Search/Recent Changes
DBTropes
...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!

Black Market Produce

 Black Market Produce
type
FeatureClass
 Black Market Produce
label
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce
page
BlackMarketProduce
 Black Market Produce
comment
In many stories set in a Crapsack World where civilians subsist on nothing else but Poverty Food, synthetic substitutes, and adulterated foods, a character is shown buying fresh food in the Black Market for an exorbitant price. At least one of the items being bought is something very sensuous, for example, either an orange, a bag of coffee, or a steak. That character will either stand back and marvel at how wonderful the orange looks against the gray/sepia world, or press the coffee against his nose to absorb the aroma, or take a precious bite of chocolate and perform a milder version of slow, sensual, Erotic Eating. To be most effective, the work should first show us the grim, tasteless gruel that the proles have to subsist on.
Sometimes, a character might be shocked to find one of these foods in a rich person's house. If only elites are able to obtain luxury foods, as in a totalitarian state, if a new character is shown carving up a sirloin, this reveals that they are either from the Inner Party or The Syndicate.
In-universe, this could be explained by Only Electric Sheep Are Cheap, or the authors are trying to evoke parallels to Real Life (see examples below). Also, because Dystopia tends to be set in northern climates, it makes sense for people in northern climates to find foods from tropical areas as rare and sensuous because of the implied expense. In science fiction settings such as space stations, access to luxury foods suggests both wealth and power.
However, an astute viewer might note that the foods selected by the authors are generally those that can be dramatically used by the actor/director to reinforce the crapsackiness of the Crapsack World and the greed and evil of the elites. It's never something that is dull but nutritious, like peanut butter or spinach. If it's an orange or strawberries, the color is used to make a stark contrast against the background.
You can find black market food in a hidden store, perhaps behind a hinged shelf at the back—but only if you tell the shopkeeper the secret password. No time to get to the secret shop? Find The Scrounger at the local pub and he can probably sell you some food that Fell Off the Back of a Truck.
See also Mundane Luxury.
 Black Market Produce
fetched
2024-04-11T02:46:03Z
 Black Market Produce
parsed
2024-04-11T02:46:04Z
 Black Market Produce
processingComment
Dropped link to GreenThumb: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Black Market Produce
processingComment
Dropped link to MindstarRising: Not an Item - UNKNOWN
 Black Market Produce
processingComment
Dropped link to WorthlessYellowRocks: Not an Item - FEATURE
 Black Market Produce
processingUnknown
MindstarRising
 Black Market Produce
isPartOf
DBTropes
 Black Market Produce / int_11c6567a
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_11c6567a
comment
In the Thursday Next books, characters from the BookWorld want things from the Outland (the real world), and those things include foodstuffs. In response to requests and along with other non-food items, Thursday brings back a jar of Marmite, Moggilicious cat food (for The Cat Formerly Known as Cheshire), and Mintolas (for Marianne Dashwood, who describes them as, "A bit like like Munchies but minty").
 Black Market Produce / int_11c6567a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_11c6567a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Thursday Next
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_11c6567a
 Black Market Produce / int_193f6428
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_193f6428
comment
Backstory for Starsiege has both fresh fruit and vacuum-packed 'Old Food' as highly valuable commodities that are so expensive that two baskets of fruit or a single case of packed food can be traded for slaves. Earth was quite the Crapsack World after the Robot War.
 Black Market Produce / int_193f6428
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_193f6428
featureConfidence
1.0
 Starsiege (Video Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_193f6428
 Black Market Produce / int_22fa3992
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_22fa3992
comment
The Expanse: Cheese is the hot commodity in the Belt. Fruit and vegetables can be hydroponically grown, legally or illegally, with minimal fuss, the vat-grown Artificial Meat is not as good as the real deal but still a passable substitute and, while more diffcult, it isn't impossible to keep chickens or other small livestock for eggs and meat in Belt habitats. Cheese, on the other hand, requires either a large, female animal be kept alive and in good enough health to give milk, which is extremely difficult both to do and get away with, or wheels of cheese to be smuggled at great expense and risk from the Inner Worlds.
 Black Market Produce / int_22fa3992
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_22fa3992
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Expanse
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_22fa3992
 Black Market Produce / int_28fe1376
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_28fe1376
comment
Fringe has a background element that something happened to Hawaii in the other universe, making coffee something of a black market staple. As such, tea has pretty much taken its place.
