Badlands cuisine

Food in the Twilight Badlands is a very different experience from Twilight City itself.
Whilst the city benefits from imports from other cities, and also has vertical hydroponic growth for leafy vegetables and herbs, the bulk of the crop vegetables are grown in the badlands. This makes it a surprisingly abundant place, given the high temperatures and hostile conditions. Unlike the city, renowned for its small portions of stylish foods, meals in the badlands are generally abundant and hearty.

Ingredients from the Badlands

Through careful irrigation, sunshades, and bioengineering, the badlands has 2.5 growing seasons each year. The summer provides mediterranean crops like eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes, as well as traditionally African crops such as cowpeas and yams. 
Bioengineered crops are also common. Most farmers these days are half bio-engineer, half agriculturalist and while their expiermennts take place in dusty barns rather than pristeen labs, the experiments are no less effective. Most common bioengineered enchancments are for flavour, juicyness, speed of growth or hardiness against environment and disease. But occasionally,  

Meat in the badlands

M-i-eat(tm) - a meat substitute grown in labs and widely distributed by Y.U.M. Corp, is hard to come by outside the city. And traditional meat animals struggle in the adverse conditions - it's rare to see more than a flock of skinny goats in the badlands. However, due to increased temperatures, insects have grown significantly in size, often to the size of a small dog. What's more, most of them are a danger to the crops. Fly steaks, locust legs, and mealworms are the most commonly eaten, whilst dragonflies and ants, although more dangerous to fight, are more highly prized. 

Experimental cuisine

They say necessity is the mother of invention. In the case of Pierre Xang Bjornson, it was the mother of madness. Sheer, outrageous, delicious, exquisite madness....

Some gastronomes say the best cuisine of Twilight City is, in fact, to be found outside its borders. The experimental haute cuisine of Pierre Xang Bjornson, Michelin starred chef, at Restaurant at the End of the Universe (named after the literary classic The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy). He takes the ingredients of the badlands, including insect meat and naturally growing herbs only now finding classification within the scientific community, to create sumptuous, extravagant and impossible-looking creations of molecular gastronomy. 

Hooks & Rumours

- I NEED Mi-eat!: a pregnant ex-Twilight City resident is craving Mi-eat. She'll pay you good money, or do you a favour for any you have. - Baconfish: rumour has it that someone has been breeding 

Arson: someone has been burning fields of crops out in the badlands.