The food replicator or food machine was a device installed in TARDISes which produced bars of food. They were engineered to replicate meals in flavour and nutrition.
The Doctor's TARDIS possessed at least one such machine.
History[]
Artron made use of a food machine during the time of Rassilon, before he himself discovered artron energy, (AUDIO: Day of the Master) some time before the first prototype TARDIS was launched. (AUDIO: Collision Course)
Food machines became standard timefleet issue (AUDIO: The Beginning) before eventually becoming obsolete and being replaced by TARDIS kitchens. (TV: Shada, WC: Shada)
Function[]
The food machine rearranged molecular-deconstructed fungi into whatever delicacy was ordered. The fungus grew in vats in a TARDIS lab. (AUDIO: Upstairs)
Features[]
The food machine had two large dials with selector needles on the front, by which the codes for the various meals could be selected, with one dial bearing numbers and the other letters. It dispensed light-coloured blocks on paper plates which tasted like whichever type of food had been programmed into the machine by the user. (TV: "The Dead Planet")
Food machines also stored water and milk, served in plastic sachets, which had to be replenished when empty because they were not created by the machine. (TV: "The Edge of Destruction")
Food machines came with a booklet which had codes for the food they could create. The code for eggs and bacon was J62/L6, (TV: "The Dead Planet") while the code for spaghetti bolognese was KD/NB. (PROSE: Venusian Lullaby)
In the Doctor's TARDIS[]
The Tenth Doctor attempts to repair his food machine. (COMIC: The Glutonoid Menace)
The food machine was generally kept in the TARDIS kitchen, (PROSE: The Room With No Doors) though it was known to "wander" the corridors. (PROSE: Christmas on a Rational Planet)
The Fourth Doctor once claimed that he had not seen the food machine in years. (AUDIO: The Fate of Krelos) At one point while travelling with Leela, the Doctor left his food machine behind on Drummond to serve Kendra and the other homeless people on the planet. He claimed to Leela that he had simply misplaced the machine, though he was fairly certain that he had a spare. (AUDIO: The Age of Sutekh)
The Seventh Doctor's companion Ace had the food machine near her room on the TARDIS. (PROSE: Echo) At some point, she made the food machine produce actual food instead of nutrient bars. The Doctor had intended to do the same, but never got around to it. (PROSE: Legacy)
Uses[]
The First Doctor made a "tangy" cup of water and a food bar with the food machine when first stealing the TARDIS. According to Susan Foreman, the food bar was the sort which was found at most workplace refractories. (AUDIO: The Beginning)
The First Doctor used the food machine to produce bars flavoured like bacon and eggs for Barbara Wright and Ian Chesterton shortly after they joined the TARDIS. (TV: The Daleks)
Vicki Pallister spent a long time programming the machine to produce a flavour like brown sauce after Ian told her that Barbara was fond of it. (AUDIO: 1963)
Steven Taylor once ate bacon and eggs from the food machine. (AUDIO: Upstairs)
The Second Doctor got a hay-flavoured nutrient bar from the food machine and fed it to a sheep that had entered the TARDIS. (PROSE: Loop the Loup)
At one point, the Second Doctor instructed Jamie McCrimmon and Victoria Waterfield on how to operate the food machine. (AUDIO: The Story of Extinction)
When Jo Grant brought a Micro Servo Robot into the TARDIS, it connected itself to the computer and began transmitting adverts. One of these adverts had the food machine produce toast with written adverts on it. (AUDIO: Pop-Up)
Chris Parsons discovered a food machine, which he thought was a minibar, in the guest suite aboard the TARDIS. He set the dials to K12, but the food block he was served with tasted of steak and candy floss. (PROSE: Shada)
After the TARDIS was stolen by Thomas Brewster, the food machine was one of the items which he removed from the TARDIS and sold to the crew of the Gamma who were marooned on the Time Reef. Although the Fifth Doctor was unable to recover the original food machine, he told Nyssa that he could easily build another. (AUDIO: Time Reef)
The Fifth Doctor also used the machine to supply Erimem's cat Antranak with dead rat, much to his discomfort. (AUDIO: Nekromanteia)
Frobisher found the food machine and nearly filled the console room with Mars Bars. (COMIC: Voyager)
Flip Jackson used the food machine to make popcorn. (AUDIO: The Fourth Wall)
When the TARDIS was turned into a SARDIT, Shonnzi got biscuits out of the food machine. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Time's Crucible)
The Seventh Doctor asked Hugh and Janet for a sample of their cooking so he could program it into the food machine. (PROSE: Cat's Cradle: Witch Mark)
The Eighth Doctor's companion Sam Jones tried to order French toast and orange juice from the food machine, though she thought it looked like a Mars Bar and carrot juice. (PROSE: War of the Daleks)
Sam told the Doctor's other companion Fitz Kreiner that the TARDIS did not have a kitchen, just a food machine. Fitz, who preferred making meals himself, found a kitchen, but was not sure whether Sam simply had not known about it or if it had been created for him. (PROSE: Autumn Mist)
While travelling with Alexander Pope and Theobald, the Ninth Doctor threatened to restrict their access to the food machine's viennetta. (PROSE: Double Falsehood)
The Doctor takes note of the food replicator while creating a list of places in the TARDIS to clean. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)
The Tenth Doctor tried to fix the machine, which had not been used in years. He failed and it produced food with disgusting flavours. He later used these food blocks to kill the Glutonoid. (COMIC: The Glutonoid Menace)
By the time that the Tenth Doctor was travelling with Rose-the-cat, the food replicator was still in disrepair and had begun to sprout mould. The Doctor noted it while creating a list of places in the TARDIS which were in need of a cleaning, although Rose-the-cat did not recognise the machine. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)
The Eleventh Doctor and Valerie Quest donated the food machine to the Minotians, who had been starving and subsisting on their young. They partook in a banquet with them afterwards, as honoured guests. (AUDIO: All of Time and Space)
Other food machines[]
A food machine designed to cater to a large crew was present on the emergency escape shuttle in which the Eighth Doctor, Liv Chenka and Helen Sinclair were thrown into non-time. (AUDIO: Ship in a Bottle)
Food machines were among the many inventions that the Master provided to the citizens of Destination. Though the Master had modelled much of the planet on Earth and humanity, the food machine at Robac and Tanna's house did not provide any plants or meat that Ian Chesterton recognised. (AUDIO: The Destination Wars)
Behind the scenes[]
Information from invalid sources[]
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The food machine in the "Minecraftified" TARDIS. (WC: Doctor Who Minecraft)
While remembering instructions from her Type 40 Operational Handbook, Christel Dee disabled the etheric beam locator, shield oscillator, and the food machine, then diverted 'all the power' to the temporal Glowstone stabilisers and the Netherrack Thermocouplings, before declaring 'yes!' and landing. (WC: Doctor Who Minecraft)