 Black Market Produce / int_28fe1376
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_28fe1376
featureConfidence
1.0
 Fringe
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_28fe1376
 Black Market Produce / int_2d9e1054
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_2d9e1054
comment
In Carol and the End of the World, Luis meets a guy under a bridge and trades away some meds for what turns out to be a birthday cake. Considering this show takes place during an impending apocalypse, and the military have to manage ordinary grocery stores, the implication is that Luis had to resort to drug dealing because bakeries aren’t open anymore.
 Black Market Produce / int_2d9e1054
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_2d9e1054
featureConfidence
1.0
 Carol and the End of the World
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_2d9e1054
 Black Market Produce / int_310d6df7
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_310d6df7
comment
In Stand Still, Stay Silent, fruit must be grown in heated greenhouses, and is rare enough to make juice a "special occasions only"-treat for most of the population.
 Black Market Produce / int_310d6df7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_310d6df7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Stand Still, Stay Silent (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_310d6df7
 Black Market Produce / int_32066b8e
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_32066b8e
comment
In V for Vendetta, on Evey's first morning in the Shadow Gallery, she is given toast with her breakfast and is astonished to find real butter. V explains that he stole it from the Chancellor's supplies.
 Black Market Produce / int_32066b8e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_32066b8e
featureConfidence
1.0
 V for Vendetta
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_32066b8e
 Black Market Produce / int_346ee2d1
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_346ee2d1
comment
In Tekken (2010), the main character buys an orange for his mother.
 Black Market Produce / int_346ee2d1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_346ee2d1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Tekken (2010)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_346ee2d1
 Black Market Produce / int_36ee2abe
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_36ee2abe
comment
Paranoia: Food is easy to come by in Alpha Complex. Real food is a rare luxury, only enjoyed by the higher security clearances. As such, the Infrared Market makes a tidy profit selling real food to citizens eager to try such luxuries. One of the reasons the Player Characters jump at the opportunity to become Troubleshooters is that this comes with a promotion to Red clearance, which guarantees them a piece of fresh fruit once every month.
 Black Market Produce / int_36ee2abe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_36ee2abe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Paranoia (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_36ee2abe
 Black Market Produce / int_38365328
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_38365328
comment
In Der Fuehrer's Face, as a citizen of Nutzi Land, Donald Duck's breakfast consists of wooden bread, aroma of bacon and eggs, and coffee from a single bean he keeps locked in a safe.
 Black Market Produce / int_38365328
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_38365328
featureConfidence
1.0
 Der Fuehrer's Face
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_38365328
 Black Market Produce / int_4f847312
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_4f847312
comment
The Nero Wolfe short story "Before I die", by Rex Stout, is set in 1946, at the height of WWII rationing and meat shortages. Wolfe is so desperate for meat that he agrees to take a case offered to him by one of the most notorious gangsters of the area. What he demands as his fee is an in with the black market of meat. Archie lampshades it:
 Black Market Produce / int_4f847312
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_4f847312
featureConfidence
1.0
 Nero Wolfe
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_4f847312
 Black Market Produce / int_544fb5a2
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_544fb5a2
comment
In the In Death series by J.D. Robb, set in the 2050-2060s, real meat and coffee are expensive luxuries that only the mega-rich can afford. In the first novel of the series reformed (mostly) bad boy billionaire Roarke woos Lt. Eve Dallas by giving her a present of genuine coffee beans from the Brazilian plantation he maintains at great expense for his own personal supply. It's so immeasurably superior to the vile sludge that usually passes for coffee that Dallas's coffee becomes the envy of the entire Homicide division.
 Black Market Produce / int_544fb5a2
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_544fb5a2
featureConfidence
1.0
 In Death
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_544fb5a2
 Black Market Produce / int_56fa0ea4
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_56fa0ea4
comment
In Civilization V, luxury items can become subject to a global prohibition by a United Nations resolution. Such items include oranges, salt and spices.
