Back when I was a kid, my dad was a big fan of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” He rarely missed an episode.

From what I remember of the show, whenever the Starfleet officers wanted a home-cooked meal while the Enterprise zoomed through space, all they had to do was ask a computer to replicate their favorite meal.  So if they were craving fettuccine alfredo, or a slimy-looking alien food, then the computer would rearrange a few molecules and, poof, the meal would...