Is Star Trek's Federation Actually Vegan? 

Riker does say "we no longer enslave animals for food purposes" which could mean vegan or could mean free-range, hunted food.

I've always assumed that meat eating in the Federation, at least by humans, to be very different from how we think of it today. Whenever they refer to 'real' meat, they generally mean meat that is neither replicated nor 'synthesized'. This does not mean that meat is literally taken from the slaughtering of animals. Instead it is derived through some other process. I've always imagined these animal products are actually "grown". We are currently in the very early stages of developing lab grown meat, so just imagine what a few hundred years could allow.

I forget which episode it was that has Miles and Keiko O'Brien in a dinner table converation during which Miles fondly reminisces about the dishes of his childhood and Keiko mildly scandalized that Miles' mother used to buy actual meat from actual animals prepared by an actual butcher in actual Dublin. I reckon in the Star Trek future, meat eating (as in: meat from animals, not replicators) is as rare as veganism is today, if only because it's prolly logistically easier to have replicators on spaceships and interstellar colonies than live animals. Edit: That'll teach me to comment before I finish watching the video LOL!

The scene that sprung to mind about how food synthesizers or whatever they are called in The Original Series work is when in the episode "Charlie X" Kirk gives orders to the galley that “On Earth today, it’s Thanksgiving. If the crew has to eat synthetic meat loaf, I want it to look like turkey.” Suggesting that the meat is in some sense synthetic and so probably not rendered from a live animal. Charlie X of course turns the meat loaf into turkeys with his powers.

One thing which has always stood out to me about replicators is the possibility for foods to outlive the ingredients used to produce them. I remember when I first learned the story of why artificial banana flavouring doesn't taste like bananas, at least, not any banana I have ever tasted. All because of how its invention predates the primary cultivated bananas of that era being wiped out by disease. It's a quite interesting thought that say, Book could have scanned a freshly prepared Kwejian fruit salad into the replicators on Discovery, and the replicators could then produce that meal, identically, infinite times, even after every last tree producing the ingredients has gone extinct.

I always thought of the examples of traditional cooking in Star Trek as a cultural thing. Now I think about it, there’s a lot of examples of people in Star Trek embracing traditional cultures and living out older lifestyles than you’d think would be in a Utopia. I’m thinking about the season 1 TNG episode where dogfaced ambassador aliens scoff at Picard explaining their meat replication and called the federation barbaric for not eating slaughtered meat. It was a nice tongue in cheek moment.

When discussing the "enlightened philosophy" of the federation, I think there's an argument to be made that the vast majority of its citizens are "enlightened" by default, not because they've thought about it and questioned it. Supposing the federation is vegan and it's population relies on replicators, then what would a circumstantial vegan, like (say, as a hypothetical example) Riker do after he's been practising eating replicated dead Gagh when he's confronted by Klingons who expect him to eat live Gagh? Well he wouldn't think about the ethics. He's a circumstantial vegan at best. He'd just yum those wrigglers down. Qapla'!

New headcanon! Livingston the fish is a crewmember (Yeoman? I don't know much about ranks) and is tasked with maintaining the Ready Room. They do so via a water-safe control panel that can be summoned inside the tank (an office AND an accommodation to their environmental needs... they have quarters, elsewhere) similarly to the holodeck arch. Sure, its contrived, but Livingston feels the call to serve. They are good at thier job, and enjoy it. It suits their introverted personality. They even take great pride in being unobtrusive to the ship's more dynamic operations. Waiting dutifully in the background. Just part of the scenery.

Steve, are you forgetting Trip's love of catfish? They mentioned it so much, it was like one of his only personality traits.