 Black Market Produce / int_56fa0ea4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_56fa0ea4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Civilization (Video Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_56fa0ea4
 Black Market Produce / int_5a3533fe
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_5a3533fe
comment
On My Name Is Earl, Catalina comes from a poor village in a Banana Republic note  Its exact location is unknown. It has been said (variously) to be in Mexico, Bolivia, and even "Guadelatucky." , that has been overrun by drug cartels. When Dodge asks if she's ever played the game "Hot Potato," she assumes he's asking if she's ever had an actual hot potato. She tells him that hot potatoes were rare in her village, and were reserved for birthdays only. Even before that, a little girl on the bus to that village is so happy to have a churro, because she only gets one per year. She shows it to Earl, who assumes she's offering him a bite.
 Black Market Produce / int_5a3533fe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_5a3533fe
featureConfidence
1.0
 My Name Is Earl
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_5a3533fe
 Black Market Produce / int_5bd6bb99
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_5bd6bb99
comment
In Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse, Tokyo has been underground for the past twenty-five years, and demon meat is what's usually on the menu. Canned fruit and vegetables are some of the more expensive Shop Fodder, and the flavor text notes that they're usually saved for special occasions.
 Black Market Produce / int_5bd6bb99
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_5bd6bb99
featureConfidence
1.0
 Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse (Video Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_5bd6bb99
 Black Market Produce / int_5cd1aa89
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_5cd1aa89
comment
In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the heroine brings real tea and coffee to her hideout. She comments that there has been a surprising amount of tea available lately, and deduces that Oceania (the superstate in which she lives) must have conquered India. Also, Winston meets a prole couple on a train who confide in him that they are hoping to get hold of some black-market butter while visiting relatives.
 Black Market Produce / int_5cd1aa89
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_5cd1aa89
featureConfidence
1.0
 Nineteen Eighty-Four
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_5cd1aa89
 Black Market Produce / int_6a5cadf7
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_6a5cadf7
comment
In the Foyle's War episode "Bleak Midwinter", set in rationing-bound World War II England, Foyle busts an operation that's been smuggling restricted food, leading to a subplot for the rest of the episode about who's going to end up with the food once it's done being held as evidence. It also comes up in other episodes with farmers and grocers who reserve a private stock to sell at higher prices to rich customers.
 Black Market Produce / int_6a5cadf7
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_6a5cadf7
featureConfidence
1.0
 Foyle's War
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_6a5cadf7
 Black Market Produce / int_73d7930f
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_73d7930f
comment
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: in one episode, Quark is stated to had run a black market selling food to Bajorans during the Cardassian occupation.
 Black Market Produce / int_73d7930f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_73d7930f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_73d7930f
 Black Market Produce / int_74fb542e
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_74fb542e
comment
The Mitchell and Webb Situation has a sketch with a farmer acting like everything he did was some sort of black market get-rich-quick scheme.
 Black Market Produce / int_74fb542e
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_74fb542e
featureConfidence
1.0
 That Mitchell and Webb Look
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_74fb542e
 Black Market Produce / int_76c6fb6f
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_76c6fb6f
comment
In Beastars, eating meat is frowned upon, but because carnivores still have instinctual urges to eat meat, there is a black market that sells the meat of those who've died in hospitals or of suicide, although some sell their own body parts as food. It's said to be a natural place that most carnivores will end up going and for good reason, as without an ethical source of meat many carnivores would kill and eat the flesh of other people.
 Black Market Produce / int_76c6fb6f
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_76c6fb6f
featureConfidence
1.0
 Beastars (Manga)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_76c6fb6f
 Black Market Produce / int_78c1833b
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_78c1833b
comment
Cabaret has a musical number that is based on a gift of a pineapple. See Real Life below.
 Black Market Produce / int_78c1833b
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_78c1833b
featureConfidence
1.0
 Cabaret (Theatre)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_78c1833b
 Black Market Produce / int_8125b468
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_8125b468
comment
In the Batman series No Man's Land:
Gotham has been devastated by an earthquake, and abandoned by the government. With the bridges bombed and the waterways mined, the population is cut off and food supplies are limited. A journalist hires a pilot to fly him over so he can drop food and get footage of people fighting over it. One of the items, an apple, is considered so precious that it eventually makes its way to The Penguin, who auctions it off to a crowd in return for a 20 carat diamond - after he takes a bite out of it!
