Plunk, Plunkoids

An early byproduct of New York's OtherForm industry (24th Century) plunkoids are tiny (3 cm long) creatures that do nothing but eat biological waste matter, and excrete a harmless substance called plunk.

Plunkoids were developed to dispose of OtherForm's copious biological waste. Plunkoids make efficient use of waste products of human and insect races, which they can digest completely. Their own waste product was assumed to be an inert carbon compound, harmless to the environment. But once fermented and pasteurized, it proved to be a highly nutritious, but odorless and tasteless food source.

After New York lost its outer boroughs and Chinatown (23rd Century), Manhattan hovered at the brink of bankruptcy because it was so expensive to import all of its food. So when plunk's nutritional value was revealed in the 2220s, it became a universal staple, and techniques to shape and "cook" plunk became a standard part of home economics. In spite of early Republican FDA warnings, poor people began to eat it raw from the can.

To accommodate plunk's popularity, all sewer and waste reclamation systems were reconfigured into garbage clusters by 2235. Garbage clusters sift trash into matter edible by plunkoids, which are automatically ferried to plunk factories, and other recyclables, which are conveyed to their respective reprocessing plants.

Years of culinary research culminated in the creation of plunk molds in 2302. Today, there are molds reproducing all the ancient foods ever created, perfectly reconstituting their shape, taste and smell. Molded plunk dishes are considered delicacies in the Colonies, and a rare treat (if well prepared) outside Manhattan.

Plunkoids make plunk, but are themselves inedible. It is not believed that plunkoids can survive in the wild, as they are not designed to reproduce by themselves. New Jersey has tried to import its own plunk industry, but plunkoids refuse to live there.