“James Tiberius Kirk has never seen a salad before and in fact has no idea what a salad even is” is such a GODTIER TAKE thank you for your service
I’m just reporting the facts!
and since this is actually the most important part of the TOS food document, I’ll reiterate the theory here for those who don’t wanna read the whole thing:
I think kirk just kinda tried to play it cool after he realized everyone knew what salad was but him, but really eating it with hands is a dead give away (especially considering we have seen him eat his colored food cubes WITH A FORK AND KNIFE)
i am losing my MIND at how he’s holding the lettuce leaf like a cigar
I think people are greatly underestimating how far James T Kirk will go to fuck with his crew.
There’s exactly one person in the universe that can make James T Kirk do something. There’s a lot of people who can convince him to do things, encourage him to do things, trick him into doing things, sure, but the only one who can make him do anything is Bones.
If Kirk is eating salad, it’s because Bones is making him.do it because the ultimate authority of the ship’s doctor is the only starfleet regulation that Kirk will not break. So when Bones puts him on a diet, he can’t say “no.” The Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship is a rock/scissors/paper situation, essentially.
So Kirk asks himself “What would Spock do in this situation?” and the answer is obviously “pretend you’ve never heard of the Earth-thing in question, play it 100% straight, and wait for McCoy’s head to explode.” He’s going to pretend he’s never heard of salad, and eat his lettuce like a cigar in front of McCoy’s face.
This is malicious compliance.