One of the things that makes Star Trek interesting is that the characters in it don't always live up to their own standards. That is perhaps the most human thing there is. I know I rarely fully succeed to live the way I know I should. Whether it's treating members of groups I disagree with badly, forgetting the lessons I've learned and falling into old bad ways of thinking or eating something I shouldn't it's never as easy as I'd like it to be. Perhaps part of the enlightenment of Star Trek is understanding that not everyone can live up to those ideals all the time and encouraging them towards self improvement rather than attacking them for failing. It is the struggle itself that is most important. We must strive to be more than we are. It does not matter that we will never reach our ultimate goal. The effort yields its own rewards. - Lt. Cmdr. Data

Big oversight to skip the incident on TNG season 1 episode ”Lonely Among Us” TASHA: Sorry to call you, sir. Not strictly security. It's about the dietary requirements of the Antican delegates. 
RIKER: I thought that had been taken care of in advance, Tasha. 
TASHA: So did we, sir. Their live animals were beamed aboard. We were going to preserve the meat for them, but they say we must bring it to them alive. 
RIKER: Then do so. Lieutenant Yar was confused. We no longer enslave animals for food purposes. 
ANTICAN: But we have seen humans eat meat. 
RIKER: You've seen something as fresh and tasty as meat, but inorganically materialised out of patterns used by our transporters. 
ANTICAN: This is sickening. It's barbaric.

Now I want a show about O'Brian's mother's illegal livestock operation, she'd probably the antagonist there

Two words: bunnicorn sausage. Or three words: bunny corn sausage? Whatever. The pizza Riker made on Nepenthe.

Janeway once tried to harvest a living nebula to get energy to make her coffee. She's definitely not vegan...she would feed Neelix into the replicator rather than miss out on her caffeine fix.

"I shall try some of your burned replicated bird meat!" is all I can think of when the merits of replicators are discussed. And speaking of Saru and preparing meals, remember when Empress Georgiou was regularly eating sapient creatures but became a fun part of season 2? That was nice.

There's also the "Space Orish" from TNG Season 2. They beam up to the Enterprise with livestock and Captain Sisko's father is a chef - I can't believe you can lay claim to that title by standing by a magic food hole and asking it to produce what your customer has asked for, and it's mentioned in the show about Jake working in the kitchen which means food is being prepared

It always bothered me that Riker had no problem cooking real eggs (with a "practiced hand" no less), when in the previous season, he very arrogantly declared that "humans no longer enslave animals" or eat non-replicated meat ("Lonely Among Us"). I think of this as just one example of one writer thinking this would make a good scene, and another writer thinking this would make a good scene, without really comparing notes. Kind of like how the holodeck is explained as "photons and force fields" in one episode, but "converting energy into matter" in a different episode.

I always thought that fish in picard's office was holographic or something just a decoration but not an actual living fish I still choose to believe that whether it's Canon or not because it makes more sense with his personality

Glad you mentioned the oysters and clams at Joseph Sisko's restauarant. I have to think those are real animals, because why would you replicate food that you had to shuck the shell off of? Also, I believe Joseph grew his own vegetables, which implies a desire to avoid replicated ingredients

Sisko's father does cook shrimp capture from the Louisiana rivers, if not mistaken... but the recycled material that is used in replicators for food, odds are... is mostly vegan. Even if disassembled and reassembled fecal and otherwise discarded matter. If meat from molecular reconstruction isn't vegan, I don't know. If you could make beef from reassembled atoms from a piece of timber or a rock... well... it's still beef, but it didn't come from an animal source. And if it did, let's assume it's recycled from sources most people would flinch if they did think about it, but it's still meat. So... with exceptions such as Sisko's father... mostly yeah.

One aspect I think is unrepresented here is the exploitation of animals through factory farming. Many vegetarians and vegans specifically avoid meat because of the way animals are harmed during the production of meat and not just the actual slaughter. I always imagined that in Star Trek "genuine" meat and animal products are created in a much more traditional and sustainable way by people who are as passionate about their livestock as cooks like Joseph Sisko are about their meals. And depending on your personal viewpoint that makes this form of farming as animal friendly as strict veganism. Also can we talk about how super weird that scene between O'Brien and Keiko is? You guys are married, why are you so surprised by eachothers eating habits!

