Stargate SG-1 Triple Drabble: Unappetising
May. 3rd, 2026 06:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
badly_knittedTitle: Unappetising
Fandom: Stargate SG-1
Author:
badly_knittedCharacters: Daniel Jackson.
Rating: PG
Spoilers/Setting: None.
Summary: Daniel has never been impressed with the standard MREs.
Written Using: the dw100 prompt ‘Food’.
Disclaimer: I don’t own Stargate SG-1, or the characters.
A/N: Triple drabble.
To save having to rely on the hospitality of the natives, or the dubious edibility of what they might find on whatever planet they were visiting, SG-1, like all the SG teams, carried their own food and water on missions. Mostly, that meant standard issue MREs and energy bars, although if they wanted to add extra weight to their packs, they were free to include whatever they wanted: apples, candy bars, pots of Jello, beef jerky, bags of cookies…
Food was important; they had to keep their strength up, but standard rations weren’t always particularly appealing, even if the were easily portable, quick to prepare, self-heating, and, at least in theory, packed with all the nutrients anyone would require on a strenuous offworld jaunt.
The problem was, while they might be packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, and other essentials that contributed to a healthy body, whoever manufactured them seemed to have mastered the art of removing most of the flavor, or substituting some other random flavor. Which, Daniel concluded, must be why the mac and cheese invariably tasted of chicken, and why he avoided anything that was supposed to taste of chicken, because some things he was better off not experiencing.
He shuffled through the choices in his pack, decided he wasn’t hungry enough to play Guess the Flavor, and dug out a packet of trail mix instead. At least with that, he knew exactly what he was getting.
He couldn’t help wondering, as he ate, how long it had taken military scientists and nutritionists to come up with meals that sounded so good on their labels, but turned out to be so deeply unappetising, and how long it had taken to indoctrinate military personnel to the extent that they’d eat those pre-packed, shelf-stable foods without a word of complaint.
The End
Food was important; they had to keep their strength up, but standard rations weren’t always particularly appealing, even if the were easily portable, quick to prepare, self-heating, and, at least in theory, packed with all the nutrients anyone would require on a strenuous offworld jaunt.
The problem was, while they might be packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, and other essentials that contributed to a healthy body, whoever manufactured them seemed to have mastered the art of removing most of the flavor, or substituting some other random flavor. Which, Daniel concluded, must be why the mac and cheese invariably tasted of chicken, and why he avoided anything that was supposed to taste of chicken, because some things he was better off not experiencing.
He shuffled through the choices in his pack, decided he wasn’t hungry enough to play Guess the Flavor, and dug out a packet of trail mix instead. At least with that, he knew exactly what he was getting.
He couldn’t help wondering, as he ate, how long it had taken military scientists and nutritionists to come up with meals that sounded so good on their labels, but turned out to be so deeply unappetising, and how long it had taken to indoctrinate military personnel to the extent that they’d eat those pre-packed, shelf-stable foods without a word of complaint.
The End
