Kainar spines

Kainar spines are a delicacy in Sugranese culture, usually eaten on special occasions, holidays, and as rite-of-passage into adulthood after an adolescent's first gewin hunt. As the name implies, the food is harvested from the long, curved pectoral spines of the kainar. The spines are generally 2-5cm in diameter and between one-half to 1.5 meters in length. However, the thick black outer shell of the spine itself is inedible; it is the inner marrow, or more accurately, the runny yellow hepato-liver that is eaten.

Methods of preparation

• Following a traditional gewin hunt, the spines are cut off of the kainar's torso and roasted over an open fire. Once cooked thoroughly, the hepato-liver darkens into a golden yellow and further liquifies into a thick, soupy texture. It is then sucked or slurped directly out of the spine and does not need to be chewed.
  

• Another popular method of kainar spine preparation entails emptying one or more spines into a pot, whisking lightly, then heating until the structure of the hepato-liver disintegrates and liquifies. The resulting spine-sauce, or spauce, can be added to or poured on top of other dishes, or simply eaten directly as a soup.

"Try not to breathe through your nose when you cut off the spines. Make sure you don't get any of their wax secretions on your skin. And stay away from the mouth; sometimes the latching muscles twitch and invert it even after death. In fact, maybe it's better to not even look in the general direction of the kainar's mouth or head. Just think about swishing that warm yellow through your teeth and feeling that prickle on your tongue and gums. — Sablis Niftar, Torgathian Economic Advisor

In sugran culture

The former Torgathian High Economic Advisor, Sablis Niftar, a sugran of considerable size, was so fond of kainar spines that he was often seen sucking on them, even late into life against the advice of his doctor. He even enjoyed the spines raw, and used a special elongated spoon to scrape the 'yellow' out and chew the uncooked hepato-liver for hours, keeping it stuffed in his lower lip and cheeks to catch what he called "a tingly buzz" from the toxins he masticated out of the flesh. Some say that Niftar died from gorging himself on a surfeit of kainar spines, but this was never definitively proven.

Close up of a freshly cut kainar spine