Interesting that you didn't mention the season one TNG episode, "Lonely Among Us." In which Riker says, "We no longer enslave animals for food purposes." Notably it's Tasha (who comes from a very backward colony) who is most confused by the idea of the aliens wanting to slaughter animals for food. Granted, the ship was willing to accommodate them and even planned butcher the animals for them but the whole thing is presented as being a fairly strange concept. This all leads me to think that among humans real meat has become a novelty, a specialty item which most people wouldn't go out of their way to obtain. Based on his comment about not enslaving the animals this would also suggest that anyone who is raising animals for food is doing so humanely, probably free range and under strict rules. And that Yar reacts as she does, coming from where she does, it suggests that this is not limited to Earth but includes many of the colonies.

Actually vegan, no. Less shitty than we are in this regard? Totally.

Vegetarianism isn't necessarily healthier (it largely depends on how the food is prepared) but it is measurably more environmentally friendly.

I am an ethical vegan, and have been for years. I really appreciate you covering this subject Steve. I know some find it uncomfortable when vegans speak up, but you did ask for any corrections. Firstly, the crop death argument. It's true that harm is caused by farming plants, and you quite rightly said that there are farming methods which can reduce this harm. But, when you consider that most plant foods grown on farms are fed to livestock, going vegan will actually reduce the amount of demand for plant based foods, and therefore, reduce the harm that is caused by farming. You also mentioned habitat destruction. If we weren't having to feed all these plants to livestock, the human population of the planet would need far less farmland to grow enough food for everyone. In fact, I think current estimates suggest with currently used land we could feed everyone many times over. Afterall, we are growing food for billions of animals every day when we could be growing food for ourselves. All this extra space would also go a long way towards reducing species extinction rates with the rewilding that could happen as a consequence. And yes, most vegans are aware that there are a multitude of problems that would come with making this transition, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take steps and do what can be done to solve the issues along the way. Veganism is a philosophical position that seeks to reduce suffering as much as is practically possible. As you said, there is no real way to live without causing some harm, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. I would advocate to not let the "perfect'' get in the way of the "good". You mentioned how meat tastes good, and I agree, it does. I used to consume animal products every day without thinking about it. But I realised that my momentary taste pleasure was not worth the exploitation, the suffering or the life of another thinking, feeling being. Especially now, when there are so many alternatives (that are getting really good by the way), and likely many more in the pipeline. Loved the video, thanks Steve.

The thing I never understood about the way the Vulcan's are portrayed in Enterprise is the whole "we don't touch our food" thing. It's framed as if it's somehow a function of their logical existence, but the way they present it, is more just silly, and completely illogical. What is the "logical" reason to not touch your food? Especially if the type of food is awkward for utensils, like the example they use in the episode they present it (sorry I forget the name, didn't like Enterprise at all). But, seriously, what logical being would think it's better to fumble around with a fork for 30 seconds to try and spear a slippery vegetable, than just pick it up with their fingers, and calmly consume it. Takes less time, exerts less energy, and I'm pretty sure their hands are fairly sanitary at that point in history. Seriously this bit just baffles me.

I suspect at least some of the animal-based ingredients used in cooking are replicated - there's a bit in Picard where Jurati watches a video she shot of Bruce Maddox where he's baking cookies, but he replicated the ingredients instead of sourcing flour, butter, choclocate chips and so on. Early in TNG series 1 Riker tells the Anticans that humans no longer raise animals for food and use replicators as well - but the vehemence he uses there is at odds with the egg scene you cited from series 2, or the level with which he relished eating live Klingon food, also in series 2, or him being fine with his daughter hunting bunnicorn and butchering them for pizza in Picard.

I fucking love Admiral Vance's comment about replicated food being shit. Its one of the single greatest comedy moments in the show's history as is its rather tamer precursor the Enterprise episode where they are answering questions from Kindergardeners.

The first season of Discovery also has that episode that clarifies that if a Starfleet ship encounters an endangered creature, the crew is to drop everything they're doing to engage in conservation efforts

Never thought I’d see a vegan trek vid… this is awesome. I’ve been vegan ~5 years (vegetarian longer than that) and always admired the vulcans and how they abstained from meat. (also their mindfulness overall)

As with most ethical subjects broached by Star Trek I feel it’s meant to reflect the struggle with idealistic goals rather than perfection. The introduction to TNG with Encounter at Farpoint pretty much sums up this stance. A grappling with rather than a triumph over the subject is less preachy and perhaps more effective.

