Speculative fiction requires massive amounts of worldbuilding in order to create realistic societies and cultures for the audience to understand. While there are many aspects of worldbuilding such as economics, religion, and politics that are highly focused on in the discussion of how to worldbuild, there are also elements of everyday society that are not discussed as thoroughly. One of these aspects is food. This includes both how food is produced in certain speculative fiction settings and how these different cultures interact with food items on a daily basis. In addition to the ways that food systems operate, this project looks into three major works of speculative fiction--Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, and the works of Tolkien--to analyze the ways that these pieces of fiction have or have not used food as a part of worldbuilding. Then, I use the research that I have done to demonstrate the ways in which the food system can be incorporated into a work of speculative fiction through the writing of my own creative piece, “Of Yoila and Yalia”. My research details the ways that speculative fiction tends to treat food as either a logistical issue or simply a differentiating cultural marker instead of a useful tool to build a culture and act as a foothold for readers as they access a world that is foreign to them. Through my research and the writing of “Of Yoila and Yalia”, I conclude that food is an important aspect of creating a society and a culture that is not only accessible to readers but is relatable and understandable. To overlook food is to disregard one of the most compelling elements of culture that people interact with on a daily basis and therefore miss much of what culture revolves around.

Speculative fiction requires massive amounts of worldbuilding in order to create realistic societies and cultures for the audience to understand. While there are many aspects of worldbuilding such as economics, religion, and politics that are highly focused on in the discussion of how to worldbuild, there are also elements of everyday society that are not discussed as thoroughly. One of these aspects is food. This includes both how food is produced in certain speculative fiction settings and how these different cultures interact with food items on a daily basis. In addition to the ways that food systems operate, this project looks into three major works of speculative fiction--Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica, and the works of Tolkien--to analyze the ways that these pieces of fiction have or have not used food as a part of worldbuilding. Then, I use the research that I have done to demonstrate the ways in which the food system can be incorporated into a work of speculative fiction through the writing of my own creative piece, “Of Yoila and Yalia”. My research details the ways that speculative fiction tends to treat food as either a logistical issue or simply a differentiating cultural marker instead of a useful tool to build a culture and act as a foothold for readers as they access a world that is foreign to them. Through my research and the writing of “Of Yoila and Yalia”, I conclude that food is an important aspect of creating a society and a culture that is not only accessible to readers but is relatable and understandable. To overlook food is to disregard one of the most compelling elements of culture that people interact with on a daily basis and therefore miss much of what culture revolves around.

This project uses ecocriticism to analyze prevalent issues in sustainability and resource management, as depicted in Science Fiction Literature. Through the essays in which I used the Keywords for Environmental Studies textbook by Joni Adamson et al., I analyzed how current Science Fiction novels deal with environmental issues. I then applied my findings to writing my own Science Fiction narrative, written in a Young Adult style to introduce the youth to the environmental problems we face in a creative and engaging manner.

In the story, Awaken, humans contest over territory with the avians — a sentient bid species. Years ago, the humans moved to underground dwellings in order to protect themselves from aerial assaults and developed sophisticated technology to keep the avians away from their crops. Over time, the avains became a legend humans tell their children to get them to behave, but a segment of the government remembers the real threat avians pose and are determined to vanquish their avian enemies. Kial Damian Johnson was created by his mother and father, who are involved in that segment of the government, with avian and human DNA. He finds himself drawn into the continuous battle between avians and humans. He learns that Yellowstone is going to erupt soon and neither avians nor humans can survive without sharing their resources, and he attempts to bring about peace between the two sides.

The narrative deals with issues prevalent in Animal Studies through giving the bird population a voice and a visible culture, and also reflects on current world issues as we strive to work together globally in the Anthropocene. Through researching and conducting interviews, I crafted this story to contribute to the environmental discourse. I wrote this story in a Young Adult style in order to invite the youth to engage in the conversation about issues of cross-cultural environmental sustainability.