Not sure. I only have a vague memory of it.

It shows up more than once, but I think the first time is shortly after the girl goes to see Picard. Probably episode 2 or 3. There were workers and machines in the fields and I remember thinking, why even have the people if the machines beam the grapes right off the vines?

I think of it like a homemade carrot cake versus a store bought individually wrapped slice.

Technically that factory made carrot cake is perfect every time. It is the same recipe, color, and quality as the one next to it and the one you bought last year. That said I would nearly always prefer a homemade or bakery made carrot cake more. Nothing wrong with grabbing the “perfect” one in a pinch, but it is missing something that I can’t quite describe. Maybe it is a more generic recipe, or maybe it is the preservatives, but there is a difference.

What did I do to deserve this treatment?

No Jamaharon for the rest of the day!

I had no idea this was a thing despite also having it directly on my walls.

When I read your statement, I was like wait… I think that is what my wall says and had to go check.

The lady that lived here before me put that and some other weird word art on the walls. Been meaning to get around to peeling it off and repainting, but keep finding other priorities.

Probably, though the scene that came to mind for me was from the DS9 episode where Worf, Kor, and Dax find the sword of Kahless.

Like you guessed it is a cultural icon. The emperor that united their home world used it.

In Star Trek lore, the Klingon Kahless created the bat’leth around CE 625. According to Klingon mythology, he formed the blade by dropping a length of his hair into some lava from inside the Kri’stak Volcano, then cooling, shaping, and hardening it in the lake of Lursor.[5] He then united Qo’noS, the Klingon homeworld, by killing a tyrant named Molor with the weapon, which became known as the Sword of Kahless.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat'leth#Use_in_Star_Trek