In the episode, lonely among us, Riker explicitly says that they no longer enslave animals for food. This means in all likelihood that the meat O'Brien's mother was cooking with was lab grown. I was really surprised to not see you mention this episode. It's perfectly explicit. Considering how easy growing organs is for federation science, lab grown meat must be a triviality, and this squares Riker and O'Brien's statements. Otherwise you just have to assume that one of them was lying or the writing is just inconsistent. Either way, lonely among us speaks to the meat consumption practices of the federation.

I always wanted to try those brightly coloured food cubes.

Seen the video now! It's nice to see you give these commissions the same care and attention that you give to your own Trek, Actually videos. You basically covered everything in this video that I would have said on the subject, so I don't have anything to say except thank you for another entertaining video! x

I get the feeling real food would be like the change from horses to cars. Horses are still used for transportation today but probably less than 0.1% of how it used to be (now mainly recreation and racing). In Star Trek's future less than 0.1% of animals maybe enough to fill the demand and like how someone owning a horse today for recreation isn't looked down on, maybe owning a small fishing/farm business is looked at the same way and also keeping old traditions/history alive. Vegan in Star Trek's future may not even exist on earth now, as no large exploitation of animals would be happening, so the idea might fade away as people just think eat replicated is the norm and animals being slaughter wouldn't even be on people's minds as that's a thing of the past. Replicated food would be everyone's go to and real food would be the once a week or once a month delicacy. Vulcans were Vegan and that was a moral choice because of their logic and that idea could certainly spread to other species.

great video! i think one important thing to note about star trek in terms of vegetarianism/veganism is that Spock was the first recurring vegetarian character on western television! i know some people who’ve said Spock first showed them that vegetarianism was a possible lifestyle. just a cool fact about trek’s history with veganism

Another thing that wasn't mentioned- The Enterprise D had cetacean crew- Bottlenose Dolphins. While humans and great apes are well adapted for a primarily plant based diet, dolphins are not. Would they be eating replicated dead fish, or would there be have to be some kind of aquaponics systems that raised fish to eat?

Actually I could see food/veganism exposition in an episode being rather interesting in a story which creates some dramatic tension around these Federation food choices. Maybe the Enterprise encounters aliens whose diet is so different from the norm that the "magic food holes" don't work for them or something... kinda like "Darmok," but set in the ship's galley somewhere. Just a thought...

I think about this dumb shit all the time when it comes to Star Trek. I’ve brought this idea up more than once in a conversation with my Husband. (Granted it’s usually a shower conversation.) But I want them to explain all the mundane shit to me via a tube straight to my brain.

There's also the Sisko family restaurant, pretty sure there's a handful of seafood dishes on the menu there. [Edit 16:14 Ha should've known better than to think you'd forget a Sisko reference]

You mention Tripp but not the catfish test

The greatest Arby's ad in history

If I remember correctly, Bajoran society is described as primarily vegetarian, if not vegan. I can't recall any mentions of livestock or food animals, and a lot of talk about different crops. Also interesting to think about how Klingon cuisine is portrayed as almost carnivorous, but they still end up Federation aligned and their cuisine is quite popular among Starfleet members, with no evidence of ethical issues.

I think in the same way that the Federation has become retroactively an increasingly more progressive society to keep up with our own modern aspirations, I think it will find a way to retroactively represent a more vegan attitude as well.

We also know that some characters like Jadzia and Melora are willing to eat live meat like gagh or racht, Melora even specifically asks for live racht in her episode. And Joseph Sisko was willing to serve live tube grubs to Nog. And on a side note, can I just how boring they made T'Pol's dishes. Like there are a lot of great vegetarian food from all over the world.

Arby’s sandwich “it tastes like a bite out of an angels ass” 🤣🤣🤣

We're probably gonna have lab-grown meats on our shelves within 10 years and I'm more excited than most. They will eventually have better flavor, nutrition, and variety than anything we have today.

