The Definitive Guide to Cuisine: A Giadoese Tongue

The Definitive Guide to Cuisine: A Giadoese Tongue is a book discovered within the library of the Guild of the Lilac Vine.

## Description

A series dedicated to the cuisines of Ahlus intended to serve as a general overview instead of more in-depth studies performed by experts in specific disciplines, this copy of the Definitive Guide to Cuisine focused on the food and drink of the Giado Territories, a Realm of northwestern Ahlus.

## Research

### Completed by Bren

The Definitive Guide to Cuisine: A Giadoese Tongue is the eighth book I've had the opportunity to pen, and yet the joy of the discovering the details of a Realm's cuisine do not yet wain. It is my hope and delight that it never will, and should it be the will of Buwello to keep granting me new experiences of food and drink, then I would surely be a fool to reject them.

As aforementioned, my most recent escapades took me to Kiha, the Capital of the Giado Territories and then from here to smaller towns and villages to experience the local produce from those subsisting upon it directly without the interference of foriegn cultures that so often follows trade routes. For those unfamiliar with the Realm, the Giadoese are ruled by tradition, but that is not to say it lacks in the modern flair of the cuisines found throughout other Realms. Self-sufficient and proud, the Giadoese primarily dine on the staples that grow well within their territories. Bread baked with dark rye grains are amongst those most commonly found in bakeries, as well as dried crispbreads laced through with nuts and seeds - a popular choice for travellers and adventurers alike, given the low moisture content and subsequent proclivity to long-lasting edibility.

For most families, pork and fish such as salmon, bronze-bone mackerel and crayfish serve as the central nutritional staples, both usually smoked. As should be immediately apparent thus far, emphasis is often placed on the survivability of food sources, owing to the frequent storms that sweep through the territories that are prone to tearing through fields and farms on a whim. Despite this, Giadoese cuisine is far from bland. Spiced jams stewed from cloudberries, elderflower and merryberries are laced through pastries, wild mushrooms are poached in buttermilk infused with dill and black garlic. The tart fruits of sea buckthorn shrubs are bletted with ice and used to sour other dishes, cloves, cinnamon and cardamom feature heavily throughout, but instead it is for their peppers that the Giadoese are perhaps best known.

Almost akin to the truffles scattered in the soils to the south, Giadoese peppers are highly prized in both traditional dishes from the Realm and in more recent years beyond. Export of the peppers in both fresh and powdered forms is highly monitored by the Giadoese government which has further expediated surging costs - and with it demand in the halls and courts of the wealthy and powerful across Ahlus. Subsequently, there have been multiple attempts to try and cultivate strains elsewhere in the continent but to limited avail. Within the Giadoese borders, the peppers are consumed in many forms, ranging from simplistic optional additives when combined with onion and lime juice, use of their leaves to flavour broths, to Olechino, a dish of roughly chopped rye grains, flavoured oils, anchovies, toasted crispbread fragments and, in some recipes, in excess of six different cultivars of Giadoese peppers.