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

Re: Price of meat

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Rooftop pigeons, backyard chickens and rabbits, rat onna stick. Keep the urban scavenger milk cows of India, but non-holy. (Note for verisimilitude: the streets of Delhi smelled much better than Thai or Sri Lankan, which were overlaid with piles of rotting fruit. Some years ago.)