Later in the storyline, Batman finds a rare breed of pear in Penguin's possession, and determines that the only specimen in the area of that tree is in Robinson Park, which has been taken over by Poison Ivy. Turns out she and a group of orphans have been enslaved by Clayface and forced to grow and harvest produce to sell to Gotham's starving populace. Batman frees her, and allows her to keep looking after the children if she continues to provide food.
 Black Market Produce / int_8125b468
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_8125b468
featureConfidence
1.0
 Batman (Franchise)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_8125b468
 Black Market Produce / int_8667f7b0
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_8667f7b0
comment
Dad's Army: Local spiv Private Walker sometimes dealt in produce as part of his black market activities. It plays a major role in "We Know Our Onions" where he has been using Jones' van to fulfill a black market order for Warden Hodges, the greengrocer, and has half a ton of onions hidden in the back when the platoon is ordered to take part in a Home Guard efficiency test and travel there in the van, towing a Smith gun with them.
 Black Market Produce / int_8667f7b0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_8667f7b0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Dad's Army
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_8667f7b0
 Black Market Produce / int_8d814070
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_8d814070
comment
On M*A*S*H, the occasional real food was quite a treat. One time a farmer gave the unit a bunch of real eggs, not the reconstituted stuff they usually get. Another time Radar went through a Chain of Deals in order to supply Col. Potter with fresh tomato juice after some accidentally got shipped to them and Potter liked it - but then after all that trouble, it turns out Potter is mildly allergic. He'd been without it for so long he forgot. In another incident, a wounded quartermaster that Hawkeye had operated on thanked him by diverting a side of beef meant for the table of the general who had gotten him wounded in the first place to the 4077th - the unit ends up rushing to thaw and cook the beef before the MPs sent by the general to recover his dinner arrive. (They arrive just as Potter is about to start carving the roast, and he tells them to sit down and have a slice.)
 Black Market Produce / int_8d814070
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_8d814070
featureConfidence
1.0
 M*A*S*H
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_8d814070
 Black Market Produce / int_8e2f15b8
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_8e2f15b8
comment
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed is set in Moscow right after World War II, in the autumn of 1945. There's no famine, but food is being rationed, and anything above the set limits costs a lot. The Black Cat gang rob stores (murdering people for food and money) and then sell food through an accomplice in a cafeteria. The scene in their hideout is a feast honest people cannot afford, with fresh cucumbers and tomatoes.
 Black Market Produce / int_8e2f15b8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_8e2f15b8
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_8e2f15b8
 Black Market Produce / int_94aa987d
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_94aa987d
comment
In Sunless Sea, the denizens of The Neath subsist on impossible varieties of mushrooms and fish, and it's strongly implied that there's much less food to go around than on The Surface. Consequently, Naples' supply prices are the lowest in the entire game, and every purchase gives an extensive description of what you're buying.
 Black Market Produce / int_94aa987d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_94aa987d
featureConfidence
1.0
 Sunless Sea (Video Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_94aa987d
 Black Market Produce / int_9cc8e7e4
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_9cc8e7e4
comment
Characters in The Leonard Regime must resort to this in order to feed and arm themselves.
 Black Market Produce / int_9cc8e7e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_9cc8e7e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Leonard Regime
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_9cc8e7e4
 Black Market Produce / int_a454d68a
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_a454d68a
comment
In Gabrielle Zevin's Birthright trilogy, chocolate and caffeine products are illegal. Mafias, like the one the heroine Anya controls, run all trade and sales of them. In-universe, however, both chocolate and caffeine are considered to be as luxurious and psychedelic as cocaine, differing slightly from this trope.
 Black Market Produce / int_a454d68a
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_a454d68a
featureConfidence
1.0
 Birthright
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_a454d68a
 Black Market Produce / int_a5549ed0
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_a5549ed0
comment
In The Bible, Revelation has this to say about the manifestation of Famine; in context, these are astronomical prices expected for staple foodstuffs equivalent to a week's wages for the basics of life and imply both shortages and a lot of black-marketeering going on.
 Black Market Produce / int_a5549ed0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_a5549ed0
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Bible
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_a5549ed0
 Black Market Produce / int_a78fff6d
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_a78fff6d
comment
In the setting of SeaQuest DSV produce is plentiful and readily available year-round as everything is grown hydroponically and genetically engineered to provide maximum nutrition and flavor. Meat, on the other hand, is hard to find as beef and pork are declared illegal due to the negative impact livestock has on the environment. Artificial Meat is available but the older generations find it to be a poor substitute.
