As dull and weird as that gruel looked, Arc found it to be quite delicious! Of course, compared to what he had been eating before it was absolutely heavenly, save for the fruit puree of course. It was a sensation that was rather new to him as well. It wasn't fruity, and it wasn't fishy, nor did it taste like sweet milk or feel like mud. In fact, it tasted rather mellow.
Arc didn't have the name for this meal, nor did he know any ingredients, but this was the first time he was eating a starch. This food was actually a mix of a few vegetables that had been cut and ground to a size safe for a baby. It had relatively larger chunks of a starchy vegetable much like a potato that had been softened in the sort of stew over a long period of time. It had a pinch of salt as well as a few other seasonings in order to make it more palatable. Although there was no meat in it, this was in fact a stew!
Merri had made this for Arc as she planned to accustom him to using his teeth to eat, she knew he had been conscious and learning for a far shorter time than a baby of his age should have, and most of his food had either been liquid or a sort of paste. He had never needed to chew his food until now, but he had not noticed the change. The experience of chewing and eating had not been erased after all, it was far too simple to matter.
Arc wouldn't care even if he did know all of this. All he knew was that this tasted, felt, and looked much more appetizing than anything he had seen thus far. The multitude of flavors and the differences in textures between the starchy chunks and the bits of veggie was an extremely pleasant experience for him. The ecstasy he felt from the food was only enhanced further by his ravenous hunger.
He even started grabbing for the spoon to shovel more of it into his face faster than Kelvin would feed him.
He was even ignorant of the man's pleased and intrigued gaze, which was probing him for irregularities and potential boons while he was otherwise occupied with eating.
Sadly, Arc found that he could only eat so much. Although he had only eaten two thirds of the contents of the bowl, he knew he was on the verge of regurgitating that precious nourishment. He didn't want the satisfactory taste in his mouth to be replaced by the acid of his stomach, so he stopped eating for the moment. He was disappointed. For some reason he felt that the most delectable portion was the bottom bits, but he couldn't taste it to find out.
Oh the cruelty of the unknown but just out of reach! So tantalizingly close yet so demoralizingly far away. He couldn't help but curse his own small stomach.
However he found recompense in the fact that this would probably not be the last of the 'Good Shit'. In fact he judged that by the quality of the furniture and rooms, that was barely the tip of the iceberg.