I find it interesting to see the ethical issues that get missed in the earlier series (likely due to those shows being products of their time) and how similar issue are treated with more self awareness in later series. You do see similar thing in other very long running franchises, but I find it more apparent in Star Trek as they are attempting to depict an idealistic society.

Being both, a vegan and a star trek fan, i would have really liked to participate in that video ☺I Think the topic is really interesting to explore and debate.

I never understood how they justified horseback riding. Picard, Kirk and now Pike are all seen riding. Seems like a "return to simpler times" activity.

I'd never considered it before, but...was there a chance of any microbes in that 20th-century seawater that might have had an adverse effect on the oceans of the 23rd?

I enjoyed your non-vegan take on a vegan criticism of Star Trek, there are some issues there but for a non-vegan you really did a good job. I still think that you might have focused too much on the diet side even tho I get your point. Still think that you should have included the definition of veganism since the words "possible and practicable" are included and solves a lot of grey areas of indirect harm. The many examples of vegan values that exist in Star Trek should have been mentioned like for instance like Riker stating "we do not longer enslave animals for food purposes" or T'pol's response to Tucker in that scene or Janeway talking about how they do not do animal testing anymore. I came away satisfied with funding this video. If anyone wants to pay for a video, Steve is very professional and very open to listening to your ideas. As a non-vegan he stopped and listened to me explain things in detail. Great guy. Now about the comment section people, feel free to come over to my channel to shit on veganism as well because as Steve said, they should be vegan.

In The Trouble with Edward short trek, Lieutenant Edward Larkin admits to having removed the fur from tribbles and eaten their meat and suggests them as a food source for the Calations.

Just another piece of wood on the fire, I'm pretty sure the soup they ate in The City on the Edge of Forever wasn't vegan, and Kirk does consume an Italian dinner in Star Trek IV.

Technically mostly they are vegan because it’s not common for people to go to real restaurants or cook their own food. They simply eat replicated food which is made from base elements and compounds if I recall. Though it might not even be that, if it is energy being manipulated to form matter then the meat dishes could be argued are actual animal products. Though the big difference between vegans in our universe and people from the federation is that people from the federation don’t completely revolve their life around the idea of not eating meat. And they probably don’t consider themselves vegan.

My understanding of the Star Trek universe is that the ability to transform matter to energy and back to matter has been mastered. That's the foundation of their ability to travel faster than light, beam to another location in an instant, make anything instantly, and produce food from pure energy w/o harming any living thing - even plants. These concepts were expressed by Roddenberry during the TOS time. Over the years I think the writers just didn't make this connection or attempts to address it were inconsistent at best.

I think the running of the Sisko family creole restaurant in the DS9 era, and particularly the popularity with Starfleet personnel, suggests that the Federation isn't fully vegan at that point. It would seem that Joseph Sisko might be one of the few "buyers" (for want of a better term in a money-less society, maybe importer?) of live animals as Nog remarked that Joseph was the only person on earth that could get him live tube grubs (unless this is Ferengi hyperbole). Joseph even makes the comment that no son of his is going to eat that "replicated slop Starfleet calls food", suggesting they cook everything from scratch, including the meat (trout, crayfish, etc.) and so his restaurant is not vegan, using not replicated, traditionally sourced ingredients. Maybe at this point in the timeline Starfleet is predominantly vegan, having to rely on replicators on their ships and facilities, but the wider Federation is not there yet, with the older generations (Joseph Sisko, O'Brien's mother, Maurice and Robert Picard, probably Riker's dad too because he acts like a steak and cigars man) being one of the last hold outs before replicators and thus veganism through convenience become the norm. Great video, really makes you think.

I disagree with Steve's take on not explaining how food synthesizers work. Well, I agree in spirit: don't take time out of an episode to randomly explain it, BUT! Let's say we have an episode about the ethical treatment of animals and the food synthesizers are a core plot point. Then it may be crucial to explain how they work to better understand the crux of the dilemma, or even just add a bit of flavor to a story to spark imagination. Just think how confused we'd be if exocomps were never explained, they just were around and became self-aware, sure the story could still work but the imagination from the story would be greatly diminished.

