Cuisine

Preface Placeholder

For real world foods. See List of /tg/ Cuisine

Racial Cuisine

Beholders

While each beholder may be unique and have a specific palette, they all have refined tastes. Jellied eels and meat pies are some foods for which they are famous, and their pie dough and crust is considered unmatched throughout the planes for its fluffy, buttery quality. They are also known for their skill in roasting and curing meats, using a combination of their eye rays to get perfectly seared steaks and excellent smoked meats. Smoked and pickled oysters made by beholders fetch as much as aged caviar in the right market.

Changelings

Changelings love pasta and oranges, but they're mostly known for their pasta dishes. In their native archipelago nations Changelings offer and serve up dozens of pasta dishes from something simple as garlic buttered spaghetti with shrimp, to fine lasagnas and beef stuffed ravioli topped with cheese and bacon. They are also known for religiously guarding the means of "cracking" open a mimic, harvesting its tough, stretchy, chewy red meat, and turning it into some of the finest dishes around. Baked Mimic with onions, Mimic on the half shell with oranges and fresh mussles, Mimic steak with a side of green onions.

Dragons

Established draconic cuisine is rare, with fire-breathing varieties considered the most experienced with actually cooking their food before they eat it. Use of spices, garnishes, and anything involving grain tends to be rare, as different species of dragons range from obligate carnivores to merely finding meat more palatable. More infamous among some dragon "restaurants" is a practice similar to reptilian races on a larger scale, where animals suitable for a dragon's appetite are raised and eaten whole, alive or dead according to the customer's preference. Rumors of elves or other, more palatable races being served in the same way abound, which isn't always a false accusation.

Drow

Drow are just as cutthroat with cooking as they are in all other aspects of their society. Any meal may well be poisoned, but steamed insects or crustaceans are their signature dishes. Steamed crab with butter, shrimp served with chilled tomato sauce, and fried cave fishers are delicacies of the drow, though they will never cook spiders of any form. A little-known favorite of the drow is their love of fruit. A fruit salad or a fruit plate with yogurt dip is seen as the epitome of decadence.

Dwarves

Dwarves can eat soil. They don't prefer soil, but they can eat it. As a rule of thumb you can usually judge a dwarf's economic background by how much dirt they eat and how used to the taste of it they are. A common saying amongst Dwarves hitting rough economic times goes, "And here I was; just getting nostalgic for the taste of dirt." Little is it known the intense love Dwarves have for cheeses of all kind. No matter if you're on the surface or in a subterranean world of perpetual darkness: Dwarves love cheese. Dwarves make cheese from more animals than any other race: Aardvarks, Dire wombats, Dire Rats, Dire Moles, Yaks, Sheep, Goats, Purring Maggots, etc. etc.

Elves

The stereotype that elves eat nothing but salad, fruit, and bread is false (though elves are never-the-less particularly skilled in baking). However, polite elven society holds a serious taboo against eating any meat that you or a member of your household did not hunt, kill, and prepare; hence elves in foreign lands tend to appear to be strict vegetarians (adventurers tend to be an exception to this rule, as they are to so many others). Popular elven meat dishes include wild boar ribs rubbed with dried herbs, and small game fowl basted with butter.

Giants

A little known fact is how exactly wide and all inclusive a Giant's knowledge of cooking actually is. A well traveled and long lived species, Giants will live and learn to cook thousands of different animals to delicious quality: spit roasted elks, dinosaur baked underneath hot rocks with banana leaves, sea serpent kabobs with fresh grilled seaweed.

Gnomes

Gnomes are both inventive and have an affinity for magic, traits that are apparent when dining on gnome cuisine. It is not uncommon for a traditional gnomish dish to include dinner and a show (especially if dinner is the show). Food that serves itself, plays sweet music or dances about is all part of the traditional meal. Gnomes highly value spells and spices, applying both with great enthusiasm. As such, gnome food can be overbearing to the uninitiated.

Halflings

Best known for the sheer amount of food they can consume, halflings nevertheless make excellent meals. Soft-boiled and breaded eggs, biscuits with preserves, onion soup topped with cheese, and roasted lamb ribs on the bone are staples of halfling cooking. These folk don't prefer overbearing spices and aggressive flavors. Most food they make is served hot and in great quantities, and almost all their dishes are so filling that other races would feel ready to burst after a single meal (let alone the seven that most halflings have a day!).

