s3e3 “The Chute”
I’ve always found it interesting that Neelix always has access to Leola Root. It must grow on nearly every M-Class planet in the Delta Quadrant. Which, given the vastness of space, doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Now, I can think of two possible reasons for this. The first is like parallel evolution, like carcinization. Perhaps the Leola Root is just a really good blueprint for a plant, and like animals keep evolving into crabs, plants keep evolving into Leola Root.
The second is, like the humanoid form, an ancient race spread Leola Root throughout the quadrant, seeding worlds with its genes. Judging by Neelix’s particular evangelism for the plant, could that race perhaps have been the Talaxians? Perhaps with help from the Vaadwaur’s subspace tunnels?
They showed hydroponics. Maybe leola root was the only thing that grew fast enough in hydroponics?
While is is true Neelix had several plants grown in the hydroponic bay, they also have collected Leola root on multiple planets. Either they were seeded (which is somewhat likely; Talaxians used to be widespread in the delta quadrant once upon a time) or “leola” just means “edible” and isn’t necessarily a single type of root.
Right? He went through like the better part of a decade nattering on about and serving his bloody space taters or whatever. That shit was ALWAYS on the menu. Where the hell does he store the mass equivalent of a borg cube’s worth of Leola root, ffs???
Oh yeah - the pattern buffers, of course.
Or that it’s not really Leola root. Maybe it’s something that Neelix knows nobody would willingly eat, so he just calls it Leola root to make it palatable.
I’ve kind of always assumed this explained where he found so much “Leola Root”.
I figure it’s different gross crap from planet to planet.
For a couple star systems, his claim that it’s “Leola Root” seemed plausible to the crew.
Eventually everyone was putting so much replicated salt on it that they can’t taste the flavor changes, and Neelix is just bluffing his way through cooking whatever weeds he can find.
What could be less palatable?
Can’t say I recall an otherwise positive reaction to it’s taste. And surely, if it wasn’t plant life, Kes (a vegetarian) would have chimed in long ago.
Maybe it started out as Leola root, but eventually he ran out, so he’s using whatever he can find around the ship. What? No idea. Use your imagination.
You remember when the Progenitors said they seeded all life? Leola root was included in the seeds.
The frustrating things is if they checked the DNA of all the Leola root species they’d find it contains a hidden message
You’re suggesting there may have been some kind of interstellar Johnny Leolaseed? I could see that happening.
The more pragmatic reason is that it grows quickly in the hydroponics bay. Perhaps it also contains more nutrients than many of their other crops and as such, more is being produced.
That’s what I thought. Leola root is a high carb root that will grow quickly on mats in a hydroponic bay.
Currently, real life intensive vertical hydroponic gardening is great for leafy greens, but not so much for starchy or other caloric carbs.
Thanks for bringing in a real world aspect. We’ll have to assume their methodology/tech can do better with primarily subsurface produce.
