Okay, I know this is an old subject to you all, but I found it in the archive and had a little different take. In Macross we see the Zentraedi eat a kind of gruel or paste. I don't remember if we saw anything else, as I was never paying that much attention really. (great, now I need to rewatch Macross) The raw materials for food synthesizers is pretty easily available, actually, and could probably be done even today with OUR technology. CHON or Carbon, Hydrogen, Oxygen, and Nitrogen are the elements that make up almost all of our food. Different combinations of these elements make starches and sugars. And you can get these elements from the atmosphere of (probably) any Gas giant out there. So, all a ship has to do, is dip into the outer reaches of any gas giant, fill up it's tanks, and it's got enough raw elements for food for years. (assuming decent recycling tech) Several Sci-Fi books have used this type of food generator technology, the one I'm most familiar with is the "Heechee Saga" of Frederik Pohl. I'd guess that the Zentraedi ships are probably stocked up when they're made, and either refill at the Factory Satellites or just find a nearby gas giant whenever they start to run low. GarrodRan9900