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

[yesthatnagia.livejournal.com]

As a reader, I'm more interested in what the viewpoint character is eating or doing -- and sometimes what they notice about the people around them eating. 'This person likes spicy food even more than the viewpoint character does.' 'This time of year, the wayside stalls sell only one kind of skewered fish, and the viewpoint character hates it, so she'll just grab some grilled giant spider for a quick snack instead.' Things like that.

As a writer, I'll follow everyone else and say it comes down to practical details. Is this farmland? On the coast? A city? How does or would the culture feel about meat, fish, poultry?

Delicacies are usually the things that only the privileged have access to, or are restricted in some other way. I'd go with law of rare/expensive. If blowfish is expensive and hard to come by, anyone eating it would appreciate it far more than if it were the cheapest thing on the market.

Of course, the culture's world view comes into play. I doubt many Americans would be too fond of eating skewered spiders (and don't even talk to them about balut), but fantasy cultures may not share the disgust.