parked | Log with Ianto: The Proof is in the Pudding

Sulu couldn't decide if Ianto's reaction was hilarious or terrible, and so his face reflected both his amusement and horror. "Shit, are you okay?" he asked, deciding finally on being worried for the other kid - who knew what his tolerance to spicy foods was? It figured that the only really spicy food there would be the one Ianto tried first...

Welsh cuisine was actually pretty bland. Sure, there were some Indian food dishes that had a bit of a zing to them, but Ianto didn't really branch out into anything adventurous, usually, knowing what he liked and sticking with it. That fact in and of itself was half the reason he was so bowled over. He hadn't been expecting spicy, hadn't been prepared, and had been pretty generous with his bite size and dipping, and so.

Ianto took several large swallows of the drink, coughing despite the fact that the offending food had been swallowed already. "Oh my god," he said, tears coming to his eyes, his voice momentarily hoarse, still choking a little bit on the remaining flavor. "What the bloody hell was that?" he groaned.

Sulu didn't really know all the different types of food and dip on the platter, so he tried the sauce himself - not with the same kind of vegetable though. He made a face and shook his head.

"Jeeze. That's some kind of habanero sauce, or something. I didn't realize there was any really spicy Andorian food..." He tried to think of something that would have that kind of kick to it, but everything he thought of was very... well, American. Or Hispanic, but he didn't think Mexican food and Andorian vegetables really worked together.

"God, that's... That's awful," he said. Ianto took another vegetable from the platter, wanting to try and cleanse his palate, but decided against any of the sauces this time. He didn't want to make the same mistake twice, after all. Then he'd look like an absolute fool. More so than he did already, even.

"The vegetables themselves aren't bad, though," he said, with a shrug. "Kind of reminds me of...I dunno. Tempura I guess..." He eyed the sauces warily. "D'you actually know what any of those are?" he asked. He could guess the spiciness of the sauce that he'd tried was unexpected even to Sulu, given his reaction there, but. Did he even know what any of the stuff that was in front of them tasted like?

Sulu nodded, "Yeah, tempura's a good comparison. It's not heavy like... you know, deep fried chicken or something. But... let's see. I know that's honey mustard, because every place serves that as a dip," he pointed to the yellow dip. He paused, then picked up a piece of vegetable and dipped it in to make sure.

"Yep, it's just plain old honey mustard. The other ones..." He tried the other dips and managed to pin them down to at least their closest Earth relatives, "This one's kind of like ranch; this is a sort of tangy barbecue sauce, I think it might actually be Andorian; and that one's... I think it's like the broth for Andorian cabbage soup, but I've only had that once, so..." He grinned. "The BBQ stuff and the habanero stuff are the only really spicy things, but you should be okay with the BBQ. Don't worry, we're safe from here on out."

Ianto knew that it wasn't very adventurous, but he'd probably be sticking with the honey mustard and the ranch from then on. Especially the honey mustard, because Sulu had tried it himself and he didn't seem to be suffering any adverse effects from it in front of his eyes or anything like that. Picking out another vegetable (they were all covered in batter and of alien origin, he had absolutely no idea what any of them were), he tried the ranch warily, nodding as he chewed, indicating that yes, it was ranch.

"'s a bit weird, yeah?" he asked, after a moment. "To be eating alien vegetables. I mean...can they grow here, then? Or are they imported? And why would you ever import vegetables that far, if they are?"

Sulu picked out another piece and went for the barbecue sort of sauce, munching on it for a moment before responding. "Yeah, they can grow here. We've got special hothouses for pretty much any kind of vegetable you might want. Besides, replicators can create them from scratch, if you want them somewhere where you can't get them. So long as it's got the card for it, at least."

He realized that Ianto probably didn't know what a replicator was, so he went on to explain, "A replicator is basically a machine that can create any kind of food you might want. Most people don't think it's too much different from real food, but I kind of prefer the home-grown stuff."

Ianto was glad that Sulu went on to explain just what he'd meant by a replicator. They didn't have anything like that from his time, as it were, and so he marveled at the sound of it, and the description that he was getting.

"So...what. I just...makes food? Out of nowhere?" Ianto asked, a bit skeptical really. "I mean. How can you just make food from a card of information? I know that there has to be some sort of science involved, but. I mean, it sounds a bit mad, yeah?"

"They basically use matter in one form to make a different form of matter. It involves transporters, it's kind of weird," Sulu said, shrugging. "I understand the general theory of using one, but I've never really looked into how, exactly, it works. I mean, it'd be like learning about how a fridge is designed to run - interesting, I guess, but not really something you go out of your way to learn."

He felt a little silly for not knowing how this kind of thing worked, all of a sudden; Ianto probably wanted to know all the finer points of replicating food, but Sulu just didn't know off the top of his head. He munched down another vegetable to hide the fact that he was a little embarrassed for not knowing.

Ianto, however, didn't blame Sulu for not knowing. He grabbed another vegetable to munch on--this one tasted a lot like a sweet potato, which he liked. He was going to have to see if he could find more of this one and eat those. "It sounds complicated," he said, thinking on it. "I dunno how I'd feel about that, though. I mean. It's got to take away from the quality. Even if the food's alright. It's got to be a lot more tasty when there's been someone paying attention to the preparation and all..."

Of course, now Ianto was contemplating food preparation, which the last time he checked, was not a cool kid thing to do. So he took another vegetable as well. "Think I'm going to leave off of the sauces, now, though," he said. He didn't want another repeat of the last time simply because he forgot which one the spicy one was again.

