Kerbal Food

[MedwedianPresident]

KERBAL FOOD

People have made threads on what is inside kerbals, what their society and culture is, how they travel in space, what art they make, their language and 100+ other things, but ONE thing has been missed: FOOD.

The main questions are:

What do they eat?

How do they eat?

What cuisine do they have?

What plants/animals are used for food?

MY IDEA

I think that Kerbals have a high-fat and high-protein diet that allows them to fast for days or even weeks when travelling to other planets if not having any food. Kerbals consume a large amount of calories each day but almost never get obese because the calories are burned through regular exercise and occasional fasting if the interplanetary ship runs out of food. The Kerbal's skin is green because a major part of the diet consists of animals that eat grass and obviously, grass itself, which is often served as a beverage to meat. I am speculating, but i think that Kerbals have a vast array of food animals and plants as we humans have. As such, a vast selection of meats, animal products, fruits, vegetables and other products is available on Kerbin, while outside of Kerbin the same things are consumed but often in packaged and lower-quality form; although Kerbals are starting to use more healthy ways of preserving food in space (such as salting meat instead of freezing it). Kerbals are well-known for "semi-exotic" foods and beverages such as grass juice or space kraken filet (the latter is uncommon because it is extremely hard to kill a Space Kraken and preserve it's body prior to butchering). Steaks are often served with croquettes made from the Kerbal equivalent of Potatoes (Kotatoes. They obviously are green and not yellow). Meat comes from Kows, Kchickens, Kangaroos (K-Syndrome, i know, is impossible here), Keal, Keer and so on.

As such, Kerbals have a food that is mainly based around meat and vegetables.

RECIPES

This could include Kerbal recipes made eatable by humans. Currently empty.

[thederper121]

kerbal food

(kotatoes. They obviously are green and not yellow). Meat comes from kows, kchickens, kangaroos keal, keer and so on.

The horror!

The horrorr

[BagelRabbit]

I've given this thought too, and I think that Kerbals may be both auto- and heterotrophic organisms, much like several types of Earth protists. They get most of their nutrition from photosynthesis (and thus are green, and live for extensive periods of time without starving) but also are capable of eating animal and vegetable matter.

...

Yeah, I've given this too much thought.

[sal_vager]

Kerbals have a thriving snacks industry, they almost only consume foodstuffs that would be suitable for watching movies with friends

[Legendary Emu]

Cool theory. I'd say that sheep on Kerbin would be called Wolys and chickens would be called Berks.

Berk berk berk berk berk.

[MK3424]

Kerbals have a thriving snacks industry, they almost only consume foodstuffs that would be suitable for watching movies with friends

That's why they're addicted to KerBull drinks and Kringles chips.

[MedwedianPresident]

Not KerBull. Green Bull.

[KSK]

This is all lifted from my First Flight story but if you don't mind the blatant plug, I do include quite a bit about food and drink. Firstly, i agree with Mr President - Kerbin is a lush world and the kerbals have a rich and varied diet. They are also very fond of outdoor style cooking and its a rare foodstuff (meat, fish, fruit, vegetable or fungus) that hasn't been baked in embers or grilled over a barbecue by some enterprising kerbal cook.

As is well known, kerbals are also fond of snacks. Some specific examples of snack foods:

Djann chips. Essentially the kerbal equivalent of a taco chip. Crispy, triangular and served dusted with salt, sugar or assorted spice powders. Plainer versions are often served with other food as a kind of flatbread equivalent, salty or spicy versions are a popular street food, served in a twist of paper.

Luffa eye peppers. The nearest Terran equivalent would be a small bell pepper, although, luffa-eyes are generally juicer, sweeter and have a more intense flavour. Luffas are a distant evolutionary cousin of the kerbals that share many of their physical features, including their characteristic large eyes.

Kaya jerky. The Kaya was originally found in the colder latitudes of Kerbin and was much prized by early kerbal societies (and modern ones for that matter) They provide nutritious meat, strong bones and horn for building materials and a luxuriant hollow fibre wool, somewhat akin to yak wool on Earth. Their belly wool is particularly long and soft - in the wild it serves as a shelter for young Kaya calves.

Sapwood. Sapwood trees are insectivorous and have evolved long parallel grooves in their trunks, which accumulate a sticky, sweet sap for trapping insects. When collected and dried, the sap forms a hard, toffee like substance that can be enjoyed on its own or can be processed with water (or occasionally alcohol) to form a syrup. Various regions on Kerbin have their local speciality sapwood syrups, including the notorious smoky sapwood, which is widely believed to be flavoured with wet ash and is generally regarded as very much an acquired taste. Sapwood syrup is diluted with water or milk according to taste, to make a refreshing cold beverage.

[JakeGrey]

Am I right in guessing that the grain crop that provides the flour for djann chips is also used in Kerbin's thriving Real Ale industry?

[KSK]

Am I right in guessing that the grain crop that provides the flour for djann chips is also used in Kerbin's thriving Real Ale industry?

Heh - it certainly is. Although in fairness, kerbal brewers are almost as enterprising as kerbal cooks and there aren't many grain crops that haven't been used in a Real Ale somewhere - with varying degrees of success. Experiments with southern marsh grass from Spierka for example were described as 'disappointing', despite the fact that the grass is actually fairly palatable if boiled for long enough. In fact some hardy kermol Groves are rumoured to favour it over other more tender grains.

Djann however is used in much the same way as Terran brewers would use wheat and makes high quality (and often high potency) cloudy ales. The infamous 'RT5' ale, popular in and around the town of Barkton is an excellent example of a Djann beer.

Edited March 25, 2014 by KSK

[KSK]

Which reminds me.

Spierkan marsh grass is a hardy grass that grows in clusters. The stems are thin and hollow, bearing seed pods and leaves at the upper end after the fashion of many genera of Kerbin plants. Breaking the seed pods releases the grain inside, which is edible but fairly bland. The stems (used in the above mentioned brewing experiments) are quite tasty (the flavour is a little like Terran spinach) and can be boiled whole and eaten with various Spierkan sauces. There is a definite knack to cooking marsh grass though, unless you enjoy eating soggy pulp.

The marsh grass leaves are too bitter to be edible, although they are a useful source of certain fine chemicals and historically were much used for tanning leather.

And now I'll shut up and let somebody else get a word in edge-ways on this thread!

[Souper]

I think KSP might take place in the Fallout universe's distant future. Maybe Mr. House finally achieved his plan to send Humans to another solar system?

 

In that case, the Potato Crisps, Cram, and Sugar Bombs could have been their only food source in the later parts of the trip once all the hearty food was gone. The radiation would explain the Kerbal's mutation and the junk food would explain their love for snacks.

Edited February 1, 2016 by Souper

[Fred Cop]

A week or two ago, whilst recording (not really the most funny) a KSP audio skit, I was considering what Kerbals eat in order for me to imitate it with real life sounds.

Admittedly, in that case, I was imitating the sound of 'snacks', a food source of Kerbals within a pod, not exactly food on Kerbin, but I thought I might as well mention what I thought KSP's 'snacks' are;

 

I, personally, think that snacks are like biscuits, perhaps mixed with small bits of bread an vitamin tablets to supply a Kerbal's nutrition and vitamin dependancy whilst floating in the empty pocket that is the Kerbal solar system.