Humans

Due to the well traveled nature of Humans, no matter where a human goes any establishment is guaranteed to have a "human friendly menu"; bread, cobs of corn, cheese, simple potato dishes and nourishing glasses of milk are almost always available in such menus. Certain subspecies of humans develop their own specialized diets.

Illithids

Despite their infamous diets, Illithids are renowned throughout the outer planes as culinary masters. Possessing long, picture-perfect memories, Illithid chefs hold the recipes of a thousand worlds within their enormous brains. Most well known among these culinary masters is Chef Xan'zarathuul. Those lucky enough to be able to find his restaurant in City of Planescape should consider themselves very fortunate indeed, for the place is also well known for playing host to numerous faces from the Multiverse, such as Elminster, Mephistopheles, and, if rumor proves correct, Her Ladyship Herself. Everybody thinks they eat brains, but really that was just a myth perpetuated by them to scare the shit out of the "lesser" beings. Illithids actually eat numerous species of underdark cave molluscs, small mussel and clam like creatures that cling to the rocks, ceilings, and stalactites of the underdark while filter feeding the nutrients rich water dripping down and over them. The dark realms and the spaces between the multiverses are just rife with some of the best shellfish and "sea"food in the worlds. Why else would all those eldritch gods look like octopuses? Clams. Chaotic Clams. Abominable abalones... Scary.. scallops(?).

Kenku

Kenku's perfect mimicry can often extend to recipes and cooking, though they tend to prefer grains and breads, including poppy seed breads, bagels with cream cheese spreads, pumpernickel loaves, and toasted bread with meat filling. Kenku are also know for 'liberating' spices and ingredients from others to further boost the flavor of their foodstuffs.

Merfolk

Masters of sushi and sashimi. For those with the taste for it, the merfolk make some of the best fish rolls anywhere and always know the best cuts of fish, squid, and other sea life for food. They also raise rice and other water-growing grains in estuaries and river mouths. Some merfolk prefer warm spice in their meals as a contrast to cold and raw food and so make soups, gumbos, and stews with earthy, warming spices.

Minotaurs

Minotaurs are often celebrated as making the 'best' curries in the world. It is also however universally agreed that it is a shame they cannot and will not cook with beef.

Ogres

Little is it known that Ogres make some of the finest Cooks in all the land, not because of their attention to detail, but of their love of food and their curiosity. Orcs, Wild Humans, and Animal folk alike climb over one another for Ogre made pierogies, sausages, pies, and especially their numerous secret recipes for stolen livestock. An old Fable goes that an Ogre once escaped being execution by serving a king such a succulent and deliciously garnished Haunch of Mutton with onions, carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy that the king not only spared him but let the Ogre eat his Chef and replace him as head royal cook.

Orcs

Orcs not only take pride in breeding prize winning pigs, but also their prowess in cooking and serving them. Orcish pork and beans is a staple, but Orcish pork chops, bacon, and pork and rice meatballs in tomato sauce are all known world wide for their quality and flavor. There are few people -even warring humans- who would turn down a line of smoked sausages from an Orcish butchery. An Orc who comes home empty handed either from a Raid or Hunting trip is often look down upon either as unlucky or incompetent, but they are always called a "Dog eater": an Orc so poor they can only afford roasted dog at their raiding dinner party. While the orcish lust for red meat is barely exaggerated by stereotype, the average orc's diet is surprisingly varied. Local grains and eggs form breakfast, while the roast meat at dinner is accompanied by vegetables roasted in the drippings and hearty black bread. Seasoning tends to be limited to what a warrior has plundered himself, or what his chief has seen fit to gift to him for any noteworthy feats or services to the tribe (salt in particular tends to be given as a gift to those warriors who have distinguished themselves). A gift of a pepper rub is considered to be an act of bestowing highest honors. It is customary to give such when adopting a son or blood brother into one's family.

Reptilians & Amphibians

In Lizard, frog, and Snake people communities a like there exists a business that is both horrifying and disgusting: A store where live animals such as Chickens, Fish, Large Insects Small Pigs, Guinea Pigs, and Large Rats are kept alive. Customers may then purchase these creatures to swallow whole, alive or dead, which is up to preference. These establishments have the same atmosphere as a Cafe. It is hard for many traveling cold-blooded folk to overcome the need for live food, especially in urban areas where such behavior can land one in the local constabulary for a night. Thus when having to eat prepared food, most prefer the rarest cooked meat the chef would allow, or anyplace that serves raw food such as eggs, caviar, or sliced raw fish such as tuna and salmon.

