Food Box

This article contains unmarked spoilers for Book 4.

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I took a bite. It tasted like a microwave biscuit sandwich, which I’d probably eaten a thousand of over the years. “It’s not bad,” I said, chewing. “It’s not great, either. Bopca food is better.”[1]

Food Boxes are a tier-one Personal Space Kitchen upgrade that look like three wooden cabinets lined up against the kitchen's blank wall. Each cabinet corresponds to one of breakfast, lunch, or dinner, and offers a selection of food options that changes daily and adapts to the crawler's tastes; however, the synthesizers can be a little buggy, and if a crawler chooses the same option twice in a row, it may become their only choice. The food is mediocre (or downright terrible), but imparts the Full daily buff.[2]

Operation

When a crawler physically touches a cabinet door, a menu appears in their Heads-Up Display (HUD) with roughly twenty options corresponding to the cabinet's specialty (e.g. the breakfast cabinet may offer cornflakes, bacon, hominy grits, a sausage bagel sandwich, etc.). The crawler selects their choice, and opens the door to find the food item sitting inside the cabinet.[2]

Crawlers may only use each Food Box once per day.[2]

Story

Donut and Mordecai purchase the Food Boxes with an environmental coupon early on the Fifth Floor, and install it in the Royal Palace of Princess Donut. While Carl is content with his Sausage Bagel Sandwich, Katia Grim remarks, “I had it give me skyr and jam, and it tasted like bad sour cream mixed with Jolly Ranchers.”[1] The Food Boxes immediately become part of the Royal Court's daily routine.

SPOILERS FOR BOOK 6

By the time the Eighth Floor rolls around, Carl has ruined the Food Boxes for both him and Donut. Donut complains, "“He only eats sausage and egg breakfast sandwiches. He ate so many, now the food box thing only has that as an option.”[3]

Louis commiserates: "“Yeah, mine did the same thing, but with bowls of Captain Crunch.”[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Dinniman, Matt. The Gate of the Feral Gods (Chapter 3) (p. 39). Dandy House. Kindle Edition.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dinniman, Matt. The Gate of the Feral Gods (Chapter 3)
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Dinniman, Matt. The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Chapter 11) (p. 123). Dandy House. Kindle Edition.