Star Trek fans feast on great food and camaraderie
SEASIDE HEIGHTS — Some Star Trek fans may disagree if the new films are as good as the original ones or which Star Trek TV series was the best but one area they can agree on, is that they like to eat.
Around 20 Star Trek fans came out to the Seaside Heights Community Center on April 6 to enjoy a meal that was out of this world.
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The event which has been going on for more than two decades was called an Intergalactic Food Festival and hosted by the USS Challenger, the local chapter of Starfleet: The International Star Trek/Science Fiction Fan Association.
The festival was open to the public and included members form Starfleet chapters in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
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“We came together because of our love for ‘Star Trek,’ but we stay together on the basis of friendship,” Emily Vosseller, of Toms River said. Her contribution to the day’s event was “The Counselor’s Lettuce Help” dish which was a chicken dish contained in lettuce leaves.
In years past dishes could be very colorful such as one entrée featuring green spaghetti with marshmallows according to her husband Bob Vosseller who has served as leader of the USS Challenger since it began, 26 years ago.
Many of those assembled were dressed in uniforms from the various “Star Trek” films and TV series.
They lined up to serve themselves dishes inspired by the science-fiction saga, such as a chicken marsala dish inspired by an episode of Star Trek: Enterprise and a ‘Klingon’ cake made by pastry expert Terry Bingham who traveled from Pennsylvania for the event.
The cake made in the form of the Klingon symbol featured the words “Intergalactic Food Festival” written in Klingon, the language spoken by that alien species in “Star Trek.”
Next to the cake sat a bowl of gummy worms with a sign that read, “Dead Gagh,” a joke inspired by the Klingon delicacy of consuming live worms from that planet.
“Star Trek fans are very creative and optimistic and this event is an exercise in culinary creativity. I think many of us will need some real exercise after we’re done however,’’ Bob Vosseller joked.
The festival was canceled in 2013 due to the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy on the community center.
“We’re glad to be back here. The place looks great and we appreciate the use of this facility,” former Toms River resident Jeff Victor, said. Victor is the first officer or chapter vice chairman of the USS Challenger.
“Star Trek only makes up about 20 to 30 percent of our conversations,” said Wayne Augustson, 51, of Long Island. Augustson is the regional coordinator of Starfleet-Region 7 which includes all the chapters of NY, Pa, Md. NJ and Delaware.
“These guys are like a family to me. They are some of my oldest friends,” Victor said. “They introduced me to my wife Laura.”
The USS Challenger meets each first Sunday of the month at 1p.m. at the Seaside Heights Community Center. The club has a Facebook page USS Challenger and a website www.usschallenger.org. For information about club activities and membership e-mail beamaboard@aol.com
“Beyond Star Trek we enjoy comic books, fantasy and horror and other forms of science fiction such as Star Wars, Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica,’’ Vosseller said.
