I always assumed replicator food was identical every time because the ship’s “recipe book” is just a giant pattern buffer. It’s always the same so it’s easy to tell the difference from home made since there’s always a little variability. You can’t copy a person in the pattern buffer since that’s illegal cloning, but copying anything from a coffee to a car is totally fine as long as your pattern buffer and replicator is large enough.
Also, at least according to the TNG Tech Manual, replicators work at the molecular level, while transporters work at the quantum level. Sentient beings generally need quantum precision to be transported or replicated.
I always assumed replicator food was identical every time because the ship’s “recipe book” is just a giant pattern buffer. It’s always the same so it’s easy to tell the difference from home made since there’s always a little variability. You can’t copy a person in the pattern buffer since that’s illegal cloning, but copying anything from a coffee to a car is totally fine as long as your pattern buffer and replicator is large enough.
Also, at least according to the TNG Tech Manual, replicators work at the molecular level, while transporters work at the quantum level. Sentient beings generally need quantum precision to be transported or replicated.