Trivia: In one version of the script, Martin finds another videotape of his father Seth. This tape would show Seth (who is in his part-fly form) explaining the "cure". This scene would have required Jeff Goldblum to be in make-up for five hours, and he didn't want to go through that, so he dropped out, and the scene was cut from the script.
Trivia: At the end of the movie, the mutated Bartok was played by director Chris Walas' brother Mark.
Trivia: Geena Davis was originally going to reprise her role of Veronica Quaife. But, after learning that Veronica would die during child birth, she pulled out.
Chosen answer: Obviously, he was kept alive so he could be studied, which was a nasty twist on the fact that he kept the dog alive, and suffering, for so long. As far as the food, there is no way to know what it was. Probably some kind of bland mush.
wizard_of_gore