@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@ Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society Club Notice - 06/14/91 -- Vol. 9, No. 50 MEETINGS UPCOMING: Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon. LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria. _D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C 06/26 LZ: ALTERNATE WORLDS by Robert Adams ("What If Things Were Different?") _D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C. 06/15 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA (phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday) 07/13 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: TBA (phone 201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday) HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 834-1563 hocpa!jetzt LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper HO Librarian: Tim Schroeder HO 3B-301 949-4488 hotsc!tps LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 576-3346 mtunq!lfl MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 mtgzy!leeper Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 957-2070 mtgzy!ecl All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted. 1. Food technology is changing. I don't know how many of you were aware that there is such a thing as food science. There are probably even mad food scientists in isolated laboratories making fiendish recipes. Actually, I suppose a fiendish food scientist is the kind of person who invents additives like BHT and calcium pantothenate to food so that it becomes stable and does not break down in the package or your stomach. I guess you have to give artificial ingredients their due. Food poisoning is not a pretty sight and I suspect more people got sick and probably a lot sicker from the lack of some preservatives than ever got sick from their presence, but it makes you wonder sometimes when you see some of the new foods. In college, the dining commons served ice cream or some facsimile thereof that was an okay consistency when it was cold but got rather disgusting when it warmed up. I guess the consistency of this stuff was the problem: when it warmed up, it just became unpalatable. "Who eats ice cream warm?" you ask. THE MT VOID Page 2 Well, nobody. What happened to the consistency when it warmed? Well, not much. That was the problem. Imagine a warm substance the consistency of ice cream. Yug! We get this orange juice in cartons that tastes like fresh- squeezed. How do they manage that? They add orange pulp. It gives it consistency. It makes it chewey--sort of. Not chewey like gum, but it gives your teeth a little something to do. Of course, the juice and the pulp in all probability come from different oranges. But it gives the effect of being natural and that's what's important. And who can forget processed cheese? Cheese stays fresh for only a short time; then it starts to degrade. But in America we have invented processed cheese. The Department of Agriculture describes this as cheese "made by grinding fine, and mixing together by heating and stirring ... an emulsifying agent is then added to the mixture and the whole worked into a homogeneous plastic mass--lactic, citric, ascetic, or phosphoric acid or vinegar, a small amount of cream, water, salt, color and spices or flavoring materials may be added .... Steam- jacketed kettles, equipped with mechanical agitators to stir the cheese are available in various sizes but frequently hold from 200 to 400 pounds of cheese." That's not cheese, that's edible plastic. That's food science for you! I will continue in this vein next week. In the meantime, can you think of a "food science" fiction film made prior to 1950? How about two that at least involve food science made after 1950? Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 957-5619 ...mtgzy!leeper Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler. -- Albert Einstein