Ubiquitous Foodstuffs

[BackworldTraveller]

So, When the settlers leave home and head to the new world, what plants did they take with them.

Not too hard to work out for Terra, but how about the Vilani (most were inedible without effort)? Indeed, Droyne foodstuffs are possibly everywhere! What has been found on other worlds that are now pan-galactic?

There may be only 6 major races, but there must be hundreds of minor race plants.

Any suggestions?

 

[whartung]

So, When the settlers leave home and head to the new world, what plants did they take with them.

Not too hard to work out for Terra, but how about the Vilani (most were inedible without effort)? Indeed, Droyne foodstuffs are possibly everywhere! What has been found on other worlds that are now pan-galactic?

Good question.

What are the Vilani equivalent of wheat, corn, rice, and beans.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

Good question.

What are the Vilani equivalent of wheat, corn, rice, and beans.

Nothing? Per canon, the Vilani had to process everything native to make it edible...much like Bitter-Cassava or Horse-Chestnut. They didn't have anything as nice as rice until they found it when they got an empire.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

I could see the K'Kree taking plants as a priority, and the Zhodani and the Droyne. Not sure about the Hivers. Aslan and Vargr prefer their food on the hoof so would only take plants if they were animal-food?

 

[Condottiere]

They'll eat the weak and sick first.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Corn, beans, and squash. It's called the Three Sisters.

 

[Timerover51]

I could see the K'Kree taking plants as a priority, and the Zhodani and the Droyne. Not sure about the Hivers. Aslan and Vargr prefer their food on the hoof so would only take plants if they were animal-food?

The Aslan would have to take whatever plant foods the prey animals that they normally ate would eat, unless new edible prey animals were immediately available. They would also need to take a fair amount of breeding stock of prey animals as well, as they would need roughly 10 times their body weight per year in prey animals for food. Overall, I would say that for the Aslan to successfully colonize a world will either that a lot of effort on their part in developing a functional ecosystem, or adequate numbers of edible prey animals on the planet.

The Vargr are going to have a bit more of an omnivorous digestive system, so will likely take a mixture of edible plants and animals with them, with the breeding stock off limits to consumption. I suspect that the Ancients did quite a bit more terraforming on the Vargr planets then they did on Vland. For the Vilani to survive the initial importation of their ancestors, some foods must have been available that did not require a lot of processing. Remember, when the Ancients gathered up the Neanderthals or proto-Neanderthals, they were at the hunter-gather level, and not adverse to cannibalism.

As for colonists from Terra, they would likely have the full spectrum of grains, along with corn/maize, potatoes, as well as breeding stock for cattle, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and probably some varieties of wild life as well.

Edit Note: I should have added a variety of beans, fruit, along with coffee, tea, and chocolate.

 

[BRJN]

Dandelion puffballs (intended as 'seed stock' for garnish) and poison ivy (as a prank)

 

[BackworldTraveller]

As for colonists from Terra, they would likely have the full spectrum of grains, along with corn/maize, potatoes, as well as breeding stock for cattle, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and probably some varieties of wild life as well.

Edit Note: I should have added a variety of beans, fruit, along with coffee, tea, and chocolate.

I'm trying to pull the list together and that list for earth is immensely long! Also the whole thing gets complicated because many need insects to pollinate which need food plants for their larvae, etc. Wind-pollinated plants are easier.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

I'm trying to pull the list together and that list for earth is immensely long! Also the whole thing gets complicated because many need insects to pollinate which need food plants for their larvae, etc. Wind-pollinated plants are easier.

maybe, but when your dealing with hi tech societies, it starts to become possible to engineer work-arounds that simply dont work at lower levels.

for example, Genetically engineering the plants for a different pollination method, or using robot insects, or some other super-science response.

 

[BackworldTraveller]

maybe, but when your dealing with hi tech societies, it starts to become possible to engineer work-arounds that simply don't work at lower levels.

for example, Genetically engineering the plants for a different pollination method, or using robot insects, or some other super-science response.

