Synthfood

Synthfood is the name for food that has been "created" by a Synthfood Printer. Food made in this matter is born from a thick brown-green paste named Nutrient Sludge, a self-replicating organism capable of slowly consuming any an all biological matter into its mass with no more sentience than a plant.   Not only can Synthfood be shaped into any form, flavor, temperature, or chirality, but it is also perfectly nutritious; the flavor and texture of the faux-food simply an illusion, with the actual nutrients replaced by a complete infusion of all vital nutrients, vitamins, and minerals that almost all biological creatures need - with different settings for various species.   Nutrient Sludge itself is simply created and stored on-site, woven into the food with nanobots and lasers. All infrastructure previously used to transport raw food was easily converted into Nutrient Sludge transportation, as the Sludge itself still needs to be refrigerated to avoid a breakdown of the metabolic processes within it.   Any storage containers for the food is constructed of disposable completely biodegradable material, and, due to being made of Nutrient Sludge, technically edible, even if it looks like glass, or steel. Please do not eat the cutlery.

Synthfood has had easily the biggest impact on society due to its widespread use and simplicity, making it used everywhere, by everyone.   While making "real" food has not completely fizzled out in all daily lives, a majority of all labor involved in the food industry has shifted drastically. What was once the place of Chef to prepare food at a restaurant in a high stress fast-paced environment has shifted to becoming something of "food engineers," designing the perfect dishes to be replicated into a digital schematics for Synthfood Printers across the Galaxy - a much more relaxed position, able to pursue passion directly.   Entire markets around making cheap and easy food, marketing the juiciest most appetizing meal to the lowest common denominator, completely gone. Brands of food, brands of restaurants entirely evaporated; the concept of marketing food is ridiculous, but experiences where you eat the food? Now that's worth something. Many, many tried to copyright specific foods and recipes, claim ownership of a particular dish, when made by a Synthfood Printer, to be their own to sell the rights to print it; this conflict still rages to this day occasionally, but it was ultimately decided, and continues to be reinforced, that while the original idea may be created by a single person, food is too varied and complex to be able to draw a line where one dish may be "copying" another, and how modifying a dish to taste would interact with the law.   Being casually knowledgeable in food has gone from being able to cook at a non-professional level to being more-so and encyclopedia of foods that most like based on general preferences, and the ability to modify flavor levels on general levels to change dishes to those more suited to their audience.   Personal Synthfood Printers are an entire ecosystem in and of themselves. The Printer, depending on brand, may recommend food to you based on past choices, new popular creations, trending meals, old reliable "classics," or may just include a "random" option. More open brands may take custom designs, either from the user or uploaded schematics, able to create true abominations of appearance and flavor if inexperienced or particularly masochistic. There are entire stigmas around what kind of "Synthfoodie are you?" where a user's choice in foods is told to reflect their personality very well - does the person get a mix of foods? Do they throw in exotic never tried before choices? Do they try foods meant for other species, or just their own? Do they just use the most popular selections? Does the user print literally the same few foods over and over, or even just one food, forever?