Saved from extinction and preserved for eternity

Now that we were here in what Irina considered this era's equivalent of a restaurant, the true test was about to begin. So far atmosphere is a 10/10, but atmosphere is more like the groundwork for the ideal dining experience. The next element is the most essential; the food.

It doesn't matter how good the atmosphere is if the food isn't up to standard. In what I consider my era's equivalent to this location, the options for food were plentiful on both the breakfast and lunch menus. I imagine the concept of only serving breakfast food in the morning is a thing of the past, but regardless of the fact, the place I went to in my era was famous for it's "elephant French toast" as it was dubbed. The only thing is, I'm not sure if it can be replicated in this era.

If I were to simply describe the dish as is, many would think it's just ordinary French toast cut in the shape of an elephant. It's fair to assume that from a mere description, but when you taste it, that's where the difference becomes clear. I remember each piece of toast having a honey filling, which coupled with the powdered sugar and syrup, heightened the taste to new levels of sweetness.

Anytime there was one of these places nearby, I'd always try to start my days off there with some elephant French toast. The dish just had a 100% success rate of getting me energized and giddy for the day ahead. But a restaurant specific dish in an era seemingly without restaurants? That might be a tall order.

"So what do ya wanna eat for breakfast?" Irina asked.

I decided to go for it and said, "Elephant French toast."

"Uh... Come again?"

"Elephant French toast, it was a signature dish at a restaurant chain I liked to eat at on my travels."

"Oh..."

The fact that Irina began to frown confirmed my fears; the dish was a thing of the past, with my memory of it's taste being all that remained.

"'Elephant French toast' you say. I figure it's some kind of spin on French toast, but the thing is all the food generated from the food generator is standardized. But, there might be some hope."

"What do you mean?"

"Basically, everything the food generator can create was once a real dish that was made and then scanned into the machine. And if the dish is deemed safe for consumption, boom, it's available to order at EVERYONE'S food generator.

I'm not going to lie, that's incredible. I can kind of see why restaurants are obsolete now, once a dish is in the database, anyone can get it from wherever. Though I guess the restaurants still exist in the form of hang-out spots, so at least there's that compromise. That being said though, if the dishes I'm craving aren't in the database, then there's no hope of tasting them ever again.

Irina pulled out her portable food generator and set it on the table, allowing me to scroll through the menu. Naturally, the elephant toast I craved wasn't in there, but I did notice there was a tab labeled "food from the past". Curious, I clicked on it, and found myself greeted with a wave of nostalgia.

I could see pages of products I'd normally see everyday at a supermarket, though oddly enough, some had some weird names. With a new surge of hope, I scrolled through the tab, hoping that just maybe, the elephant French toast was there simply under a different name, but no dice.

With a heavy sigh, I leaned back and reached into my pocket for a pack of my favorite travel candy, fruity Momentz. They were primarily a minty candy, but also came in various flavors. I preferred the fruity flavor and always carried a few packs on me, yet when I went into stasis, I think I ate my last pack, or so I thought.

Turns out I only ate the one in my left pocket, not the one in my right. I always make sure to load each pocket with at least one pack of Momentz in order to always have one left if I eat a pack. In all the excitement yesterday, I completely forgot to even check my pockets, but as I fell asleep, I realized I had a pack in my pocket. Since it's my last one, I decided not to eat it immediately, but at a time like this, I just want a taste of my time.

Yet before I could open the pack, Irina stopped me. "Oi, can I see that for a second?"

I complied and watched as Irina stared at the wrapping before searching through the menu on the food generator.

"Momentz... Looks like we got some, but not this flavor. You know what this means?"

It was honestly a bit overwhelming, but I truly did get it; I held the last surviving piece of food history. A piece of food history, that would likely be lost forever, but now...

Irina immediately set the Momentz before the generator and pressed a button. The Momentz candy was immediately scanned, and a few seconds later, the generator signified it was safe for consumption and available to generate.

Irina handed me my pack back and quickly generated two packs of fruity Momentz. "Pretty lackluster breakfast, but it's part of scientific research."

I nodded and took one of the packs that had been generated and opened it up. As I tried the candy, I teared up. "It's just like how it always tastes!"

"Guess that means your pack is a good one. See, the food generator essentially makes a copy of the food being scanned in, and is able to perfectly replicate it, so goes the saying. With food from the past, we don't really know what it's supposed to taste like, so having you here to tell us it's good and tastes right is a life-saver."

My sadness about not being able to eat Elephant French toast began to fade. While I was still bummed about it, I couldn't lie that a strong sense of satisfaction had overtaken me thanks to my favorite travel candy now being preserved for all eternity. Good job on me for always keeping a pack in both pockets and rigorously adhering to the principal of refusing to eat a pack until there was at least one pack in each pocket.

"Ya look a bit less sad now. Hmm... this elephant French toast... you got the recipe for it?"

"Recipe?"

"Yeah. If we have the recipe, we could try making it. And best of all, we know a girl that keeps loads of records on human history."

"Hmm?"