Creature Meats

Aarakocra

Large pieces of white meat with delicate flavor. Once plucked the arms, legs, and wings cook or grill up beautifully, and the breast meat is perfect served with salads or pastas. Many who enjoy aarakocra will tell you that frying the meat after breading with egg, flour, spices, and served with gravy and biscuits is the best way to eat it. Finally, the thigh meat is excellent served with rice and curry sauce.

Axebeak

Large, flightless birds that have pounds of white and dark meat for the taking. The meat is quite gamey and a bit tough but makes for great roasts with lemons and rosemary. One thigh can easily feed 10 people comfortably, and a whole bird is seen as a prime meal for weddings and celebrations through the planes. Axebeak eggs are just as valuable, with big, rich orange yolks and can make excellent omelets with tomato and fried potatoes.

Basidirond

Terrestrial sapient mushroom. Has no meat. The yawning cupped portion of this Fungus is very spongy, meaty, and can be quite delicious when cut into pieces and fried with butter or thrown into stews. The "mouth" however can become quite rubbery or mushy when improperly boiled. The "legs" of this fungi make an excellent garnish when ground up and are fantastic dried or deep fried to be used as Mushroom chips or fries. The spores of this mushroom can just as well be collected with damp nest to be used as an incredibly sticky flour that makes fantastic pancakes and sweets... hallucinogenic sweets.

Basilisk

Very lean meat with a gamey reptilian texture. Often the whole animal is skinned and roasted over a slow fire after being covered with a spice rub. This is made even better given that basilisks are trainable, and often a powerful magic user will keep them penned and fatten them for food. Fried basilisk tail nuggets go great with sauces and the meat can be dried to make excellent jerky strips.

Bullywugs

The legs make an excellent fried snack, but the meat can often be very watery and stringy. Most don't prefer the muddy flavor, but some swamp dwellers have made it a yearly tradition to hunt bullywugs for feasts. Bullywugs are of questionable sapience even in the most nurturing environments and most major swamp dwellers such as Crocodilians, aren't particularly picky on whether their quarry has a sense of pain or thought.

Cave Fisher

Often cooked flambéed as their alcoholic blood gives the meat a naturally sharp flavor, after cooking the meat is flakey with a slightly alchemical smell. The meat can then be added to curry sauces and rice for an extremely flavorful meal. The meat also works well with spice rubs that compliment the smell and taste. Drow are some of the few who have learned how to properly fry cave fishers, which can be quite crunchy.

Chimera

Both red and white meat can be harvested, though all of it has the same mix of bitter, sweet, sour and gamey flavor- has a very "chemical" after taste. Chimera is one of the most difficult beasts to cook as it stinks as much as goat and it's as greasy and tough as lion.. ..the tail however can be easily cut off, seasoned, stuffed with lemons or vegetables and roasted as any other reptile. The legs, paws, and ribs however are salvageable and amazing barbecued. Chimera fat is often kept by those who actually enjoy the creatures "alchemical" aftertaste.

Chuul

Very buttery, fluffy, delicious shellfish meat- the Tentacles are rubbery and chewy though. They best meat is in the claws and legs and are best served boiled up and with butter. The shell itself can be used as a bowl and with the meat still inside: garlic, vegetables, and oranges or apples may be thrown in to cook up a delicious stew. The tentacles are delicious deep fried- this creature is a favorite amongst those who deal with eldritch horrors.

Darkmantle

Darkmantle is easy enough to catch as long as you are careful and their meat is nearly identical to squid, though with a slightly metallic aftertaste. The tentacles are great fried, but even better is removing the mantle and stuffing it with the chopped up tentacles, minced pork, rice, and spicy vegetables before cooking in oil.

Dire Animals

Dire animals are indeed dire. While their furs and claws or whatever else you can harvest off of them may be useful, the actual meat on the animal itself is tough and when consumed en masse, could make the eater sick. However, in Orc and Goblin culture, those who can survive a meal of it, digest it, and pass it are deemed as stronger, and are more attractive mates. They hunt the animal (Orcs hunting larger game, like dire bears and goblins smaller, such as dire rats) and then cook and consume the meat themselves.

