive. If we use America as our standard, it would seem that cyberpunk food is covered. In America, food is not only life; it’s also convenient, fast, and inexpensive. The only issue is that most of it isn’t nutritious in the least. Sure, you won’t die from eating it, not immediately at least. But it just isn’t quite right for the future when the average low-life will need nutrition to stay one step ahead of the oppressive corporations. There has been a trend in the U.S. toward healthier, convenient, and nutritious foods. But they are also considerably more expensive than their unhealthy counterparts, and the low-lives of the future are on a tight budget.
What ever are the denizens of the future to do? This just isn’t working out. I know hackers are known for their unhealthy eating habits and lifestyles, but if they are to have any kind of longevity, they must be supplied with adequate nutrition. Hacking a megacorp for five years isn’t nearly as fun as hacking it for twenty years. It looks like it’s up to us, the low-life citizens of the future, to design our own economical meals. But what of those low-lives who don’t have the skills for that? They aren’t called low-lives for nothing, you know.
There might be hope for those low-lives who find themselves in dire need of nutrition, but lacking the proper cooking skills. Like I mentioned above, there has been a trend toward healthier living in the U.S. Healthy, fast, and convenient food options are still a relatively new thing, so they haven’t been streamlined quite yet. But the day is coming when the Average Joe will be able to order a healthy meal that is as inexpensive as its unhealthy counterpart.
But what about today? Where can your average delinquent find adequate nutrition at a reasonable price before food-in-a-tube becomes a viable option? The first possibility that comes to my mind are nutrition bars. Nutrition bars, largely depending on the type and size, are convenient, compact, affordable, and super loaded with calories and other things the human body needs. Nutrition bars are commonly thought to be reserved for only athletes, workaholics, and the criminally insane. However, nutrition bars are perfect for the technological vigilantes of the present and future. Only have one hour to hack into a megacorp and save your crew? Grab a protein bar.
But isn’t buying nutrition bars from corporations support megacorps and is, therefore, counterproductive? I just can’t win here, can I? Undoubtedly, it seems that we really are in a bind. Looks like the ideal cyberpunk food is out of reach, for the moment. Unless, of course, some independent, underground, genius, mastermind chef decides to start mass producing protein bars. I can dream, can’t I?
Though, it would be poetic if the very food a megacorp produced ultimately led to its undoing. Maybe, when seen in this light, nutrition bars are the way to go. I’ll leave that decision up to the consumer. After all, isn’t that where decisions should be made? By the people, not by some megacorp or politician.
Image by Arashiyama (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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