fandomhigh | Inside Out -- Class 2, Period 2 [Tuesday]

Juli had, quite frankly, laughed herself nearly sick over the news of the weekend--news that she’d been glad enough not to be a part of--and it was with a quiet amusement that she came to teach today. “I trust you all had good weekends?” she commented mildly, and then let it go.

“We’ll start off with something easy enough,” she smiled slightly, “after all, where would be the fun in starting with the harder topics, before you’re all quite comfortable with each other?” Of course she, Juli, would’ve found it fun, but she was trying to be slightly more circumspect in her lines of questioning. Slightly. “Today’s topic is: Food. Any and all discussion relating to this topic is encouraged, but if you need a few questions to start you off with then, perhaps, consider these: What do you like the most? What don’t you like the most? What’s traditional in your area, and how does that differ from here? Do you cook? Do you like to cook? What’s the worse thing you’ve tried? The best?”

“Those are just a few of the questions you’re free to discuss, use them as starting points.” Juli took a deep breath, “and I will, of course, answer any of these questions myself should you wish it of me.” Fair was fair, and this was a rather basic thing. She didn’t mind answering these sorts of questions.

She gestured to a random student. “Now, start.”

[~~Wait for the~~ OCD is up! Yay!]

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Food! What you like, what you don’t, can you cook it? What’s common in your area? What’s not?

Discuss your answers to those questions, ask Juli for her answers, or go off on food related tangents.

[And, la, feel more than free to talk to each other as well! *nodnod*]

"The candy here is different." It was the one thing she was certain on.

"How is it different?" asked Hoshi.

"More chocolate than I am used to in my village. It's very expensive back home."

"Wow," said Hoshi. "We don't use any kind of money back home, so I've never had to make choices based on cost before I got here."

"How does anything work without money?"

"It's kind of like a barter system, except if I don't have anything to trade with now, people are fine with it because they trust I'll come through with something later," said Hoshi.

Temari gave her a Look.

"That's very trusting."

"My world is kind of weird that way," said Hoshi.

"Are you invaded often?" Because, really, even Temari was thinking about it after hearing that.

"Invaded? I don't think that's ever happened," said Hoshi. "We've got a pretty good Starfleet patrolling the solar system."

"Hn."

Seemed about ripe for the picking.

"And you, Hoshi," Juli said, "do you have an opinion on the food here?"

Hoshi thought for a moment before answering. "I actually like the food better here. There's a lot more emphasis on using fresh ingredients and that makes everything taste better. At home, we have a lot better access to fresh ingredients, but everyone uses replicators more often and the replicated food just doesn't taste the same. If you've tasted the real food, then you can easily taste the difference."

She nodded. "Is it simply convenience, do you think, that has people preferring the replicators?"

"I think so, especially for a lot of the people who serve on space ships," said Hoshi. "I'm kind of different because my grandmother refused to use the replicator and insisted that I learn how to cook from scratch, the way she did. A lot of people thought it was odd that my parents would actually cook real food, but that's the way they were brought up."

"I'd imagine that knowing how to cook puts you in the minority in the dorms," Juli said, "if my memory holds true of school life, that is."

"There's a couple other students who can cook, but not a lot," said Hoshi. "I don't mind. It makes it easier to meet new people if you cook a lot of food."