(I'll watch the rest of the video later, just wanted to engage with the old Algorithm x)

I’m reminded of a scene that lives rent free in my mind from the show Red Dwarf where one of the characters is trying to fix the malfunctioning food replicator system. “Is that a cigarette you’re smoking, Lester?” “No, it’s a chicken.”

I can imagine that a replicated steak would be considered 'veganesque' because it was never part of a living animal (and that the steak would be replicated with no cholesterol in it).

What about the Bunnycorn hunt in in the episode of Picard? I thought it was really weird that Riker and Trio's kid would kill and eat something. I mean isn't that kid a little bit empathic?

The reason why "replicated food just isn't the same" can't be completely dismissed in the star trek universe is because replicators cannot create living things. That includes microbes. This would affect things like alcoholic beverages, yoghurt, cheese. That's why gagh doesn't sit well with most Federation species - it still moving proves that it's still alive.

The thing is, when you have multiple writers on a show, you're going to get different ideas of what an enlightened utopian society looks like. For some, how we treat animals isn't a consideration, for others it's very emblematic of how we view life as a whole, and everything in-between. So short of a franchise bible addressing it directly, you're always likely to find contradictions from episode to episode.

There's a scene in DS9 where Eddington complains that replicated chicken "just isn't the same", which might imply that outside of replicators, chickens raised as livestock are still fairly commonplace. One possible alternative here is that there are lab-grown meats that are considered more "real" than the replicator version because they are still at least grown, as opposed to created out of thin air, presumably with some amount of "compression" in order to store the molecular patterns. An interesting side note here, in terms of whether eating lab grown or replicated meat is "more ethical" than exploiting living animals, is that if humanity essentially "cheats" our way out of an ethical dilemma using a technological "trick", have we really learned anything? A couple years back, I listened to a fascinating interview with Jenny Kleeman, author of the book "Sex Robots & Vegan Meat" that gets into this topic. Food or thought! Pardon the pun.

The Sisco's probably wouldn't need to clean replicated clams, and they clearly used a large number of them to joke about it at the end of DS9 S7E1. It's likely that the clams were raised/farmed in a controlled and regulated way. In a similar, but hopefully better, way than they are today. So it would appear that raising animals for food still exists. Hunting however is mentioned to not longer take place, or is very rare, in Enterprise S1E18. Although Riker has a photo with his Dad of a fish they caught. It doesn't say if they eat it, but some ppl believe that catch & release is cruel to the fish. Just some additional points to think about when asking if the Federation is vegan

You know I was thinking about Picard's Ready room after watching this video last night and it kind of makes sense that Picard would NOT in fact have a pet fish. UNLESS. Unless it were a fake fish. A robot fish. Or maybe the whole tank is a holographic simulation. Not a holograph as in the holodeck or the EMH, but a holograph in a more rudimentary sense. Just a 3D image of a simulated fish to look at.

Headcanon. Livingston was on the ship before Picard got there. When he tried to have it appropriately rehomed, he quickly discovered it was the captain's private decorative hologram. He otherwise liked the aesthetic (naval buff that he is) so he kept it.

Let’s not forget Worf… at the slightest hint of being stranded on a planet, literally the first thing he does is go kill something.

I remember when Nicholas Meyer had some fans questioning why he included a galley on the Enterprise-A in Star Trek VI, he stated in Starlog, "I'd never want to eat replicated food, but if I did, I'd want to make sure it was replicated off of a fresh chicken." He theorized that in the 23rd Century, the replicators occasionally needed to scan freshly-prepared food to "freshen up" their patterns.

I bet someone already mentioned this, but when Trip is joking about the spare ribs it's because Vulcan don't touch their food, not because she is vegan.

It probably wouldn’t add anything, but I wish you included an episode from _The Animated Series_ , “The Slaver Weapon”, in which Spock specifically mentions that he and Uhura are vegetarians and he then specifically instructs Sulu to think about eating vegetables as defense against a telepathic member of the carnivorous Kzinti, implying Sulu isn’t.

The treatment of the tardigrade was one of the main reasons I rage quit Discovery the first time.