Dragon

The only disappointing thing about finishing a dragon hunt is the meat: it's worthless not because it isn't edible, but because of its spicy, gamey, flavor and rather tough texture and difficulty to cook or work with. Giants however have a taste for it and just as well the best recipes for it from centuries of hunting the creatures.

Dwarves

Dwarven meat has multiple layers of muscle and when cooked the meat tends to fall apart. When dried and salted Dwarven meat lasts far longer than other humanoid meats and most mainstream foodstuffs. Taste-wise it's a very white and soft meat but it has a strong bitter aftertaste. Dwarven meat on the bone with some spices would not look or taste out of place in a royal feast provided that it's unrecognizable as such. Sugary additions are not unusual.

Elves

Elves are wiry with not much meat on them and barely any fat. The meat is slimy, easy to swallow and quickly digested. Ogre women sometimes joke that elven meat comes out the same as it came in. The taste can only be brought out by roasting the meat rather than cooking it and this gives it its signature fishy smell. The structure is the same as that of other primates but the taste is undeniably that of fresh water fish. Elven fat is by far the best fat in all creation to use in the butter making process as it has lower cholesterol.

Fire Elementals

Often celebrated as fantastic eats as far as monsters are concerned as they are already "cooked" and even in the ones that do contain parasites or diseases a normal being's body is far too cold to house them.

Flumph

The meat has a rubbery texture with a muddy sort of salty flavor. This creature is best dried or roasted and kept as a crunchy snack. It's not entirely well received otherwise unless heavily seasoned due to it's slimy water-filled body. Flumphs however make excellent chowders with the addition of mushrooms and Aardvark Cream.

Goblins

Even among Ogres goblin meat is a bit of a taboo, not because they have much respect for the creatures but because it's very unhealthy. Besides your average goblin having an unhygienic lifestyle and being quite disease infested, their tiny bodies are filled with disproportionate amounts of humors. Consuming goblin meat leads to giddiness, poor risk assessment and heavy mood swinging, giving goblin meat its addictive effects. Overly hedonistic pleasure cults can serve goblin brain in a bowl and believe themselves to have fallen in a spiritual trance, ensuring the loyalty of the members as the withdrawal symptoms feel very much like the wrath of a dark god. Aside from this goblin meat is very gamey and good with mushrooms.

Gnomes

Barely any meat on them, gnomes are often overlooked for meat as they have so little on them. One of the only real uses is for ground meat and sausages, which Ogres often enjoy for its sweet, nutty flavor. Smoked gnomish sausages with fruity sauce are considered a delicacy by those who are unaware of the meat's origins.

Halfling

Well-marbled and gamey, the meat of halflings has a savory taste not unlike rabbit. The best cuts are located on the arms and legs, but the feet can be trimmed of hair and pickled. Best cooked in a pan and served with a mushroom and cream sauce to compliment the flavors. Giants instead prefer to simple eat halflings whole, with Hill Giants particularly enjoying them and the game of "Stuff-Stuff." Halfling fat is highly prized for frying due to its natural buttery flavor.

Hellhound

VERY "fragrant", flavorful, greasy, spicy, fatty sort of Red meat. Hellhound is often only eaten by warlocks and adventurous orcs, the meat though is quite delicious when well prepared. A good warlock will tell you nothing beats braised ginger Hellhound with peppers. The ribs though are particularly delicious sopped in sauce and barbecued slowly - the meat itself can be 'quite' spicy though. The fat makes an excellent flavor enhancer.

Humans

Humans are the most watery of the races, their meat tends to be juicy but devoid of strong taste compared to the others. The best recipes with human in them make use of the bone marrow and organs, it is recommended to let them simmer for a long time to bring out what little taste they have. Human brains and nerve centers can cause madness and should be discarded.

Hydra

Many people are often quite shocked by just how common Hydra meat is in swamp lands given the terrible stories they hear of the beasts. Little is it known however that it's quite common for people to contain "Hydra coops" where a juvenile hydra is kept and fed Rats and other unsavory tidbits in exchange for harvesting it's regenerating, delicious and easy to prepare meat.

Kraken

Extremely difficult to kill but worth every bit of the work, kraken tentacles provide piles of meat to any who can slay one. Best steamed or added to soups or stews with garlic, butter, and celery, the tentacles can also be fried or poached. Giants are known for making great kraken sashimi with tuna meat and seaweed.

