A tale of two planets

In Norman Spinrad's delicious tale of interstellar bohemians, Child of Fortune, there is a festival planet that discourages indigent wanderers through a methodically no-frills welfare system. Featureless grey public stations distribute a scientifically flavor-free, bland-textured block of rations called fressen, and distilled water, and that's it. To obtain anything else, one had to sing, dance, paint, make crafts, bake finger food, or otherwise amuse and satisfy the whims of festival-goers. Sounded much like a small blue planet I know, where featureless grey producers in Los Angeles, Nashville and New York serve up fressen all day on cable TV, while outside, all over the North Country, it's raining soup--bouillabaisse today, I think.