Culinary Worldbuilding

[Tom]

Food is an integral part of daily life, and an important element of a nation's culture. It's also something I've found is often overlooked in worldbuilding. I think it would be interesting to hear about how you guys approach writing about food.

What does your fantasy world's food say about its cultures? Do you make up your own dishes, or draw primary inspiration from real-world cuisine? Does your culture have any foods that are special, such as dishes for festivals or religious events? How is food typically prepared in your world?

 

[Russ]

I agree completely that this area of WB is often underdeveloped. My work is always set in quasi-historical settings so I can draw on real food from the time period/place involved, or perhaps more frequently, real drink!

 

[Garren Jacobsen]

Ha, I barely mention food, save that people eat it. I mention things about the food but never get too deep into how they're made. One of my favorite culinary scenes is any scene from the Redwall series, made my mouth water.

 

[Snowpoint]

The only time I ever focused on food was in developing a treehouse culture. For whatever reason I decided they eat bugs.

 

[CupofJoe]

I had a story set in a roughly 16C European setting and I loved discovering the [seemingly] bizarre things that people ate and drank around that time.
I even made a few. I highly recommend a Quince and Mutton Stew. It smelled and tasted wonderful!
I try to use food [smell, taste, ingredients] to highlight differences a character experiences as they travel. I think everyone has arrived in a new place, looked at the street food and not had any idea what is "safe" to eat...

 

[Devor]

There are a lot of places in the real world where variety is not part of the typical diet, or at least, certain elements are included in almost every meal. For one setting, I decided that there was a fruit that they ate with every meal, cooked or raw, or sometimes the seeds were mashed into a butter and used as a sauce. That one element, to me, brought their cuisine to life without forcing me to do too much work on it.

In another setting, which draws on east Asian societies set at high altitudes, I had one part world builder's disease, and one part a research glut, and spent a lot of time trying to decipher what they would believably eat in the region. I came to good decisions, but it took more time than it was necessarily worth.

 

[Saigonnus]

I have found it helps add depth to a culture if you include at least a bit of their cuisine. My tree-dwellers raise goats on the forest floor below thier city and it serves as their main source of protein. They cut the meat into strips and marinade it in a pulped root that they likewise grow. They grill it in an everburning brazier and serve it on a brilat leaf (a spicy cabbagelike veggie) with herbs and wild onions.


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[valiant12]

There are a lot of places in the real world where variety is not part of the typical diet, or at least, certain elements are included in almost every meal. For one setting, I decided that there was a fruit that they ate with every meal, cooked or raw, or sometimes the seeds were mashed into a butter and used as a sauce. That one element, to me, brought their cuisine to life without forcing me to do too much work on it.

In another setting, which draws on east Asian societies set at high altitudes, I had one part world builder's disease, and one part a research glut, and spent a lot of time trying to decipher what they would believably eat in the region. I came to good decisions, but it took more time than it was necessarily worth.

I once made a culture where almost everybody eat the same goo everyday through his entire life. The island where that particular culture lived is so inhospitable for human life and have no forest for boat building, no pastures, little usable water, and can support only one crop type. And the island have no trade connections with the rest of the world despite the fact that they have rich deposits of many different types of ores and gems. One the bright side there only crop is plentiful and can be distilled into alcohol.

 

[MineOwnKing]

I'm currently writing about bread soup. The ally of my main character works in a bread shop for his parents. I'm researching Italian bread soup recipes so that I can write with some sense of authenticity about smell, sounds and preparation, etc.

Even though it's set in an alternate universe, I've developed a world similar to earth. If I had developed a unique world, I think some form of bread would have been part of it too.

Bread is both simple and interesting to me.

 

[Saigonnus]

I once made a culture where almost everybody eat the same goo everyday through his entire life.

Soylent Green anyone??? Yummy... [emoji53]


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[Manalodia]

I"ve actually put thought into this because of events in my story. When forced to hide in the wilderness, food is going to be brought up or the scarceness thereof. What is in the surrounding habitat comes into play. When there is famine or food supply is taken up for war efforts, it is a crucial element for Rema's family. It is also important when times or good or characters with money come into play to show the contrast of indulgence and variety.
I draw some of my inspiration from real world dishes, but mostly try and create my own based off of vegetation and animals present in my world.

 

[buyjupiter]

I think I've mentioned it before, but I have a whole "class"(?) of chefs. They're also mummies. And...they're from the island of...QusQus (pronounced "Couscous"...yeah, I know). They are the people that handle food for the elite in the region my novel takes place in. They aren't super important to the main story, but they're there for a bit of world building fluff. And I thought they might be fun.

