Remember- this is a one food/one dish chat.

Plus it wouldn’t ever make health sense to eat ONE food, but I’ll play: soft scrambled eggs

One food - is that one item or one group? I'll buy in at one group and say sushi.

Buttered then toasted english muffins.

Rice and beans, no question.

Steak - salad - baked potato

Of COURSE it doesn't make sense. It's "if you absolutely had to"- we aren't Preppers, but it seems that sort of a question, except we failed to include ingredients that would be hard to find. Whatever. It was late, we were hungry. Our choices:

MR:

#1. First came a place, that he used to not like- Tatsuya, in Austin. He now loves the original. Miso broth, good greens, soba noodles, pork round, half a soft boiled egg- spices etc. They call it the original. One dish- qualifies!- and also includes lime. No scurvy. Asian cooking will always help you survive.

#2. His marinara sauce, plus pasta and my meatballs.The nutrition in the sauce is great, meatballs great too. A bit hard to think of it as "one dish", since it takes a bit. But I could survive on that, for sure.

#3- Curveball-me. I'm Greek, and so 1 dish?

Spanikopita. Spinach, onions, garlic, some butter (one dish- you'll need the fat), eggs, cottage cheese plus feta- lean proteins- phyllo dough- one dish, you'll need the carbs. Old school Greeks also grill lemons, to serve on the side. Lots of nutrition in this one. For me, it's an "old school/old country".

Fun exercise.

Really high quality cheese and crackers

Soup and bread.

EGGS!!!

Since you said combo, Mexican food immediately came to mind. My go to at any Mexican restaurant is always a chile relleno, a shredded beef taco, (deep fried shell) and rice & beans.

Although being half Greek, your Spanikopita does sound good!
And being half English, prime rib, yorkshire pudding, and creamed spinach...

I could eat what shuffles is eating too, but that seems like cheating. How many ingredients do I get? The whole buffet?

It's a good question. No real rules, just a fun consideration. I tried to look at things that would provide the widest possible nutritional value, if it were to be the only thing I could ever eat again. Also tried to look for ingredients that are sustainable/readily available and/or something that can be made at home. I would struggle with the technique at first, but even phyllo dough fits.

Truth for me is that, if I could, the freshest sushi with a seaweed salad could sustain me for life. But that relies on fishing I don't have available. So I left it "off the table".