I made these two categories of products to help flesh out some of the flavor of Shadowrun. Generally people tend to overlook how big a part of life food and drink can be.
Soy Processing Units (SPU)
The standard SPU has all but replaced the oven, microwave and larder in the common household in 2070. It is a combination mixer, microwave, oven, and beverage server. There are differing costs and qualities of SPUs though. Below are some of the examples:
Format:
Name of SPU
Cost: How much you would pay for one at the store.
Necessities/Lifestyle: Included in your lifestyle costs at this level.
Nutrient Slots: These are the number of slots that you can have nutrient pastes made of Soy, Algae, Krill or other basic building blocks for making meals. Each slot holds enough to make approximately 20 meals
Flavoring/Additives Slots: These are the slots for flavoring, additives and color to be added by the SPU to the base nutrients to make various meals. They also include instructions for the SPU on how to prepare those meals. Each slot holds enough additives to make approximately 10 meals.
Beverage Slots: The beverage slots hold syrups or powders to add to common tap water to create various beverages and drinks. Each packet can make approximately 30 drinks.
Wirelessly enabled/Manual only: Wirelessly enabled SPUs can be controlled via comlink or by the Central Home Node’s (CHN) system. Otherwise they have a touch screen interface.
Description: Basic description of how the machine works and what it looks like.
Slurpy Straw (AKA Leftover Straw, Dumpster Diver)
Cost: Can not be bought. To build one takes 10 hits on a Logic + Survival Extended test.
Necessities/Lifestyle: Street
Nutrient Slots: NA
Flavoring/Additives Slots: NA
Beverage Slots: NA
Description: A Slurpy Straw is a device found on many homeless people that is built to suck the remains of a Nutrient container that has been discarded dry. Many times there is not enough nutrients to make another meal and the SPU will tell the owner that it is “Empty”, but there can be as much as a few cups of food left in the container.
G. Form Grill
Cost: 30¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Squatter
Nutrient Slots:1
Flavoring/Additives Slots:1
Beverage Slots:0
Description: The G. Form Grill is panini press style cooker designed for the creation of nutritious snacks on the go. It is roughly the size of a small toaster oven and uses interchangeable metal plates to shape the nutrients (patties or bars). As it is designed to be used anywhere it can run off of a rechargeable battery (for use in the gym or camping) for short periods of time (roughly 2 meals worth of use time before recharging for 30 min). It uses proprietary nutrition containers with built in flavor packets. Due to its small size the Nutrient containers only have enough product to make 5 meals, but only cost 5
Note: Each bar counts as a meal and are good for 3 days after being made.
Aztechnology Home Stuffer
Cost: 100 ¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Low
Nutrient Slots: 2
Flavoring/Additives Slots: 3
Beverage Slots: 2
Manual only
Description: Roughly the size of a large microwave oven the Home Stuffer is a product of Aztechnology Stuffer Shacks. They use a proprietary slot system so that it can only use Nutrient and flavoring containers sold at Stuffer Shacks, hence the low cost. While the containers cost the same as more universal systems, they are made with the lowest quality ingredients and limited flavor/coloring additives). They use an injection molding process that, when combined with the lack of color range, produces food that looks like it is made of plastic. Still do to the low cost and ease of buying pastes and flavorings it is a common product in many homes. None of the meals can be larger than a hamburger and complex dishes may take several passes through the machine to be produced. The beverage nozzles also do not clean properly and changing the drink can add a slight bit of the flavoring left over from the last drink.
Kenmark SPU
Cost: 300¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Low
Nutrient Slots: 2
Flavoring/Additives Slots: 3
Beverage Slots: 2
Wirelessly enabled
Description: Roughly the same size and quality of the Home Stuffer, but it is able to use universal pastes and flavorings. The molding quality is still low and the oven has issues with producing the right texture (things tend to be to crunchy or too soggy.) The Cooking area is still very small and cannot make anything larger than a large sub or small pizza so larger meals will require multiple uses.
Maytag Home Maker
Cost: 1,000¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Medium
Nutrient Slots: 4
Flavoring/Additives Slots: 3
Beverage Slots: 4
Wirelessly enabled
Description: The MHM is one of the larger home SPUs on the market and is slightly larger than the size of a modern oven. Their larger numbers of nutrients slots are designed for large families or big eaters. They do not have many flavor slots; so many meals tend to be a bit bland. The molding process however is designed for higher authenticity to help with picky younger eaters. The cooking area is fairly large, able to create items up to the size of a whole turkey.
Ginzu Home Chef
Cost: 1,500¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Medium
Nutrient Slots: 3
Flavoring/Additives Slots: 6
Beverage Slots: 5
Wirelessly enabled
Description: The GHC is one of the most popular home SPUs on the market and is roughly the size of a modern oven. Its larger number of nutrients slots allows of a much wider variety of dishes to be prepared and the SPU can check with the CHN about what items it can make with the nutrients and flavorings at hand, allowing for a much wider variety of dishes to be served. The cooking area is fairly large, able to create items up to the size of a whole chicken. It is the SPU of choice for corporate families.
