Recurrent Themes – Blueberries
Why blueberries in Star Trek fanfiction?
A part of it is the visual appeal. There is no question that they are a pretty presentation on any plate. But then I started putting them into all sorts of places in my fiction.
They just have the right sort of appeal as a food that many people enjoy and can relate to. Everybody knows what a blueberry looks like, and what it tastes like. It is a way for space adventures to gain some down to Earth appeal.
Appearances
Lili’s Blueberry Pie
Jay Hayes and Dave Constantine in particular are blueberry fans.
Lili gets this information out of Jay when she first meets him during the events of Harvest. As a result, blueberries figure thematically throughout the time they know one another. With Dave, she learns of his preference during The Way to a Man’s Heart. By making Dave a blueberry pie, it reminds her of Jay.
During the E2 stories, Lili is constantly putting the blueberry jam jar in front of Jay. He sometimes notices, sometimes he doesn’t. This detail thereby serves as a subtle reminder of how much she likes him. She is paying attention, even to that. In addition, in Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, she feeds him his last meal before he goes to rescue Hoshi (and, in Star Trek: Enterprise canon, he’s killed). The last thing he eats is a handful of blueberries that Lili gives him, right before she hugs him and tells him to be careful.
Blueberries show up briefly in Saturn Rise and Fortune, too.
Upshot
Beautiful and sweet, blueberries, to me, symbolize not only simplicity and
wholesomeness, but also a means by which people can safely connect.
After all, or at least it seems this way, doesn’t everybody like blueberries?