Manticore

Greasy, gamey, a very sweet yet bitter meat- with exception to the tail and wings. Manticore meat is exceptional sweet and the flavor is not for everyone, but it makes excellent Manticore chops, bacon, and fries up exceptionally in its own fat. The Wings can be dried or deep fried for a tasty treat and the Tail can be either boiled and cracked open to be eaten like an insect with butter or deep fried and served in stews or curries.

Orc

Few people eat orc as their raids cause so much damage that most would prefer to burn the bodies and forget rather than cook the dead raiders. Orc is an earthy, bitter, pork flavored meat that is extremely greasy. Even trimmed of fat orc meat is difficult to cook with as it is very tough. Orc is best jerked and slathered with strongly spiced sauces and served with chilled vegetable slaw.

Owlbear

Very gamey, strong smelling, red-meat that's rather tough, sweet, as well as being quite greasy. Owlbear is best eaten almost as soon as it's killed and harvested or dried as the smell will permeate any other foods and the meat is rife with parasites. The meat makes fine steaks, bacon, sausages, but it excels in stews and soups a long side apples, onions, carrots, celery and cabbage. Owlbear stew with Walnut Bread is a very common dish amongst Fey folk and other forest dwellers in the autumn.

Phoenix

Spicy, gamey, extremely flavorful with no real odor, a very nice white meat. Phoenix is best when the entire bird is put out, stuffed with bread crumbs and then ironically enough, baked again. The meat is extremely tender once it's been cooked and is best prepared with methods that best compliment it's very signature already barbecued flavor. Phoenix due to its rarity is not an entirely common dish and more often than not is only usually used to make simply amazing turducken-style feasts.

Remorhaze

These extremely intractable monsters can be very difficult to cook as their meat is already heated and requires high heat to cook. Frying with certain fats and poaching in salt water, lemons, and spices are some of the only reliable cooking methods, and the meat often has a sharp, acrid taste. Frost giants use remorhazes as both food and trained beasts, preferring to freeze dry the meat so it will keep longer. Freeze-dried remorhaze makes an excellent soup base as long as other spices are added to dull the sharp flavor.

Roc

Rocs amongst many primitive and medieval cultures are considered gods of the sky, however, it doesn't stop the brave amongst them from using them for food. Their eggs make some of the largest omelets in the planes, while bringing down a Roc can feed a village of a hundred for years if preserved correctly. Their meat is described as salty and gamey, due to their diet of large pachyderms and whales but a whole roasted roc is considered a symbol of hubristic opulence amongst many nations.

Ropers

Even though they are 'evil' Ropers are actually quite delicious shelled, boiled, and cooked with garlic and butter or mushrooms and onions.

Sea Serpent

Enormous heaps of red meat with a fishy sort of reptilian flavor- very similar to snake or poultry. Sea serpent is filleted, after which the slabs of its meat can be either dried, salted, smoked, or roasted as is with fresh shellfish or rice on the side. Sea serpent is often hunted and cooked by Giants: spit-roasted on sticks with octopus or seaweed and just as easily grilled with Mastodon Butter. The beast is also excellent deep fried and served with fries and lemon.

Shardminds

Not entirely inedible. Creature's "crystals" must be grounded up into a fine powder before consumption by organic beings. This powder can be used as a mineral supplement and added by the teaspoons into water.

Slime

Inedible until salted, whereupon it turns into an antacid.

Triceratops

Thick, lustrous, well-marbled, leaf and grass fed, juicy slightly gamey red meat. Triceratops can be served and prepared more like Beef or any other hoofed animal: gutted and roasted on the spot, the ribs harvested and lathered with sauce, even their feet are "alright" when pickled. Giants and Savage Humans however SWEAR by Triceratops Meat loaf with a tomato sauce gravy.

Unicorn

Absolutely Delicious: savory, thick, slabs of marbled beautiful meat. Almost never hunted successfully, but when it is, it's quite a joyous occasion as many are surprised by how delicious this animal's meat is. If the Unicorn itself isn't just gutted, skewered through a stick, and roasted on spot with an apple the meat makes amazing steaks, ground unicorn "beef", meat balls, sausages, and Ribs. Fey lords often flaunt their wealth by having roasted Unicorn and their generosity by donating the bones to soup kitchens during the holidays.

Worm

Worm Meat is often likened as the "spam of the dwarves" given how well inexpensive it is, how common it is, how easy it is to prepare, and (un)fortunately because of it's texture.

