The Months of Food
March, April, and May 2023
For this prompt list, I am focusing on foods found across the continent of Caia.
A rare and messy treat for the nobility of Kaien, golden delight is a dish that consists of cubes of bread soaked in a bowl of honey. The amount of honey required for golden delight is prohibitively expensive, and is a luxury reserved for the summer to coincide with the honey harvest. It is usually served alongside a bowl of water for rinsing fingers in between each morsel.
Short for kettle dumpling, the keddy is a Seruic pastry parcel of meat, egg, and herbs. The pastry is made by mixing eggs, flour, water, and butter together. Once filled, the edges of the pastry are twisted to seal the dumpling. Keddies are boiled in water, traditionally in an iron stovetop kettle; it is believed the iron imparts a particular flavour to the dish.
A staple vegetable in the Gravelands region of Kaien, bittergreens are the satellite leaves of the drowning lily plant. These bitter leaves are quick growing and renewable, as long as the parent plant is left untouched. Whilst they have been common in Gravelander dishes for centuries, bittergreens have begun to find popularity in the Kaienese court.
Surmel is a common Akaran beverage made from mixing vinegar, honey, and water. The dominant religion of Akara, Dalenism, forbids the consumption of alcohol, and surmel has evolved as a bracing alternative. The vinegar for surmel is traditionally made by fermenting apple peels with honey, and then fermenting them again with remnants of a previous vinegar. In practice, any vinegar can be used.
Field pottage is a common morning meal amongst the ordinary people of southern Kaien, especially in farming communities. The base is made of oats or rice - whichever is more readily available - mixed with milk and water, and thickened over heat, usually overnight. Ratios of milk to water depend on the season, and in leaner times milk is often completely omitted. To this, leftovers from the previous evening's meal are added, including meat scraps, vegetable trimmings, and bread that has begun to turn stale.
Brecht is a coarse, unleavened bread, native to the island of Achia and made of rye. It is cooked on hot, flat stones that have been nestled in a fire, and often has a faint aroma and taste of burnt wood. It is a key part of the midday meal for working Achians, particularly farmers, miners, and loggers, as it is portable, sturdy, and filling. On a good day, it is consumed with cheese or sausage, though often the dry brecht is merely washed down with water or rygebur, a weak rye beer.
Prince's chicken is a dish that has gained popularity across Kaien over the last decade. The dish itself consists of a chicken breast served with a creamy mint sauce and rice, but that is not the source of its appeal. It is said to have been served at the current crown prince's Confirmation, where he officially accepted his role as heir. Records in the palace kitchens, however, hold no mention of the dish being involved.
A traditional beverage of the Gravelands in Kaien, swampwater tea is often the first thing consumed in the morning and the last at night. The tea is brewed with several ingredients believed to promote health and longevity, including willow bark, duckweed, and the mildly toxic water bean. In the last century, some nobles have began adding ginger imported from Zenra to disguise the naturally bitter taste.
Lurat are a popular street food in the country of Zenra. The main ingredient is glutinous rice, traditionally a particular cultivar endemic to southern Zenra. The cooked rice is rolled into balls around a sweet or savoury filling; some are also rolled in a coating which has been selected to complement the filling. There are many different types of lurat, with many towns having their own specialities.
Serpent's bounty is a fish-based soup common in towns and villages along the Serpent, the large river that separates the countries of Serukis and Caillah. Specific recipes vary between settlements, but most variations of the dish contain at least two types of fish, fish roe, and aquatic plants. The water for the broth is taken directly from the river itself.
A sukha is the dried version of the palm-sized, orange fruit from the naran tree. The fruit is often sliced open prior to drying in order to remove their hard black seeds. Sukha have a rich, nutty flavour - often compared to chocolate - which is in direct contrast to the refreshing flavour of the original naran fruit. In Bazuur, they are traditionally associated with digestive health.
A common street food in Zenra, dakera are crispy discs of fried dough. They are most commonly topped with sugar and cinnamon, though they can also be drizzled in syrup or honey. Dakera are sold in batches of five or seven, threaded on a string; it is considered bad luck to sell them as a string of six.
Pickled cockles are a common snack along the north-western coast of Serukis, ubiquitous in seaside taverns and alehouses. Seruic cockles are cooked and removed from their shells, before being placed in a mixture of vinegar and brine. Stored in sealed clay jars, these can last for several months unopened.
The destiny cake is a traditional pie unique to the Kaienese mountain village of Twinbridge, baked by a bride's female relatives for the occasion of her wedding day. The filling consists of seasonal root vegetables, sheep intestines, and - most importantly - the sheep's heart. The heart is highly symbolic and its absence portends a failed marriage.
An ostentatious centrepiece is an essential part of any banquet held by the nobility of Caillah. These culinary marvels can be either sweet or savoury, from exquisitely decorated pastry sculptures to different animals stitched together into depictions of mythical beings. During the social season, noble families try to outdo each other with more and more elaborate designs.
The hob is a traditional part of breakfast for the poorer people of Kaien and Serukis. After the evening meal, leftover dough from the day's breadmaking is shaped into ovals and placed amongst the cinders of the stove. As the stove cools, the dough is slowly cooked, resulting in a dense, chewy bread.
