Ok, the way some fics have Simon not knowing the most basic foods is killing me. So let's talk about food supply on Eden:
I think the most difficult thing for a lot of writers in this regard is we have very little info to work with, not just with Simon but the stations as well so most is left to theories. Which is why I hope we get a Iron Lung book someday.
However we can still use the facts we have in the lore to make reasonable guesses.
We know that Eden is the largest space station in the galaxy.
This is really important because it says a lot about Eden's resources. Now we don't know the exact size of the station, but we can assume it can at least house an entire civilian that was on Mars. To do that you need a lot and I mean A LOT of food and water. So we can assume before the Quiet Rapture Eden had a pretty sizable number of supplies and way more people but both dwindled with time.
So what was most likely brought to Eden?
Storage stable foods for sure. Items that can last years:
-Alot of different type of beans
-Alot of canned food (Some canned food can be good for up to 5 - 10 years if stored correctly)
-Hardtack (a type of biscuit often bought for emergencies)
- Sugar (most likely became a luxury after the Quiet Rapture)
-Salt (another possible luxury item)
-Honey (can basically last forever if stored properly but would definitely still be a luxury item)
-Hard Liquor (Same as honey can basically survive as long as stored properly)
-Dehydrated vegetables and fruits
-Freeze Dried food definitely, astronauts need them for a reason, and you can basically freeze dry anything from powdered milk to soup. Freeze dried food lasts way longer than anything else.
These are the types of items that would most likely still be around by the time Simon got arrested and he most likely ate because if we're being honest Simon is a big dude. I know it's because he's played by Mark but in story to make it make sense Simon had to be supplied calorie dense, high protein meals just to maintain fat and muscle.
For just the sake of realism a guy Simon's size (5'9, let's say somewhere between 180 to 200 lbs) would need to be eating at least 2,000 minimum calories per day, he could definitely miss meals but it would have to be consistant enough to have at least 150+ grams of protein just to preserve muscle mass. Simon more than likely did some form of hard labor in Eden which possibly prioritized him needing more nourishment than others.
For a loose timeline we know Simon moved to Eden with his mom from Mars when he was at least old enough to retain this memory:
We know he was on Eden when the Quiet Rapture happened so in the flashback where Simon questions The Father he looks to be in his pre-teens so he was alive when most luxury items were still there and got to see them disappear with time.
But as we all know, Eden was NOT built to be a Doomsday station.
The fact that Eden is implied to be super low on rations and supplies and constantly in conflict with the C.O.I shows they weren't meant to survive with out aid from Earth. They don't have systems in place to provide constant nourishment and according to the game lore Eden only has a population of just over 400 people. That is INSANELY small.
So what would go first post Rapture?
Based on the fact Eden had the last tree and it was located in a garden we can assume they had some form of green house for fresh produce and unfortunately this would be difficult to maintain.
Green houses without sun light require electricity that constantly needs to be operational and depending on Eden's power supply this would be extremely hard to keep running after the Quiet Rapture. Energy would have to be conserved to things such as water recycling systems, oxygen and medical equipment. Without proper nutrition crops die and knowing Eden most water was most likely given to people and the last tree. Anything with a short shelf life would be next. This means dairy products of any kind, meat, eggs basically anything fresh.
So it's less of a "Simon doesn't know what eggs are" and more of a Simon doesn't remember what eggs taste like.
He would know what basic foods are because they would have been on the station at some point but for alot of them he hadn't had since he was a kid/teenager, so it would be like a 90s kid having Yogos for the first time in years.
With that being said what are some foods that may have been forgotten with time, he never tried or has only heard about in stories?
Really flavorful foods would be new to him. Looking at the list above you'll notice while healthy and calorie effective most of the food that would be left after the Quiet Rapture isn't very flavorful. If salt, sugar, sauces and spices became a luxury Simon is more use to dried, dehydrated, or plain starchy foods with not much taste. High sugar foods like non-freeze dried ice cream would make him feel like he's in heaven, though as one user pointed out dairy might be a problem because he most likely would be lactose intolerant (though knowing Simon he would still eat it anyway)
Fresh foods of any kind but especially fresh fruit would be something he hasn't tasted since childhood. Exotic fruits like Lychee, Dragon fruit and Durian would be unknown to him since they were most likely not be one of the fruits grown at the greenhouse.
Items he never tried if I had to take a guess:
Basically the kind of items that wouldn't be a priority to be brought on a space station.
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