"Most people don't notice any difference in taste," Sulu replied - and let's face it, he wasn't above discussing things like food preparation instead of whatever cool kids talked about. "I just... dunno, I can kind of taste it. It's pretty much the same thing, though. Replicators basically made starvation obsolete." If you could make something like that obsolete. "But yeah, I'd... keep clear of at least the spicy one," he said, grinning a bit, "But it's good enough without the sauce, I think."

Ianto, in the middle of raising another vegetable to his mouth to eat, paused. "...I'm sorry," he said, giving Sulu a look like he'd gained another head. "I could've sworn you said something about making starvation obsolete. Last time I checked, I'm pretty sure that something like that on such a grand scale is just impossible, no matter how good your technology is..."

Sulu blinked at Ianto, raising an eyebrow. "Uh... That's exactly what I said, actually. You can't have mass famine if you have a machine that can make food from literally anything."

Ianto raised an eyebrow right back at Sulu. "So, what. You're just saying that people supplied everyone who needed one with one of these machines so now the world is some bright, happy place where world hunger is just a thing of the past?" he asked, sarcastically. Even at 15, Ianto was a pessimist, and he really didn't know what to make of what Sulu was saying, even if it were true or not.

Sulu couldn't help but stare at Ianto, much like Ianto was staring at him - the shock and pessimism of Ianto's comments sent him for a loop, big time. How was it so hard to comprehend? Then again, he'd never lived in a world with famine, or disease, or war (not real war, anyway; they weren't at peace with the Romulan or Klingon empires, but the fights happened lightyears away from home and were way beyond his scope at the moment). Maybe it was just different.

"...Uh, kind of, yeah."

Ianto sat back in his seat, shaking his head, ignoring the food and the drink for a moment as he stared back at Sulu. "That's... That's not possible," he said. "People. People don't do things like that. They don't just make helpful machines and give them away to people who need them. I mean, yes, one or two, here or there, but. The whole planet?" Ianto flushed, embarrassed as how pessimistic he was, but. It was true. "People don't go out of their way to do nice things on that level. Not where I'm from, at least."

Sulu frowned at that. What kind of world was the 21st century, that Ianto would be so surprised that people would try to help other people? Then again, there were a lot of things that had happened between then and now... He shook his head. "People do, now. It's... it's really not the same place you know. People care about other people. We don't have disease or famine. It's..." Better. But he didn't want to say that and sound like a dick.

Sulu might not have said it, but Ianto could tell where he was going with that comment. "It's better," he said, finishing the thought Sulu started, "isn't it?" He lowered his eyes to the table, sighing slightly. He was only 15, he shouldn't be thinking about this, shouldn't be talking with another boy who was even younger about topics as serious as world hunger and the likes.

"I guess...that I should be happy about that, huh," Ianto said. "That the future looks brighter than it does in the here and now for me." He just wasn't sure if he was or not. It wasn't like, other than visiting here, he'd ever get to see it. Get to see any of it, other than his sad little run-down neighborhood and the sad little petty people who lived in it.

...he needed to change the subject. Before he started to get into an even worse mood than he was.

Sulu rubbed the back of his head, making a face. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't mean it like that... I just. ...Things are better. Things start getting better in the 21st century, even." Not until after they get worse, but he wasn't going to tell him that.

Thankfully, just then, the waitress arrived with their burgers. Sulu thanked whatever powers there were that the food was there to distract them, and grinned as she set the burgers down.

Best Sulu didn't tell him that things were going to get worse, even if it weren't really anything concerning him and his universe. Even better still that the burgers arrived, along with Ianto's coke. Ianto automatically reached for the vinegar, and just about drowned his chips in it, picking one up and sampling it. God, at least chips tasted the same, even if they did call them fries over here. The burger on the other hand...

"...this is enormous," Ianto said, almost warily.

Sulu laughed and shrugged. "That's how burgers are in the United States. We just like to eat, I guess," he added with a grin, already moving to get some of the ketchup and mustard that the waitress set down just before leaving. He eyed Ianto's fries with a little trepidation, though. "You got enough vinegar there, man?"

Ianto shrugged. "Oi," he said, "don't go knocking the vinegar until you've at least tried how it is, yeah?" He put it down on the table in between the two of them. "Maybe it's not your fancy, but you've got to at least try it, if nothing else." Ianto took a few more fries, munching on them thoughtfully, before picking up the ketchup and mustard, opening up the top of his bun and applying them liberally as well.

Sulu considered Ianto's comment for a moment, then shrugged and reached over to snake one of Ianto's vinegar covered fries for himself. It wasn't like he was going to mess up his own fries, if it turned out to be gross. It wasn't, though - though it made the fries a little too slippery and mushy for his taste, the vinegar wasn't a bad idea. He shrugged.

"I guess it's okay. Dunno, I like my fries kind of crispy."

Ianto ate another one of his fries, chewing it and shrugging. "Chips aren't usually very crispy in Wales," he said. "They're more... I dunno. I guess soggier and therefore designed for vinegar like this."

Taking his knife, Ianto spread the ketchup and mustard evenly over the top of his hamburger bun, mixing the two together before putting the bun back on the top, picking up the hamburger, and taking a bite. "Mmmm," he said, pausing to chew and swallow before he spoke. "God. This is amazing." Clearly, Ianto had never had a really good hamburger before now.

Sulu shrugged at the mention of the difference between chips and fries - as far as Sulu was concerned, they should both be thin cut and crispy. Oh well. He grinned as Ianto worked on putting condiments on his burger, not bothering to spread it out himself but instead using his knife to cut it down the middle, too used to doing it to think otherwise. "They're great, huh? If there's one thing we can do in the states, it's burgers."

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