Yeti

Human-tasting sort of sweet pork textured red meat. Yeti smells quite delicious when cooking, but the sweet flavor can be a little off putting to some individuals. The best meat is on the Forearms and Legs- the hands, ribs, and everything else is usually avoided due to it's similarity to humanoid anatomy. Yeti is best served roasted or barbecued with a good sauce- it's often boiled as an emergency food though in Harsh cold environments.

Eberron Cuisine

Aundairian cuisine features a cacophony of ingredients that their classically trained chefs turn into a symphony of taste and texture. Aundairian meals consist of small portions presented in elegant fashion, each plate a beauty to behold and a wonder to savor. Sauces play a heavy role in any recipe, and the cuisine of this nation is considered to be exquisitely rich and suitable for special occasions. Pan-seared rabbit with an Aundairian wood-nut sauce, gold pheasant stuffed with sparkle mushrooms and rice, and dragon salmon in butter and dark wine sauce are particular favorites that have begun appearing in House Ghallanda inns throughout the Five Nations.

This region also has a reputation for its premier vineyards, and the wines of Aundair are considered among the finest in all of Khorvaire. Some of the best recent vintages now being traded in markets across the land include fireburst wine from the vineyards of Arcanix, dark Orla-un wine known for its fruity sweetness, and Windshire rainbow wine, a type of mursi (red wine) that changes color and flavor as one consumes a glass.

Finally, Aundairian pastries and sweets reveal a level of artistic and culinary sophistication unmatched throughout the Five Nations. From tarts to cremfels (thin, fruit-and-cream-filled pancakes), the desserts that originated in this region combine elegance with artistry that reveals at least a portion of the Aundairian spirit.

Brelish cooking utilizes meats, vegetables, and hearty sauces to create filling and comforting meals. Northern Brelish cuisine tends to be simpler fare, with a sweet and savory flavor. This is the food of farmers, designed to satisfy even the most ravenous appetites before and after a day of work in the fields. Here one can find beef boranel, a favorite of the king, that features a bread and mushroom stuffing roasted inside a full side of beef. Other hearty meals from the northern and central regions of Breland include farmer’s stew, thrice-poached eggs and sizzling pheasant, and kettle fried spider and redeye berries.

Southern Brelish cooking is more adventurous, utilizing the spices and vegetables that grow in the more tropical clime. Food with a lot of heat dominates the menu, as do meals influenced by the diverse population of Sharn and then transported into the rest of the countryside. Traditional southern Brelish cooking is spicy and flavorful, and often too hot for those used to simpler fare. Fire-wrapped golden fish, spiced pork and orange peppers, and hot-spiced chicken in panya leaves are considered high cuisine in the best inns and restaurants throughout Breland.

Sharn fusion, meanwhile, is a culinary experiment in combining traditional Brelish cooking with the exotic cuisine of the diverse people that regularly pass through or settle in the City of Towers. Taking ingredients and cooking styles from all over Khorvaire, the master chefs of Sharn combine these exotic dishes with their native presentation to make a totally new form of cuisine. Bold and exciting, Sharn fusion isn’t for everyone. But for those willing to try something new and a little different, this exotic culinary experience is worth the effort and expense (Sharn fusion tends to cost more than a traditional Brelish meal).

Karrnathi cuisine tends to be as heavy and complex as its architecture, with filling, multi-layered casseroles one of the mainstays of the typical family meal. Karrns consider sausage- and cheesemaking to be art forms, and all kinds and varieties of these foods can be found throughout the land. Because of the harsh winters, stews and soups are a staple of Karrnathi cooking, and every hearth has a pot of something simmering over the fire throughout the long winter season.

Brewing, another popular Karrnathi pastime, has created some of the most flavorful and potent beers and ales in the Five Nations, and kegs of Karrnathi brews find their way to markets across the continent. Baking has also developed into a staple of Karrnathi culinary art, and all kinds of pies and breads come out of the rich-smelling ovens throughout the land. One particularly popular loaf, called vedbread, combines crusty bread with the flavorfully sharp ved cheese. This is enjoyed warm as it emerges from the oven, or slathered with onion butter.