I would assume that the Federation would reach a point of Ethical Consumption. Most people might feel comfortable with all their food coming from a replicator, but recognizing that some people might have a problem with food that is not naturally obtained. The various series go out of their way to demonstrate that there is no monolithic philosophy that dominates all people's thinking. I seem to recall a Voyager episode where Janeway replicates a roast and comments that it does not compare to the real thing. Even in Picard, Riker makes Pizza from scratch. Given that all the ingredients are grown, I would assume the cheese came from an actual animal. Treating animals ethically while they live does not preclude their being food.

Meat has a much bigger carbon footprint than veg. I really like modern vegetarian junk-food. Basically things like "chicken" nuggets etc.

In some of the novels based on the TOS era I remember reference to the menus from the food synthesizer being quite limited in number. You had a short list of chores. Looking forward to shore leave to get a different meal and stuff like that

Steve this was a great video. That thumbnail is friggin perfect!

"Tastes like a bite out of an angels ass" omg... I'm sooooooooo using that! I'm a 99%veggie too. Love your videos and I'm subscribed now

I think the reason people dislike the replicated versions of food, is because it is exactly the same every time. There is no variation in taste or texture. It's like eating McDonalds or some other fast food. If you don't have it very often, it isn't bad and might even seem good, however if you have it too often, you begin to not like it, and crave something different.

I'm moving towards a vegetarian diet, but instead of having different days with different rules, I've stopped eating mammals and it's fine

A ton of interesting things to think about from this video! Thanks for another great one! Replicators can replicate prepared and raw animal products without any animal life having been destroyed. The important thing is ensuring that the pattern buffers are initialized and clean and that there's plenty of energy. I don't think there's any specific moment in Trek that writes that out into the Universe and makes it so, but I've never seen anything to contradict the ability to synthesize any kind of food once it's pattern is known. In this way, everyone can be truly vegan and still enjoy the foods from all over the galaxy.

I might be wrong, but I seem to remember Enterprise referring to their synthesizers as "protein re-sequencers" and that they used a soy-based protein, which I took to mean they had ship stores of tofu that they made into different foods. Is this just my failing memory? I sincerely doubt that a civilization that won't send a robot on dangerous missions would still operate abattoirs.

the thing I never understood when Riker said he had a hard time getting ingredients for even just an omlet why for people who enjoy cooking wouldn't you be able to replicate the ingredients, If you can replicate a plate with a cooked ommlet and a coffee with creme why not a half dozed raw eggs(maybe even with shells on for species who eat eggs whole or for the satisfaction of cracking the egg), whatever else you want in little cups also raw,. and some creme even spices shouldn't be an issue since one can assume that there is spice on completed dishes. Even getting cooking supplies shouldn't be an issue since they showed a bigger replicator room crew could replicate large things like furniture at, so a range or hot plate shouldn't be an issue even a high tech one that wouldn't set off the fire suppression system.

I like to think the animal products are self produced or gotten from something closer to a farmers market. I not a vegan but I try to be conscious of animal products I use. When I had pet chickens I didn't feel bad about eating their eggs. And I don't think most vegans would either. They had probably the best life they could've had.

A few things you missed, Steve. I don't know if this first one really matters, but in the Discovery season 4 episode "choose to live", Saru says to Tilly that it's unusual for a human to not like cheese. It may be that most cheese is replicated, or maybe even when it's not replicated, vegan cheese has become the norm and is just called cheese, but at any rate this is the only instance I know of where somebody in Star Trek comments on the dietary preferences of most humans in general, and the comment indicates that most humans apparently love cheese. Another incident; in the movie Insurrection, Troi exclaims "Oh my God, they're vegetarian!?" when the guests start to eat the flower arrangements. This is played as a joke, but if veganism or even vegetarianism was the norm in the federation, she might be surprised that they're eating flowers, but not that they're vegetarian. However, in an earlier scene, and this is my favorite- in the TNG season 1 episode "Lonely Among Us", Riker acts disgusted at the idea of using live animals for food, and says "we no longer enslave animals for food purposes." My conclusion is that humans don't consider veganism to be the norm, they still eat meat and dairy, usually replicated, sometimes not, but animal agriculture as an industry has been abandoned. To me this doesn't contradict O'brien's statement about his mother. His family probably had their own farm. Of course, it's a free society, some people are going to raise animals for food, but I think it's pretty certain that humans in the TNG era don't have large-scale industrial animal agriculture. Personally, I think that's pretty good. Trying to enforce veganism on the entire population would probably not go over well.

