The assumption I use in writing fanfic is that on the Liberator, there are regular sit-down meals for the crew, and that everyone has to take turns cooking and washing up

I make that assumption too.

Blake and Gan cook simple meat and 2 veg meals; Avon cooks gourmet food (although regrettably for palates inferior to his); Vila cooks curries, pizzas, felafels, and grilled cheese on toast (all vegetarian--he can't stand the sight of blood and the idea of touching dead flesh gives him the willies); Jenna doesn't go to much trouble--it's stew or soup and if you don't like it then you can go hungry; Cally cooks healthy low-fat meals for the crew's own good but binges on cakes, biscuits, and anything she can get her hands on in between (she's bulimic); Dayna grills meat in the absence of an outside fire and serves it with salad; Tarrant likes a good fry-up--steaks, sausages, chips; Soolin hasn't done much cooking although she secretly remembers her family's good farm meals with nostalgia--she does roasts and stews which are hard to get wrong, and she can't be bothered with fiddly sauces like the ones Avon does.

In a way this is irrational--they couldn't all be awake at the same time

I think most would be. There are 5 of them (6 when Gan was there), and I have them on an Terran 'day' and 'night'. If they rotate through 3 8-hour shifts, only one is on at night, so most would be awake at the same time. Only the person on watch would be missing from a meal. On the series, it looks as if most gravitate to the flight deck during the 'day' for company, even Avon who could work in more peace in his cabin.

I've seen plenty of stories involving "pleasure planets" but somehow no one except me seems worried about where you can find a really good restaurant on shore leave...

Oh, I am too! The Lib had enough food for decades ('Horizon'?), but they must have wanted to shop for fresh vegs and unusual items they craved. Of course, the Lib was probably capable of storing fresh food indefinitely with its advanced technology, so they may well have had lots of fruit, vegs, fresh bread in some sort of stasis. I think they did. But they'd still have to shop for it now and then. I can imagine some would regard it as a chore, others would welcome the nice safe break from the ship.

I have at least 6 meals at dirt-side restaurants in Vila's e-mails, and also have them making frequent shopping trips from Xenon base for food and other supplies.

Nico

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