"'...always Good Eating.'"
-Robert Heinlein, Orphans Of The Sky (London, 1965), p. 111.
How can he know that it will be good to eat? The character does not even know that this should be an issue. Heinlein lets us think that they will survive.
By contrast, Poul Anderson's Hugh Valland says:
"'...there's life. Presumably our kind of life, proteins in water solution, though of course I don't expect we could eat it.'"
-World Without Stars, V, p. 32.
Right on. However, the ship's food unit has survived the crash so:
"'We'll live,' Hugh Valland said." (p. 35)
Orphans Of The Sky is Volume V of Heinlein's Future History. World Without Stars is not a future history but implies one because there have been nearly three thousand years of interstellar travel. Valland has lived for all that time and for how much longer?
See also Good Eating?
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Exactly! The animal and plant fauna of even the most terrestroid planets will need to be tested to make sure they will be edible and safe for humans to eat. And almost certainly terrestroid dietary supplements will need to be added. Preferably by introducing some animal and plant species from Earth.
Ad astra! Sean
Oh, there could be explanations. Panspermia, for example. We do know that material from Earth has impacted on other planets and vice-versa; over very long periods, there's no reason the same couldn't happen between star systems.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Yes, but every planet with life on it will have had millions, even billions of years of evolution different from what Earth has seen. There can be no guarantee, panspermia or no, that all such life forms will be safe for human use or eating.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: there's plenty of stuff on Earth that isn't safe to eat...
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I agree, and we can both think of things unsafe to eat. Arsenic, for example.
Ad astra! Sean
Well, tuna fish would kill me. Nearly did, after I got sensitized to seafood. I ate a tuna sandwich at a convention in Boston and had to be rushed to the hospital. Where the doctor in the ER turned out to be a fan of mine and wanted to talk books; unfortunately, my throat was swelling shut at the time.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Aw, dang! And I like tuna fish sandwiches. I'm very glad you survived!
Very cool, that the ER dr. was a fan of yours! I hope he at least got your autograph. (Smiles)
Ad astra! Sean
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