Most people in the Federation are probably "pragmatically vegan": with replicators and a post-scarcity society you need to know a guy who knows a guy to get hooked up with real animal products (just like hand-crafted products, real alcohol, etc...). If they don't have such a contact, they will only eat replicated products. Momma O'Brien and the Siskos seem to have such contacts but someone like Raffi would have to dig deep into her network to get a real burger.

I think that while replicators has probably caused a massive drop in harvested meat consumption in Federation, it's probably more out of sheer convenience rather than animal welfare for most people--they still eat meat dishes instead of replicating all plant diets. Plus we've seen multiple colonies in Next Gen with humans who actively decide to live in less technical or more agrarian-style societies (e.g. The Bringlodi from "Up the Long Ladder" and Caldos IV from "Sub Rosa") so husbandry isn't totally dead. Even in "Sins of the Father," Picard has a can of Caspian Sea caviar because he prefers it over the replicated version. And canned caviar has a very short shelf-life so this isn't a can from a time long ago. While the injustice of industrial-level animal slaughter is probably a thing of the past, there's still going to be a boutique market for the real thing but not to the massive degree of our time. I imagine you'll find smaller farms (possibly with more ethical treatment for animals through stiffer regulations and/or less pressure on farmers to meet massive production demands) or people raising their own livestock.

In my head Canon, Picard's fish tank is just a small part of a vast network of tubes and tanks all across the ship that Livingston swims around all day long, just popping into the Captain's ready room for a morning earl grey

I'm pescatarian thanks to an Alpha-GAL allergy. The longer I go without red meat and fowl, the more important it's become to consume free-range eggs, ethically raised milk, and ethically farmed fish.

I’m a vegan and I’ve always wondered about the replicators.

David Gerrold's original "Tribbles" script had a ship's cook, and Roddenberry nixed it because he wanted to leave vague the question of where exactly food would come from in the 23rd century

Maybe Winston chose to hang out with Picard? The tank may have been conected to the rest of Cetacean Ops, and Winston may have been an enlisted rank on the ship. Perhaps he was Picard's yeoman?

Thank you for this video and take on this issue - I've been an ethical vegan for the past ten years. So this topic struck close to home for me and I say you did a great job. Regarding the issue of how plant based foods impact and even harms animals in some fashion is true, most vegans live by the basis vegan philosophy of 'Doing the least amount of harm.' Knowing we do not live in a perfect world, we strive to live in one while contributing the least amount of harm.

Assuming they can replicate a beef steak, what would be the ethics of replicating human meat?

This video is great, much better and deeper than expected. Very interesting! Gives you (vegan) food for thought. Also it is a nice change from your somewhat "grouchy" last videos. 😆😆😆. LLAP Steve! 🖖

I was waiting for Steve to mention Ezri Dax chiding Worf for hunting and eating game in an episode of DS9's final arc, but then I realized that neither character is human and decided Steve rightly skipped them as a distraction from his discussion of future human ethics.

"A story that stops dead in its tracks to explain something...." Yes! Writers! Stop doing that! Just tell a good story. Leave the detailed world building to the wiki! Just explain what is absolutely necessary to keep the story going and let the audience fill in the gaps with our imaginations. Every sci-fi show needs to understand the importance of that tight rope.

One thought I had is that by then the term vegan may offend the inhabitants of the star system Vega unless one is referring to them specifically. Pronounced differently, sure, but not spelled differently. When I first heard the term "vegan" I thought they were talking about Vega and just mispronouncing it (especially after having watched/read Contact). I can't be the only one.

The protein resequencer technology uses human waste to create food, which means it's definitely not vegan, even if they order just tomatoes because human waste is an animal product. A similar recycling system is probably used for the ships in later seasons, too.

I love you Steve, never change.