 Black Market Produce / int_a78fff6d
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_a78fff6d
featureConfidence
1.0
 SeaQuest DSV
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_a78fff6d
 Black Market Produce / int_b4733bfe
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_b4733bfe
comment
In Deadly Harvest, Mort Logan and his gang roam the countryside stealing what remaining agricultural products they can get their hands on and then sell them on the black market.
 Black Market Produce / int_b4733bfe
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_b4733bfe
featureConfidence
1.0
 Deadly Harvest
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_b4733bfe
 Black Market Produce / int_bc2f4863
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_bc2f4863
comment
The Wind Up Girl: The novel is set after the complete exhaustion of the world's petroleum reserves, without which shipping highly perishable goods around the world isn't expensive - it's impossible. Moreover, crops are constantly falling prey to various engineered plagues. When the American Anderson Lake visits Thailand and has his first taste of a local fruit (heavily implied to be a rambutan or lychee), miraculously free from disease, he's blown away by the flavour.
 Black Market Produce / int_bc2f4863
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_bc2f4863
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Windup Girl
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_bc2f4863
 Black Market Produce / int_bcadd7cb
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_bcadd7cb
comment
Warhammer 40,000: The nobles eat the best food, imported from agri worlds. The masses... not so much (yes, Soylent Green included). Same applies to the Imperial Guard where Officers from nobility get actual food and the ordinary grunt's rations are indestructible bricks or goos of superdense nutrition. Though this varies wildly world to world. Your typical Civilized (Gamma-class) world citizen would eat much like a modern 1st world individual. Hive, Fortress and Forge worlds without a fraction of the agricultural capacity needed to support their population get the densest, cheapest sources for the masses (if they're lucky). Shipping halfway decent food through the warp is unreliable at best and incomprehensibly dangerous at worst, so the price goes up a bit.
 Black Market Produce / int_bcadd7cb
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_bcadd7cb
featureConfidence
1.0
 Warhammer 40,000 (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_bcadd7cb
 Black Market Produce / int_bcb32dc6
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_bcb32dc6
comment
Shadowrun in terms of warzones is pretty much a prime place for black market produce. As described by Hard Exit: "You want food, you can get food, if you want corned beef in a can, you might be shit out of luck." Depending on the location, the trope can become a little more literal. The staple of the Fifth World is nutrisoy, supplemented with enough vitamins and minerals that it'll keep a metahuman alive. To call the taste 'lacking', though, is inaccurate, because that implies that there is a taste. In Denver, there's also a ban on any Aztechnology products — and Aztechnology is one of the biggest biological providers in the world. As such, there's a thriving black market and smuggling circus around drugs, weapons, biomods, oranges, cashews and steak. It's a not entirely inaccurate joke that a 'runner is more likely to be fervently attacked over a pallet of beef than a case of tempo.
 Black Market Produce / int_bcb32dc6
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_bcb32dc6
featureConfidence
1.0
 Shadowrun (Tabletop Game)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_bcb32dc6
 Black Market Produce / int_bfd7c6e0
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_bfd7c6e0
comment
In Drowtales, the trope is lampshaded here. Chocolate is considered a recreational drug. Drowolath cooking relies heavily on Soylent Green and mushroom beer. Elves who rely on such staples can be identified by their tongues, which have become permanently purple.
 Black Market Produce / int_bfd7c6e0
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_bfd7c6e0
featureConfidence
1.0
 Drowtales (Webcomic)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_bfd7c6e0
 Black Market Produce / int_c09581e4
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_c09581e4
comment
In Space Battleship Yamato 2199, one of the crew members of the Yamato learns that his family has been forced to rely on the black market for food. Since the surface of the Earth had been rendered uninhabitable due to the Gamilons' planetary bombing, food was becoming increasingly scarce.
 Black Market Produce / int_c09581e4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_c09581e4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Space Battleship Yamato 2199
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_c09581e4
 Black Market Produce / int_c18bfdae
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_c18bfdae
comment
A Jamaican restaurant owner you interview in the Blade Runner PC game adds black market cheese to her soup. Your character lets her off with a warning since it's not his jurisdiction.