While the heart and soul concentrates on the Silver Flame, the collective stomach of Thrane looks to the country’s unique cuisine for a different kind of religious experience. Many find that secular life in Thrane is stifled by the theocracy, but few who come to the country find the food to be disappointing. “It is like a breath of fire in the cold of a dark winter’s night” said Princess Wroya of Breland during a diplomatic visit to Thrane, after partaking in the Feast of the Silver Flame. Utilizing thrakel spices cooked in thick sauces, Thrane cuisine tends to be heavy, filling, hot, and delicious. Thrakel-seared beef in red sauce, three-thrakel fish stew, and the traditional silvered vegetable skewers are particular favorites in Thrane and beyond.

The people of Thrane also enjoy their desserts, but here they take a different tack. To counter the spicy nature of the main meal, Thrane desserts tend to be sweet and served cold. Beesh-berry sorbet on top of silverfruit pie is considered the best of many tempting desserts.

Food holds a special place in Adaran life. It is a requirement for life, but it is also a mode of expression, a blessing from the spirit world, and an experience. An Adaran avoids cooking and eating when he is angry or grieving, lest his emotions taint the meal.

Food is usually baked in or roasted on a clay oven built in the house, though broiling over an open fire is a common alternative. Adarans avoid using utensils. They use their hands, sometimes protected by leaves, to pick up food, intending to involve all five senses in eating.

Adarans like spice. The fragrant herbs used in cooking provide taste, and many also aid digestion and fortify the body. Foreigners can find Adaran food too spicy, and Adarans often find foreign food bland.

A wide variety of comestibles can be found on the Adaran table, from broad, woody cavern fungi to the meat of mountain sheep, from fleshy fruits to the milk of oxen and goats—along with yogurt and cheeses from this milk. Some Adarans refrain from eating meat, showing their respect for the lives of all creatures.

Monasteries are often more limited in fare, due to the ruggedness of the land around them. Still, the ascetics appreciate food as a manifestation of life.

The people of Rhiavhaar, Pyrine, and Ohr Kaluun eat fish. Those of Dor Maleer are hunters by tradition. Few other Riedrans eat meat, and many consider the practice barbaric.

The mainstay of the Riedran diet is the pomow plant. This fruit was developed by the Bountiful Horn during the first few centuries of the Riedran unification. Its origin remains a mystery, but common belief is that it involved meta-creation techniques and wild zones bound to Lammania. Pomow is a hardy crop that can grow in a range of climates, and every part of the plant has a use. The meat, root, and seeds can all be eaten, and are remarkably high in protein; the core is filled with juice; the bushy fibers around the stalk can be worked into thread, much like cotton; and strips of the tough rind are sharp enough to shave with. A pomow is a dark purple spheroid, ranging from one foot to two feet across. Pomow plants are remarkably fecund, and a stalk begins growing new fruit as soon as the sphere is plucked. Riedrans use a wide range of spices to add flavor and variety to their common meal of pomow gruel. They abstain from any sort of intoxicants.

Food in Syrkarn is plentiful, well spiced, and served with copious amounts of ustah—a potent liquor brewed from honey and wild berries, reportedly from an ancient ogre recipe. The demands of rural life limit the choices available to the Syrk palate, with meat, fruits, and vegetables all typically dried for storage and transport. However, Syrks treat cooking with the same reverence as their other arts, and need no excuse for a feast.

The Tundra is not the place for cultured cuisine, but in terms of resourcefulness and ingenuity, Tashanans must be admired. In coastal and lake areas, the diet consists primarily of fish, waterfowl, and sea mammals, with some varieties of harvested seaweed. Inland, meat is provided by the vast herds of caribou, supplemented by fox, bear, and the occasional mammoth in the far north. Many tribes also harvest various types of lichen and algae that cling to the glacial rocks of the plains. Tashanans are renowned for finding utility in every possible part of the kill—examples are foxsnout soup and the infamous Chuniigi blubbercake. Some larger southern tribes employ a limited system of agriculture for winter grains.

Tavern food

Stew, for the most part. It has meat in it, and potatoes, and is served with dumplings and bread. It's cheap, it's filling, and, most importantly, it's hot. You're fine as long as you don't ask what the meat is.

If you're feeling flush, maybe things went your way at the dog tracks, or you just got your first paycheck in the new gig, you order the omelette. The barkeep keeps chickens out the back, along with a few animals. Milk, eggs, and some actual named meats that are too good for the stew, but not enough for a proper cut of meat. It's served with potatoes that've been sliced thin and fried to hell and back. Plus, the barmaid (the barkeep's daughter) tends to lean down low over the table to make sure it doesn't slide while she's serving it.

