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

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

And as to street food, what do they have to carry it in and eat it with? Presumably disposables: banana leaf, chopsticks. Are gourd skins or coconut hulls plentiful enough to give away and throw away? In parts of India, cheap clay cups, use once and smash (sun fired?).