All true. But then you aren't taking the plants - you're are building them.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

All true. But then you aren't taking the plants - you're are building them.

which is something that humans have been doing for centuries already in the real world, in a basic way via selective breeding and the like. Its very likely that a any plant brought over would need to have that sort of modification done extensively to account for the vastly different climate and microbial conditions it would be grown in, or else a local plant used as a substitute.

 

[willtron3030]

Dandelion puffballs (intended as 'seed stock' for garnish) and poison ivy (as a prank)

Goats can eat poison ivy quite handily. Here in the central states, we hire goatherds to temporarily fence in a piece of land infested with poison ivy, and turn goats loose. They eat darn near everything.

And that makes goats a colonists best buddy.

 

[willtron3030]

a "seed" microbiome of fungi, yeasts, bacteria, and photobionts (algae, cyanobactreia). Break down rocks unto soil, fix nutrients for crops, make oxygen... maybe even take over an incompatible ecosystem.

 

[willtron3030]

"Survival Chickens"
[link to PDF doc by Moe Lane, for GURPS 4E system]

[web cartoon that inspired "survival chickens"]

 

[Proneutron]

Its very likely that a any plant brought over would need to have that sort of modification done extensively to account for the vastly different climate and microbial conditions it would be grown in, or else a local plant used as a substitute.

Possibly not. With aeroponics there is no soil or soil microbes involved and plants grow FASTER....

 

[whartung]

The Aslan would have to take whatever plant foods the prey animals that they normally ate would eat, unless new edible prey animals were immediately available.

That's an interesting consideration.

Given that you've landed on a new world and the immediate plant life is inedible (for whatever reason), the question becomes whether the animals themselves would be more or less likely to be edible (once cooked).

There's lots of plants that we can't eat that animals process readily, with no harm to the meat of the animal as far as safety concerns (taste is a different matter).

Curious if that extends extra-planetary to other eco systems where the animals filter out the toxins in the plants and covert them in to edible protein for us.

 

[Ref00000]

Extensive use of fermentation for food processing is mentioned.
the way I read it is ancient Villanii basically had to turn any grain into a bean/grain curd/ tempeh-like product to eat it. any vegetables etc. had to be pickled/fermented or at the most basic, soaked like various Terran analogous ones.
the strains of mold, yeast, etc. were engineered by Grandfather back in the day.

 

[Ref00000]

there's an entire science & ecology based Campaign Seed right there.
have the PCs be a mixed bag of tech, scholars, & agents, working for the Imperial Agro/Colonial Agency (or whatever- checking up that colonies & outposts aren't doing naughty stuff with Forbidden biotech...

 

[Timerover51]

That's an interesting consideration.

Given that you've landed on a new world and the immediate plant life is inedible (for whatever reason), the question becomes whether the animals themselves would be more or less likely to be edible (once cooked).

There's lots of plants that we can't eat that animals process readily, with no harm to the meat of the animal as far as safety concerns (taste is a different matter).

Curious if that extends extra-planetary to other eco systems where the animals filter out the toxins in the plants and covert them in to edible protein for us.

Animals do not exist in a blank area, but do require some form of food. You do have a fair number of frogs, toads, and fish that concentrate toxins in certain portions of their anatomy where they can be very deadly, while the rest of the animal may be edible. The pufferfish, or "fugu" of Japan is a good example. Then you have the liver of certain animals which contains toxic quantities of Vitamin A, making the liver quite dangerous to eat, while the rest of the animal is acceptable. Any explorers to a new planet may find these things out by trial and error. Why do you think that surviving as a Scout is so iffy?

You also could run into a planet like H. Beam Piper's "Uller", where the local life is silicon-based. and totally indigestible by humans.

The safest way to have a compatible ecosystem for food is to bring the basics with you and wait a few centuries.