For adventurers, if you flash a little gold, he'll go delve in the icehouse and turn up some gammon. Salted, smoked lumps of pig. Fried with a little exotic produce, tastes delicious, especially with an egg on top. Customary to over-order a bit, and curry some goodwill with the regulars, as the leftover meats go into the 'stew', or omelettes.

And they make the BEST trail rations. Basically the 'stew', with extra dripping from the roast beasts they do on holy days, poured into flatbread from the bakery across the road, and left to soak the juices up and congeal. Cold, but full of nutritious calories.

Recipes

Tropajhin Lu'Kurra

700g ground Rothe meat 1 egg 1/2 cup of dried shrieker 'crumbs' 1/2 cup of finely chopped mushrooms 1/2 teaspoon mustard 450 g thick cut goblin belly strips Rendered Rothe fat for frying Garlic powder Dwarf pepper

1 Mix egg and mustard.

2 Add ground chuck, breadcrumbs and mushroom.

3 Add seasonings (Generally, a layer of salt and pepper)

4 Garlic powder is added to each side then a pinch or two of red pepper).

5 Weigh out about 5 oz of the mixture and make into a meatball then flatten slightly.

6 Wrap a slice of goblin or two around the meat

7 Fasten with the favour of Lloth. (You can hide a toothpick in their too if you're not sure that you're in the Goddess' good graces.)

8 Fry up in pan -- a few minutes on each side.

9 Serve up with a cup of Gloomwine and the still-beating heart of a male commoner.

Note: If you're serving it up to a rival the still-beating heart of their lover makes for an amusing meal - Or you may consider garnishing with a few leaves of Lloth's Passion. Two leaves to humiliate them with public fornication, four to make them fornicate till they die.

Miscellaneous

• Deep underground there is a form of baking involving spores: Fern spores, mushroom spores, and moss spores a like are all collected and with the combination of crystal clear cave waters make a magnificent flour. This "spore" flour is made to make numerous chewy, fluffy, delicious loaves of "highly" leavened baked Breads and Rolls.
• The Elemental Plane of food is often used to teach children about "dying from success" and Moderation as both people and animals have been known to willingly eat themselves to obesity and dysfunction when exposed to it.
• Minotaur Cheese: Often initially viewed with cringes. Minotaur cheese is some of the finest quality "cow" cheese known to both Humans, Centaurs, and very few lucky Dwarves. Minotaurs take immense pride in their womens' cheese and happily sell it to Humans, Centaurs and the odd Elf or Changeling. The Minotaurs themselves don't touch the stuff.
• The Cheese made by subterranean Dwarves is as varied, flavorful, and delicious as it is suspicious to non-subterranean beings. Rat cheese is often said to be the sharpest and although likened to processed cheese. Dire Wombats simply produce the MOST cheese. Even if it's bland, it has a slight pleasant sweet taste, is quite filling and is actually chewy. Aardvark cheese is very brittle, the milk itself is better used for creams or yogurt due to the creature's taste for underground fruit. It's much sweeter than wombat and pleasantly sour. Mole cheese is often smoked: it's firm, keeps well, and has a very pleasant earthy aroma as it ages as opposed to stinking to high heaven. Cheap imported Dwarven cheese is usually either humongous wheels of smoked wombat cheese or individual smaller sharp wheels of Dire Rat cheese.
• Horse cheese is usually made only by Orcs. It's sharper, a little bitter, and very high in lactose. Often only enjoyed by the Orcs themselves, a few human tribes, and Dwarven cheese fanciers. They make excellent cream cheeses however and if the Orcs made bread it would go great on toast.
• Dungeon cheese is the "mysterious" cheese often found in dungeon storage rooms: it is more often than not smoked Rat, Horse, or Cow cheese.. and it can be quite delicious and a welcome change from dried vegetables and monster meat. If Adventuring parties have any Bread on them: Dungeon Rarebit can be QUITE the little treat.
• As important as bread is: Humans, Dwarves, Centaurs, and Giants are often surprised to find out the a large portion of other species/races cannot actually consume gluten or for that matter bread.
• Dwarven and Centaur baking is often celebrated as the best baking in the world. Both species were initially taught baking by humans and both completely stepped it up to 11. Humans even buy more loaves of Bread from Centaurs than they make themselves.