Regardless of culture, humans must eat to live. Sharing food and its preparation has helped form connections between disparate people, fostering camaraderie and enabling a genuine sense of community and continuity across generations.

As more participate in the preparation and creation of the very necessities of our existence, the easier it becomes for everyone to see each other as individuals and as allies. Many hands indeed make for lighter work, and combining our shared expertise and passing it along through the generations is one of the main reasons we eat communally. Another benefit is the trust we develop in each other, which strengthens the bonds between us and provides opportunities for us to share more than just a meal.

Our species has evolved around the pursuit of sustenance and protection. To share what was life-giving, including the preparation and consumption of a meal, was done only between family, tribe and allies; thus were truces upheld and peace brought upon the land. To be offered the hospitality of another meant being offered their protection as well, so offering food to someone beneath your roof was a gesture of peace and goodwill. (1)

From the beginning of our history as people of the Charter, communal cooking and eating have always been encouraged to help solidify individuals into a caring and close society. From the camps lived in by those who built the habitats came the Eateries, which in turn evolved into the communal halls of our shared encampment on the surface. And so, too, have those experiences and examples led to our village dining halls, which regularly welcome residents and travelers to partake in their offerings.

When examined through the long lens of history, the practices of those on Damia are reflections of those followed by our species for millennia. For only a few thousand years preceding the extinction of almost all human life, did our species evolve toward food preparation as a familial task, and the sharing of food happened almost entirely within the familial unit. Taken across the entirety of our species' history, the social contract requiring individuals to prepare entire meals to share with just a few was a blip in humanity's story.

Alexandra exemplifies this aberration as her home contains what she informs me is a fully stocked kitchen. She told me that when Kevin is with her, they still tend to eat a meal they prepare together a few times a week, though she doesn't use it much while Kevin lives elsewhere, preferring to eat with the village.

We catch a glimpse into this blip as we journey back and follow Noodin, helping Alexandra prepare a meal he will eat with Kevin, and the honest conversations resulting from the connections of a shared meal. The recipes used were based on Thai cuisine, modified to fit the tastes and ingredients available in her home habitat, NAHE. (2)

The original cuisine was developed in the southeastern portion of Asia, a continent of Terra. The land was tropical, and the food was characterized by its emphasis on heat and complex spices, designed to balance all the flavors. A curry was a generalized category for a variety of one-pot, sauced dishes found in the region known for its complexity of spices, and those spices made it forgiving of most substitutions, especially when it came to using what the habitat could offer alongside the personal preferences of those who consumed it. (3)

Zucchini instead of eggplant, ginger for galangal, along with lime zest, lime leaves, and even more zest as a substitute for kaffir lime leaves, dried mushrooms for shrimp paste, and a mushroom-based umami sauce as a substitute for the ubiquitous fish sauce of traditional Thai cuisine.

That Alex made this dish for Kevin on this night was no accident.