The matter of food in storytelling can be as much a deal as you decide to make it. I've played in campaigns where we never really acknowledged the need to eat and drink, and I've also run campaigns where players chose to spend plenty of time deliberating over menu options and describing drinks of their own volition. And since it's always better to have information to fall back on if your creativity needs to be working on something other than devising interesting menus for your players, I've created this guide to the food in my homebrew setting.
Part of what allows me to create a diverse set of dishes is that I've developed nature in my setting as well. Because I have a record of what plants and animals live in various places, I can draw on the necessary information to make my world consistent. I recommend doing at least a cursory consideration of wildlife if you plan to go beyond stereotypically medieval dishes like turkey legs, mutton chops, and boiled potatoes. Let's remember that D&D fantasy comes from Tolkien's world, and I think most people would agree that the Brits are not known for interesting food, so we can always improve on the profile of it in the game.
One other tool that I'll be using to build a menu is by using variations on the generic tavern menu I created for this resource for taverns. This menu uses the traditional British foods available in the medieval period for the general feel of a fantasy tavern, but I would probably only use this menu if the tavern were in a city with a very diverse racial population or in a major travel or trade city, as in both cases catering to a more general audience is advantageous. But if a city had a more specific population, I would want a lot of the taverns to cater more to the locals. With that in mind, I've designed my guide to food by major city.
Mishara: With its watery climate and wildlife based on the Sundarbans region of India, few crops can easily be planted, thanks to a system of tides of currents, the area remains more freshwater than saltwater despite being an island system.- Cheap Food
- Grass salad with tree nuts
- Steamed rice with mushrooms
- Grilled fish with buckwheat cakes
- Good Food
- Spicy Chital venison jerky with mashed potatoes
- Roasted watersnake with corn chowder
- Turtle soup with wheat bread
- Great Food
- Grilled macaque with soybean masala
- Roasted alligator with baked sweet potato
- Tiger steak with grilled leeks
Grob Island: With its abundant lakes and rocky soil, this area was inspired by the Tonlé Sap lake in Cambodia. The orcs who live here make a modest living out of the native flora and fauna, hunting only for what they need. Orcish meals tend to be somewhat spare.
- Cheap Food
- Roasted carp with algae cakes
- Moss salad with crunchy frogs
- Spit-roasted snakehead fish with corn on the cob
- Good Food
- Broiled otter with pine nuts
- Roasted pelican with reed salad
- Grilled catfish with corn salad
- Great Food
- Broiled caiman with mango-pine leaf salad
- Roasted ibis with wild rice
- Leopard steak with cornbread
Underhar: This dwarven city lies on the southern plains of the continent, jutting out from the base of the Kallett Mountains. Its natural plants and animals are based on those of the Serengeti, and dwarves were the first to develop the technology of deep-frying foods.
- Cheap Food
- Fried burrowing owl with graincakes
- Crispy burrowing snake with fried okra
- Pangolin jerky with black-eyed peas
- Good Food
- Grilled hyena with raisin berry salad
- Gazelle flank with mustard greens
- Crocodile fritters with lima beans
- Great Food
- Elephant steak with roasted squash
- Rhinoceros ribs with spinach
- Lion loin with fresh turnips
Curagon: This halfling city lies at the heart of the Heronal Forest, one of the dense, rainforest-like regions of thick forest. The halflings abide by rules preventing them from permanently altering the environment, and many halflings are vegetarian for this and other cultural reasons.
- Cheap Food
- Yucca fries with pan-fried plaintains
- Baked eggplant with suri (grilled grubs)
- Roasted parrot with passionfruit
- Good Food
- Chayote salad with spiced cashews
- Chonta salad with steamed manioc
- Tapir flank with grilled onion
- Great Food
- Avocados with herb-stuffed peppers
- Leafy salad with roasted Heronal nuts (Brazil nuts, but not from Brazil; Brazil doesn't exist)
- Jaguar steak with baked yams
Vestry: The gnomish capital lies in the heart of Evanoch's northern forests, which are modeled after the climate and wildlife of Northern Hemisphere woodland creatures. The gnomes have avoided overhunting by establishing preserves where the natural population can be untouched; as a result of this and a cultural belief that a healthy gnome needs a lot of protein, their diet is richer in animal protein than most.
