Foodstuffs, Canned: While not as good as fresh
food, canned or otherwise pre-prepared food is still
a fair bit better than processed protein. Since such
food keeps indefinitely (or at least a whole lot longer
than the fresh stuff), food packs and canned fruit are
popular among settlers and ship crews. The given
price buys two or three boxes of different kinds of
food, allowing one person to eat decently for about
a week. Rationed, the food will go farther.

Foodstuffs, Fresh: This is what it’s all about:
fresh vegetables, fruit, and meat. Unfortunately, real
food is fairly expensive; folk can’t usually afford it
unless things are going real smooth for them. Most
often, fresh food is bought in small amounts or is
carefully rationed over a period of time, at least by
those who live in the black.

Foodstuffs, Luxury: This is the kind of fancypants
yummies you can’t even find most places on
the Rim. A pound of fresh strawberries, a chocolate
ice cream cake, caviar—such count as luxury goods
to folk who live on the Rim. The units in which the
goods are sold depends upon exactly what the food
is. The price can vary as well, but whatever it is, it
will almost always be quite expensive.

Foodstuffs, Nutrient Bars: Nutrient bars—a
Newtech Alliance ration—are perhaps the most
compact form of food ever developed. Each bar is
about the size and shape of a gold ingot and each
is wrapped in foil. The actual bar is a brownish
compound, nearly tasteless, but at least it’s better
than protein paste. If sliced thinly, a single bar can
provide 30 days’ worth of nutrition for one person.
The person will still need water and additional
calories, but the vitamins, minerals, immune
supplements, and so on will allow them to subsist on
an otherwise minimal diet.

Foodstuffs, Protein Paste: Tubes of colored
and (supposedly) flavorsome protein paste are the
standard diet for spacefarers in the ‘Verse. The
paste is sometimes molded into different forms and
cooked different ways. Sadly, it tastes about the same
no matter what you do to it. Healthy, if boring, the
paste stores a good long while.

Spices, Common: Whether it’s protein paste,
canned vegetables, or fresh meat, a sprig of
rosemary can make your day a little brighter.
Spices, Rare: Popular in the Core for those
who can afford high class dining, rare spices such as
saffron can be extremely expensive. A good cargo to
carry, and even better to have if you can afford it.

Fresh Fruit: A rarity on the Rim, especially
delicacies such as fresh strawberries.

Protein Chips: A common snack found
pretty much everywhere, protein chips are soybased,
salty, and tasty.

Rotgut: Crude alcohol brewed in some such
distilling rig. It tastes something foul and is
just barely on the friendly side of toxic, but it’s
usually free. Imbibing more’n a cup of rotgut
requires an Easy Endurance (Willpower +
Vitality) roll or the drinker feels nauseous and
suffers a fearsome hangover.

Snack Bar: A snack bar is a single serving
of either nutritious or delicious (rarely both)
foods such as chocolate, dried fruit, grains, or
even vegetable matter. One of the most popular
brands of snack bars is the Fruity Oaty Bar,
mostly due to their ever-present marketing
efforts that blanket nearly every planet in the
‘Verse.