I also have a short story idea that revolves around explaining how the mummies came to be the chefs--but it's currently on a back, very back, burner until I clear out the backlog of shorts I have going right now (in various stages. Actually, if someone would love to volunteer to edit some stuff for me, so I can clear out the backlog, I'd love that. *grumble grumble hate editing*)

As for meals? I found a random food generator thingie that I'm mixing and mashing things up into my own "creations". None of which would be food that I personally would even try, because bleck. Some of the items are rather...strange. But totally in line with some of the medieval feast dishes I've read about in history books. (Which is the only time that the chefs come into play, and thus the weird food.)

Otherwise, it's normal travelling food as my character travels a bit--so I probably won't mention any of that (as I'm as bored as the next person with depictions of traveler's stew). But when I get her into a new and strange city, I plan on having the scents of the marketplaces and their foods be part of the punchy "this is different!" of certain scenes.

 

[Shreddies]

I love seeing (and tasting) new foods, and I love reading little tidbits about them in stories. But so far I've only made up a few dishes and edible stuff in my world. Most of them revolve around the time of year when all the stars fall out of the sky. They're collected, washed, and used to make cookies, cakes, and other dishes in celebration of the new year.

On a side note, this thread reminded me of an entry in the Hack & Slash Ecology Series:

" Blobs are actually a biproduct of culinary warfare. Blood pudding, haggis, mustard jelly and other foods were adulterated with trolls blood, and then animated for a unique taste sensation; sadly this caused them to combine and become mobile. Immediately after they engulfed the cooks. They were then hacked apart and now there are the many different types of blobs that roam the world. "

There's a bit of culinary world building.

 

[Manalodia]

I love seeing (and tasting) new foods, and I love reading little tidbits about them in stories. But so far I've only made up a few dishes and edible stuff in my world. Most of them revolve around the time of year when all the stars fall out of the sky. They're collected, washed, and used to make cookies, cakes, and other dishes in celebration of the new year.

On a side note, this thread reminded me of an entry in the Hack & Slash Ecology Series:


" Blobs are actually a biproduct of culinary warfare. Blood pudding, haggis, mustard jelly and other foods were adulterated with trolls blood, and then animated for a unique taste sensation; sadly this caused them to combine and become mobile. Immediately after they engulfed the cooks. They were then hacked apart and now there are the many different types of blobs that roam the world. "

There's a bit of culinary world building.

*I apologize for my earlier post. I could barely read it with the errors. I must have been half asleep or something

For some reason that reminds me of the Flan from Final Fantasy XII, although they were only eaten in jelly-type dishes. This is by far the most odd and creative thing I've heard, haha!

This does raise a question me and my brother have had, but it more deals with worldbuilding in games, not so much fantasy writing. I will ask do the people in the worlds make a difference between the creatures that are carnivores (that could humans) and ones that would be healthier. Kind of like how we view on carnivores and how they are not the best for our health. Do people in your worlds just eat everything that walks or make a conscious differentiation?

 

[valiant12]

I agree completely that this area of WB is often underdeveloped. My work is always set in quasi-historical settings so I can draw on real food from the time period/place involved, or perhaps more frequently, real drink!

What they use instead of tomatoes in medieval europe.

 

[Saigonnus]

Zuchinni? Eggplant?


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[valiant12]

This does raise a question me and my brother have had, but it more deals with worldbuilding in games, not so much fantasy writing. I will ask do the people in the worlds make a difference between the creatures that are carnivores (that could humans) and ones that would be healthier. Kind of like how we view on carnivores and how they are not the best for our health. Do people in your worlds just eat everything that walks or make a conscious differentiation?

In my maim world it depends on the person, most people don't.The predators that are at the top of the food chain are too dangerous to be hunted- the great kraken probably taste great and are plentiful , but are so dangerous that no sane person would try to hunt it. The smaller predators are eaten by some people.

 

[Saigonnus]

*This does raise a question me and my brother have had, but it more deals with worldbuilding in games, not so much fantasy writing. I will ask do the people in the worlds make a difference between the creatures that are carnivores (that could humans) and ones that would be healthier. Kind of like how we view on carnivores and how they are not the best for our health. Do people in your worlds just eat everything that walks or make a conscious differentiation?

Humans eat anything... Bear steaks, lion steaks, shark steaks and even crocodile and alligator. I think it comes down to personal preference or societal taboos more than what is healthy for you. I don't think carnivores are necessarily 'bad" compared to other sources of meat, they would only taste different.

I personally have never eaten any of the creatures I mentioned above, but I certainly know people who have.


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[valiant12]

Zucchini are nativ to North America.

 

[Miskatonic]

Zucchini are nativ to North America.

And they are a ghastly food!