imaginary food

[truepenny]

Talk to me about food in fantasy. (And science fiction, if you like.)

Readers, what kinds of details do you like to see? What makes a culture's eating habits come alive for you?

Writers (oh, please, writers, you're my only hope), how do you go about inventing cuisines and delicacies and what the street vendors sell? Especially when you are not relying on the old trick of, "I'll make this culture !Japan or !India or !France." How do you figure out what people eat?

Comments

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

Interesting question... I haven't had to deal with this till now, but I think I would try to derive it from climate to crops, plus technology for preservation, plus trade for foods from other climates, and that would give me my ingredients list.

Then I would try to derive cooking style from culture -- are there people (or technologies) who can keep an eye on a long, slow cooking process, or are we looking for cook-and-serve-fast? Are people eating in big groups or small groups or alone? Is sensual pleasure sought or distrusted or both? How in touch is their lifestyle with seasonality? Is there a single staple crop that has to be changed up? How much of their total income are characters spending on food?

Then I would probably try to do the opposite of one or two common fantasy tropes (waybread, we're looking at you), and call it good.

[gwendolynflight.livejournal.com]

I'd make a slight amendment to this: slow-cooked food is brilliant because you don't have to keep an eye on it, except occasionally. So you could put on a stew or a casserole or a pie sort of device and wander off to do chores for a few hours. Same with baking bread, if you can afford your own fireplace (or oven!). Rotisserie requires a lot of attention, but anything enclosed can be sat on or near or buried under a fire and let go.