An array of cards being held by Christine Chapel
A diet card was a type of record tape that held information on specific foods. They were used in conjunction with the food synthesizer to create the food listed on the cards.
The chief medical officer aboard Federation starships could issue diet cards with specific nutritional requirements for individual crewmembers. In 2266, Doctor McCoy changed Captain Kirk's diet card to include dietary salad, as Kirk's weight had gone up a bit since his most recent physical. (TOS: "The Corbomite Maneuver")
Later that year, Lieutenant junior grade Joe Tormolen used a yellow diet card to obtain a tray of food from a food synthesizer in one of the USS Enterprise's recreation rooms. (TOS: "The Naked Time")
In 2267, while the Enterprise was temporarily thrown back to the year 1969 in orbit of Earth, transporter chief Kyle placed a blue diet card in a transporter room food synthesizer to produce chicken soup, then offered this meal to a 20th-century airbase staff sergeant who had been accidentally beamed aboard the ship. (TOS: "Tomorrow is Yesterday")
In 2268, Captain Kirk and Spock selected yellow and red diet cards, respectively, from several displayed on a table in a recreation room and inserted them into the food processors. Both meals emerged from the dispensers covered in tribbles, which had infested the ship. (TOS: "The Trouble with Tribbles", DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations")
Later that year, Nurse Christine Chapel passed out several of these cards to the Starnes Exploration Party orphans so that the children could serve themselves ice cream from the dispensers. The cards were color-coded to various flavors and combinations such as coconut and vanilla, chocolate wobble and pistachio, peach, and strawberry. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead")
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Background information[]
The diet card was visually identified in conjunction with the script notes for "The Naked Time" final draft script.
The cards used in "And the Children Shall Lead" were identified on-screen only as "cards", while the props themselves were identified in the shooting schedule as "program blocks". Most of the cards were painted in colors not seen in other episodes, and four of them had multi-colored stripes to depict various ice cream combinations such as cherry vanilla and peach chocolate wobble pistachio.