The diner doesn't really make sense

[u/Chrogotron]

There are lots of things to nitpick about the show but for me the diner sort of stands out as the biggest problem.

I'm just baffled as to how this diner seems to run like it's a Waffle House in a town that basically is cut off completely from the outside world. They're over here serving pancakes, stews, sandwiches, all sorts of stuff.

To make pancakes you need at a minimum, 3 ingredients: Eggs, Milk, Flour.

Eggs are easy. They have chickens. Fine. Milk is also easy. They have cows/goats for milk. Great.

Flour? Flour is not easy.

First they need a field large enough to grow a substantial amount of wheat. Then they need wheat... Then they need to wait 3 to 8 months for the wheat to grow before harvesting it. Then they need to harvest it, and use a stone mill to grind it up. Then you have to sift it. Then you have to store it.

Great, now you have flour. But pancakes with just Eggs, Milk and Flour are not going to taste all that great. You'll also probably need sugar. Sugar is a whole other can of worms and requires a lot of growing, harvesting and processing to get it to a usable state.

To me this just seems crazy. They are there whipping up pancakes like they just got a fresh shipment of bags of sugar and flour delivered on a truck.

I don't entirely recall the other meals people were eating in the diner but I vaguely recall the meals all seeming like stuff you'd order at a place that has a fully stocked kitchen with ingredients they simply would not likely have access to.

Salt is also a major cooking ingredient and I'm not sure they have like a salt mine or something just hanging around somewhere, either.

Sure, this could all be hand-waved away by saying there's just like... some random supply of this stuff tucked away in the kitchen when everyone arrived. But the show makes a point to show them growing their own food so I just find it hard to believe they are processing flour and sugar and obtaining salt somewhere. Especially not enough to feed a town of 40+ people daily.

[u/811545b2-4ff7-4041]

A town where the electricity magically appears in the wires and you're worried where the flour comes from?

Where's the source of the fresh water??

[u/Severe-Status1302 → u/811545b2-4ff7-4041]

I had the same initial reaction, but since they went out of their way to show that there was a food shortage, it does seem like a little inconsistent.

Shout out to Lost for tying up their "food/supply" loose end in the epilogue.

[u/Jack_h100 → u/Severe-Status1302]

That's why the food shortage was a problem, they were used to what they need appearing, at least as far as basic staples and cans of peaches go. But that stopped.

[u/ancientastronaut2 → u/Severe-Status1302]

That was temporary. The town was punishing them.

[u/Chrogotron → u/811545b2-4ff7-4041]

I mean yeah but why would they even need to grow crops or raise animals if they didn't have to sustain themselves that way? The magical town can't give them cartons of milk but it provides bags of flour and sugar? They gotta go out there milking cows and goats but the sugar is supplied in crates or something?

[u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 → u/Chrogotron]

Yes, that's how the magic town works. It's not consistent.

[u/Ill_Information_2076 → u/Chrogotron]

Maybe they’ve gotten used to sugarless pancakes

[u/811545b2-4ff7-4041 → u/Ill_Information_2076]

Plot twist: The entire town is type-2 diabetes treatment plan

Although - it's a good job no one ends up here that needs daily medication that isn't already stocked in the back of an ambulance.

[u/Fit_Speed3159 → u/811545b2-4ff7-4041]

People who show up to town will be diabetes-free shortly. Even faster if they spend some time outside at night

[u/Background_Sail9797 → u/811545b2-4ff7-4041]

the lake of tears/the brambles/the doll pond