Renraku Iron Chef
Cost: 15,000 ¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: High
Nutrient Slots: 4
Flavoring/Additives Slots: 20
Beverage Slots: 5
Wirelessly enabled
Description: The RIC is one of the most versatile home SPUs on the market and is roughly the size of a refrigerator. Its huge number of nutrients slots can allow for extended use without needing to resupply or allow for a truly astounding number of base nutrient components. The SPU can check with the CHN about what items it can make with the nutrients and flavorings at hand, allowing for a nearly infinite amount of tasty and authentic tasting of dishes to be served. The molding and cooking elements are fine tuned to produce just the right amount of texture to any food items. The cooking area is fairly large, able to create items up to the size of a large turkey. It is the SPU of choice for workaholics or low level executives.
Viking Diamond Edition
Cost: 50,000¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: High
Nutrient Slots: 6
Flavoring/Additives Slots: 50
Beverage Slots: 10
Wirelessly enabled
Description: The VDE is the top of the line in SPUs. It is roughly the size of a side-by-side refrigerator. Its huge number of nutrients slots and flavorings allow for any meal to be created and the high tech rapid prototyping technology is the pinnacle of food recreation. Many users like to tinker with dishes and then upload their favorite recipes to their social networks. It is the be all end all as far a gourmets are concerned.
Nutrient costs:
Soy: 5
Krill: 6
Algae: 6
Beef puree: 15
Chicken puree: 10
Whitefish Puree: 20
Flavor packs: Between 5 to 100 based on the quality of the ingredients and the number of flavors. They range from Authentic Stuff Shack to Wolfgang Puck’s French Specialties.
Beverages: Between 5 to 20. Soycafe is the most popular.
Synthohol Dispenser (SD)
While many people are have noticed the change in food preparation and storage there have also been made in the alcoholic beverage industry. With the reduced size of refrigerators and people being used to the convenience and speed of SPUs it was only natural to introduce these technologies to the home bar. The Synthohol Dispenser works by taking an alcohol base and mixing it with various flavor kits to produce drinks similar in alcohol content and flavor to conventional adult beverages. All SDs filter and add tap water as filler and have built in Carbonators that allows for the insertion of CO2 into drinks to make sodas, beers or sparkling wines.(It extracts CO2 for the air and does not need replacing.)
Format:
Name of SD
Cost: How much you would pay for one at the store.
Necessities/Lifestyle: Included in your lifestyle costs at this level.
Synthohol Shot Capacity: This is the amount of synthohol (150 proof alcohol base) the machine can store. One shot can make one shot of liquor, one beer or one glass of wine.
Flavoring/Additives Slots: These are the slots for flavoring used to make specific drinks. Each container has enough flavoring for 20 drinks.
Wirelessly enabled/Manual only: Wirelessly enabled SDs can be controlled via comlink or by the Central Home Node’s (CHN) system. Otherwise they have a touch screen interface.
Description: Basic description of how the machine works and what it looks like.
Stuffer Shack Keg-O-Rator
Cost: 50 ¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Low
Synthohol Capacity: 30
Flavoring Slots: 2
Carbonator: Yes
Wirelessly enabled: No
Description: The Aztechnology Keg-O-Rator is a pony keg shaped SD that uses Sythohol “kegs” (roughly the size of a 40oz can) commonly found at Stuffer Shacks. These disposable kegs plug into the unit and are made of recyclable plastic and are not refillable. The Keg-O-Rator only works with Stuffer Shack “kegs”, but can use any flavoring.
Note: The kegs are Commercial Grade Synthohol and use a proprietary interface so only Stuffer Shack kegs can be used. Cost 3 per keg
Horizon Socializer
Cost: 250¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Medium
Synthohol Capacity: 30
Flavoring Slots: 4
Wirelessly enabled: No
Description: The Horizon Socializer is a mini-drink dispenser roughly the size of a modern blender. It is intended for light home or office use or for small social gatherings. It cools the Synthohol to just above freezing and makes excellent beer and wine. It is severely lacking in flavor choices and is generally configured for red and white wine and 2 types of beer.
Horizon Party Bar
Cost: 400 ¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: Medium
Synthohol Capacity: 50
Flavoring Slots: 6
Wirelessly enabled: Yes
Description: The Horizon Party Bar is roughly the size of a large home cappuccino machine and operates in the same way. It is used by people who like to have small social mixers in their home and by small cafes that would like to be able to offer a small drink menu. The Party Bar can also produce shaved iced for frosty drinks like Margaritas.
Horizon Barkeep
Cost: 5000¥
Necessities/Lifestyle: High
Synthohol Capacity: Three 1000 shot containers
Flavoring Slots: 30
Wirelessly enabled: Yes
Description: The Horizon barkeep is the size of a wetbar (2meters long by .5meters deep by 1.3 meters tall). This is considered to be a full service bar for use in taverns, restaurants or hotels. It features mixing software that is able to combine different types of flavorings to make mixed drinks (rather than just having a flavor slot for Martinis for example). The 3 separate containers allow for a mixture of top shelf synthohol and “well drink” synthohol. The Barkeep can also produce ice (cubed, shaved and crushed) for various drinks.
Price guide:
Synthohol Base (comes in bottles, cans and kegs in most common SD unit sizes)
Commercial Grade Synthohol: 1¥ per 10 shots.
Well Drink Synthohol: 1¥ per 5 shots.
Top Shelf Synthohol: 1¥per shot.
Premier Synthohol: 5¥per shot.
Flavorings:
Domestic beer and wine: 10¥
Imported beer and wine: 25¥
Well drink liquor and premixed drinks: 15¥
Top shelf liquor and premixed drinks: 35¥