 Black Market Produce / int_c18bfdae
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_c18bfdae
featureConfidence
1.0
 Blade Runner
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_c18bfdae
 Black Market Produce / int_c43df4d8
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_c43df4d8
comment
In the Doctor Who story "The Dalek Invasion of Earth", an old woman reports the main characters to the Daleks and is rewarded with food, including an orange. "I haven't tasted an orange in years..."
 Black Market Produce / int_c43df4d8
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_c43df4d8
featureConfidence
1.0
 Doctor Who
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_c43df4d8
 Black Market Produce / int_c9fea0c4
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_c9fea0c4
comment
In Barefoot Gen, Gen's mother Kimie, who was pregnant at the beginning of the story, goes into premature labor after watching her husband and her two other children burn to death. She gives birth to a girl, whom Gen names Tomoko. Because Kimie (and everyone else in her community) was starving thanks to food prices already being high, her milk dries up, and Gen goes to get Tomoko some formula, or powdered or evaporated milk. He finds exactly what he was looking for, being offered by Americans...for far more than it's worth. He takes odd-jobs (despite being only six years old), including caring for an old man with terrible gangrene, and is finally able to afford the milk. By the time he does get to buy it and returns home with it, Tomoko has died of starvation.
 Black Market Produce / int_c9fea0c4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_c9fea0c4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Barefoot Gen (Manga)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_c9fea0c4
 Black Market Produce / int_d00adba4
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_d00adba4
comment
In Super Minion meat is very expensive, especially during Odd Summer. This is because, just like humans, animals can mutate or gain superpowers when in danger or under stress, so keeping them locked up during Odd Summer and especially trying to slaughter them is very dangerous.
 Black Market Produce / int_d00adba4
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_d00adba4
featureConfidence
1.0
 Super Minion
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_d00adba4
 Black Market Produce / int_d31cdea
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_d31cdea
comment
In The Hunger Games, the heroine makes her living poaching game and selling it on the black market, as District 12, the coal mining district, has no agriculture and isn't permitted any on a public scale.ClarificationShe mentions peas can be grown in the garden in an attempt to reassemble a Capitol meal, her family owns a nanny goat that can produce milk and cheese, and some of the richer merchant families own goats and pigs, but she also explains that the ration grain is barely, if ever, enough to subsist a person, and death by starvation is very common in District 12. In addition, most food that isn't made from grain rations is expensive and rather rare in the Districts. The decadent Capitol, on the other hand, has tons of food of all kinds, to the point some residents may vomit up the food they had previously eaten to eat more.
 Black Market Produce / int_d31cdea
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_d31cdea
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Hunger Games
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_d31cdea
 Black Market Produce / int_d461f757
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_d461f757
comment
Battlestar Galactica (2003) has the black market ship Prometheus which, in addition to smokes, drugs, prostitutes and jewellery, supplies the non-military members of the Fleet with the last remaining fresh fruit. It both serves to underscore that many civilians lack what the protagonists have been taking for granted and acts as a plot point to hint Ellen Tigh's connections when she shows up with a bowl full of grapes.
 Black Market Produce / int_d461f757
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_d461f757
featureConfidence
1.0
 Battlestar Galactica (2003)
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_d461f757
 Black Market Produce / int_d54b59cc
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_d54b59cc
comment
In Demolition Man you can find in the Underground City of the Scraps stuff you can't find on the surface city of San Angeles. Including (otherwise banned) real burgers... just as long as you don't mind not asking what's in them. Still doesn't stop John Spartan reckoning it's the best he's had in years.
 Black Market Produce / int_d54b59cc
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_d54b59cc
featureConfidence
1.0
 Demolition Man
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_d54b59cc
 Black Market Produce / int_d90f02aa
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_d90f02aa
comment
In The City of Ember, the people of the city live mainly on canned food stored for decades in huge cellars. By the time the story takes place, the supply is getting low and only the most basic kinds of foods are left. Canned fruit is thought of as an exotic luxury enjoyed by previous generations. The few items (such as pineapple and applesauce) that do show up aren't being sold on the black market, but they are being stolen, hoarded, and jealously guarded. Lina has several "beautiful things" stuck up on her bedroom wall. One of them is the label from a can of peaches.