- Cheap Food
- Grilled rabbit with baked potatoes
- Roasted quail with sautéed mushrooms
- Skunk shank with radishes
- Good Food
- Roasted beaver tail with salted venison
- Baked horned owl with fried adder
- Baked badger with pickled beets
- Great Food
- Cougar tenderloin with wolf ribs
- Bear rump with deer round
- Cougar flank with roasted fox
New Dalton: The Daltoner people have long lived on scarce little, and when they arrived on the shores of Evanoch a few hundred years ago, they were overcome with the rich wildlife of the plains. Crops and game were everywhere--for a brief time, Daltoner cuisine included a great plenty, but since they used up the resources in their region, their diet has returned to a more stark status.
- Cheap Food
- Spiced oatmeal with cornbread
- Baked porcupine with bean salad
- Roasted dingo with rye bread
- Good Food
- Baked beets with sunflower seeds
- Roasted boar with broccoli
- Smoked pronghorn with peas
- Great Food
- Spiced barleycakes with roasted carrots
- Smoked red wolf with roasted corn
- Roasted bison with wheat bread
Talon Gorge: A city only fairly recently founded by a human claiming nobility, Talon Gorge is in the heart of the northern forests, giving it a selection of plants and animals which are similar to Vestry's. The main racial blocs of the city are human, elven, and gnomish, but there are substantial concentrations of all groups represented here. As a result, Talon Gorge cuisine is something of a mishmash of all the continent's foods. It's also a city with cuisine defined by foods available after the spread of agriculture.
- Cheap Food
- Roasted wild boar and fresh greens
- Baked salmon and rice
- Grass salad with tree nuts
- Good Food
- Pulled pork and garlic mashed potatoes
- Dried elk and dark bread
- Grilled trout and roast broccoli
- Great Food
- Bear rump with deer round
- Roasted alligator with baked sweet potato
- Grilled tuna and roasted beets
Torga: A port city on the southern edge of the continent in an expanse of southern plains, Torga has access to many of the same plants and animals as Underhar. But Torga is a somewhat diverse trade city, with notable populations of Daltoners, dwarves, and orcs. Because Torga is a port city, and only the orcs of the dominant races are used to living in a watery location, orcish cuisine has become the most notable inspiration for Torgan cooking.
- Cheap Food
- Roasted carp with corn on the cob
- Crispy burrowing owl with fried okra
- Sunflower seeds and pine nuts with black-eyed peas
- Good Food
- Grilled catfish with raisin berry salad
- Baked beets with rye bread
- Hyena dumplings with mustard greens
- Great Food
- Broiled alligator with roasted squash
- Roasted rhinoceros with turnips
- Smoked gazelle with cornbread
Ringsdale: Ringsdale is an industrial city on the edge of the Kallet Mountains, on the line between the Liggen Forest to the north and the Haenok Plains to the south. It is as diverse racially as Talon Gorge or Torga, but its more dominant groups tend to be orcs, halflings, gnomes, and dwarves. The resulting cuisine pulls heavily on these groups and the styles they bring to the table.
- Cheap Food
- Grilled rabbit with baked potatoes
- Crispy burrowing snake with fried okra
- Baked eggplant with suri (grilled grubs)
- Good Food
- Gazelle flank with corn salad
- Crocodile fritters with spiced cashews
- Baked badger with pickled beets
- Great Food
- Lion loin with wild rice
- Bear rump with herb-stuffed peppers
- Elephant steak with roasted fox
Finiel: A city at the edge of Playbor Lake not far from where the Lathien Islands near the continent, Finiel is primarily elven, half-elven, and Faninite (the human line that helped create the half-elves). The wooded region that the Faninites come from is similar in terms of nature to the area surrounding Finiel, which is quite different from the area surrounding the Lathien Islands. As a result, elven customs have blended with Faninite customs, which are really only on display in Finiel.
- Cheap Food
- Roasted rabbit with mushrooms
- Grilled fish with buckwheat cakes
- Braised quail with radishes
- Good Food
- Baked badger with mashed potatoes
- Rotisserie venison with corn chowder
- Roasted cougar with wheat bread
- Great Food
- Rotisserie bear with baked sweet potato
- Wolf rump with grilled leeks
- Braised venison with creamed spinach
No comments:
Post a Comment