The hopcake, or hopecake, is a traditional midwinter cake in Serukis, which symbolises the hope that winter will soon pass. When the Seruic people migrated to Serukis, winters were harsher and longer than they were used to. Whilst this cake used to be made with animal fat and course flour, today even the poorest make it with finer ingredients, including sugar and preserved fruits, to celebrate how far the country has come. Most Seruic nobility ration out packages of sugar to their communities for this specific purpose.
Made from milk curds sweetened with honey, sisubhaga are brightly-coloured, spherical confections originating from the Caian country of Bazuur. They are central to the Bazuurine new year's festival of Nayavash, where they are given as gifts to children for good fortune. The colours, traditionally red, yellow, and orange, are made with natural dyes.
A cultural staple of eastern Eshua, vurro is a fermented butter. Butter made from cow's milk is mixed with salt and herbs, before it is placed in wooden jar known as a vurrintus and sealed with wax. Vurrinti are buried in peat bogs, marked so that they can be dug up later. Vurro is usually aged for several months, though some varieties remain underground for a number of years.
Rusan is a thick snail soup integral to the end of the harvest season in southern Kaien. The field snail is an important part of agricultural pest control, as it feasts upon the pea shanklet, a fungus that has been the cause of two of the most infamous famines in Kaien's history. The northern Kaienese tend to look down on this traditional meal, dubbing it 'snorridge'.
The harvest bowl is an integral part of the annual harvest festival in Caillah. Large shallow bowls, about six feet across, are placed in the centre of villages, towns, and city districts. Over the course of the festival week, they are filled with a variety of fruit and vegetables; everyone is expected to contribute something, whether grown or purchased. On the last day of the festival, each family takes home an equal portion of the colourful bounty.
Juniper venison is a traditional dish served at Whitecastle when the High Lord Hargrove is receiving important guests. It is exclusively made with the roasted haunch of a red deer, a deer native to Hargrove lands and which features prominently on the Hargrove family coat of arms. For the most important guests and the family, the meat is taken from a stag. The roast haunch is covered in a seasoned crust of herbs and crushed juniper berries.
Jellied eels are a common sight all along the banks of the Serpent, the large river that divides the lands of Caillah and Serukis. Several species of eel are abundent in its waters, and are used in this dish without discrimination. Eels are chopped up and boiled in a heavily seasoned stock, which solidifies into a thick jelly. Jellied eels are traditionally eaten cold, often as a mid-afternoon snack.
A pumpkin bowl is a common communal meal during the autumn in Serukis. Several pumpkins are hollowed out and the flesh separated from the seeds. They are then filled with water and herbs, and hung over a fire to boil. The flesh of the pumpkin is added back into each one, as well as a variety of chopped fresh vegetables, such as beetroot, cabbage, and turnips. The meal is served inside the pumpkins, with servings ladeled out into individual bowls.
A regional staple of central Akara, bol are a popular snack to enjoy alongside a beer or two. Freshwater snails, usually a mixture of several different species, are placed in a jar and then covered in a mixture of oil and vinegar. The jar is sealed for several months before the bol are ready to consume. The oil and vinegar separate over time, meaning that the snails at the bottom of the jar have a much more intense flavour.
A staple food in Ilwyrika for long journeys and harsh winters, a civlak is a long strip of raw white seal meat that has been dried and smoked. Properly prepared civlak can keep for several years. When used for travelling, strips of civlak are braided together and attached to either a belt or a pack.
The eggs of the rare greater viwea, a bird found only on the isle of Esteos, are rich in both colour and flavour. Often served as a display of extravagence, these vibrant green eggs have been made illegal to consume or possess due to a sharp decline in the native population. Even the possession of an empty shell carries a harsh penalty. There is, however, a thriving black market on Esteos, and some of the rare eggs are even smuggled off the island each year.
Iesti is a popular deep-fried dessert in Bazuur. It is made of a delicate, string-like pastry tangled together in elaborate nests and then submerged in hot vegetable oil. Once cooked, the pastry is drizzled with honey and lemon juice, and then sprinkled with sugar. Other popular variants of iesti include those dotted with pomegranate seeds, and those dipped in chocolate and chopped almonds.
Shapi is a warm, sweetly spiced drink native to the country of Akara, often drunk after waking from a bad dream. It is made from horses' milk, sometimes diluted with water during times of hardship. Stirred in with the milk as it warms is a mixture of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and valerian root. It is believed to promote good sleep and pleasant dreams.
Created around six centuries ago by the kitchen staff of the Hargrove family, the Hargrove pond pudding remains a localised dish that does not enjoy popularity beyond the lands of the High Lord Hargrove in Serukis. The pudding is made by wrapping suet pastry around a lump of butter and sugar, as well as seasonal fruit such as plums, apples, or pears. When the pudding is cut into, the melted butter creates a 'pond' of sweet liquid that acts as a sauce.
Very creative collection of foods and drink. What were your idea sources?
Mostly the real world mixed with what ifs. There are some fascinating foods in the world, but I also wanted to add my own twists and cultural meanings to them. The Hargrove Pond Pudding, for example, is a twist on a food from my home county in England, except the real life one uses a whole lemon - skin and all. :) Thanks for the comment! :)