 Black Market Produce / int_d90f02aa
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_d90f02aa
featureConfidence
1.0
 The Books of Ember
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_d90f02aa
 Black Market Produce / int_e7e37776
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_e7e37776
comment
Firefly:
In the pilot episode, we get Kaylee enjoying a strawberry and the crew getting excited about fresh vegetables and herbs. Explained in the RPG. Fresh produce doesn't keep as long aboard ship as packaged protein, and some voyages last weeks.
At one point, the crew is hired to smuggle cattle.
 Black Market Produce / int_e7e37776
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_e7e37776
featureConfidence
1.0
 Firefly
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_e7e37776
 Black Market Produce / int_ef7a115
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_ef7a115
comment
In Terra Nova, the father brings an orange to the family in the opening scenes.
 Black Market Produce / int_ef7a115
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_ef7a115
featureConfidence
1.0
 Terra Nova
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_ef7a115
 Black Market Produce / int_f74b5f80
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_f74b5f80
comment
Downplayed in Babylon 5. Babylon 5 has a large hydroponics section, which grows a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. However, these are designed to provide a nutritionally complete diet, not provide a wide selection of food. Anything NOT grown in Hydroponics will need to be shipped from Earth, three weeks away, and while interstellar travel may be common, it's still a bit risky. This means that any perishables will likely be spoiled when they arrive, and the shipping costs stellar.
Garibaldi manages to get ingredients for a birthday treat (canned anchovies, olive oil and butter, sealed in airtight packaging) and at one point wins fudged paperwork which will allow him to have a steak transported from Earth in a stasis pod in a bet with the Doctor. This is shown only to be possible since Garibaldi is Chief of Security and has contacts everywhere.
Ivanova has managed to sneak a few coffee plants into hydroponics to not have to drink instant, and is at one point gifted a meal of eggs and bacon. This impresses Garibaldi to no end, since he has spent months trying to get eggs on board before they go off.
Sheridan mentions that the two real privileges he has are a proper water shower in his quarters and that he can occasionally get his hands on enough oranges to make worthwhile amounts of orange juice.
Subverted when G'Kar has a friend from Narn over for dinner. His friend is amazed that G'Kar could get breen, a native delicacy, from the Narn homeworld, but G'Kar reveals that the "breen" is in fact an identical Terran recipe, Swedish Meatballs.
 Black Market Produce / int_f74b5f80
featureApplicability
-0.3
 Black Market Produce / int_f74b5f80
featureConfidence
1.0
 Babylon 5
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_f74b5f80
 Black Market Produce / int_ffc9bcc1
type
Black Market Produce
 Black Market Produce / int_ffc9bcc1
comment
In Soylent Green, Thorn steals real food from the home of a wealthy murder victim. He and his roommate Sol Roth later eat everything from lettuce to apples.
 Black Market Produce / int_ffc9bcc1
featureApplicability
1.0
 Black Market Produce / int_ffc9bcc1
featureConfidence
1.0
 Soylent Green
hasFeature
Black Market Produce / int_ffc9bcc1

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 Black Market Produce
processingCategory2
Cyberpunk Tropes
 Black Market Produce
processingCategory2
Food Tropes
 Black Market Produce
processingCategory2
Fruit and Vegetable Tropes
 Black Market Produce
processingCategory2
Speculative Fiction Tropes
 Black Market Produce
processingCategory2
Tropes for Sale
 Deadly Harvest / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Demolition Man / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Tekken / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Tekken (2010) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 A Phoenix Reborn / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Book of Revelation / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Greg Mandel Trilogy / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Ibyabek / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 In Death / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Super Minion / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 The Books of Ember / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 The Hunger Games / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 The Leonard Regime / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 The Machine Gunners / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Dad's Army / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Firefly / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Foyle's War / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Terra Nova / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 The Americans / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Twisted Metal (2023) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Paranoia (Tabletop Game) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Pillars of Eternity II: Deadfire (Video Game) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Star Traders: Frontiers (Video Game) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Sunless Sea (Video Game) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Data Chasers (Webcomic) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Drowtales (Webcomic) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Stand Still, Stay Silent (Webcomic) / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Der Fuehrer's Face / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce
 Thursday Next / int_7ba4adea
type
Black Market Produce