Food and Cuisine

## The Inner Sea Triad

The mainstay of the diet of most of the Inner sea people is known as the triad, a combination of grain, grape, and olives which compose easily 90% of the diet of the common people.

### **Grain**

Grains are typically barley, rye or wheat, with the wheat being a coarser type such as Emmer rather than the softer but more difficult to grow bread wheat. In Cart-had Millet is a common alternative.

About 80% of the common folk's caloric intake is based on these staples.

Grains are typically either boiled into porridges or ground into flour and baked into bread, either leavened or flat. The common folk subsists on cheaper darker bread while the wealthy favors finer ground white flours, often substituting wheat for coarser grains.

In the southern half of the Inner Sea Region, grain brewed beer replace wine as the most common drink of the populace. Cheaper beers are more akin to alcoholic porridges with much solids left than a proper liquid drink.

### **Grape**

Grapes, typically consumed as wine is the mainstay drink of the northern half of the Inner Sea region. Poor people's wine is often weaker from dilution and of lesser quality. Wine production also brings about vinegar and yeast.

Not only is wine drank, but it is commonly added as flavoring to cooking, or used to dip bread into.

Outside of grape producing rural communities, fresh grapes are typically reserved for the more affluent. Raisins and other dried grape products are more easily available and affordable for commoners.

### **Olive**

Olives are primarily pressed into oil, with the better quality products used both as cooking fat and as a seasoning for dishes, while lower quality oils are used in the making of soaps and for burning in oil lamps. Cured olives are also popular and affordable to most.

## Animal Products

### **Meat**

The Inner Sea region has many sources of meat, although most are above the reach of the poorer classes. Goat, Sheep, and Pigs are the most commonly consumed meat. Due to the lack of proper grazing land, Beef is most often expensive and considered a delicacy, while Goat meat is cheap and seen as low class. Wild game is commonly enjoyed by richer people, or by rural folks. Boar, deer, dove, pheasant, flamingo.

Because of its value, all part of butchered animals are used including organs and blood, often made into meatballs, puddings, and sausages. Cow udders and pork uterus are notable delicacies among the nobility of the Solis Empire.

### **Seafood**

Due to how quickly it spoils, Fresh fish is almost universally expensive and rare, but salted fish is a common and cheap source of protein for many. Other seafood includes farmed snails, oysters, mussels and eels raised in tanks.

### **Eggs**

Chickens are more valued for their eggs by the common folk rather than as meat. Eggs are eaten not only cooked by boiling or frying, but also used in the making of pastries or binding of special recipes such as meatballs and sausages.

### **Milk and Cheese**

The milk of goats is typically preferred and thought of as superior over that of cows within the Inner Sea. Milk is only rarely drunk raw and typically used for cooking or made into cheese or butter. A great variety of cheeses exist, both hard and soft, some brined, others smoked.

Although not drunk, fresh milk is often used in medicine and cosmetics.

## Fruits and Vegetables

### **Vegetables**

Within the Inner Sea, almost all those who can afford at least a sliver of land, maintain a small garden to supplement their diets with fresh seasonal vegetables such as onions, garlic, leek, cucumber, asparagus, lettuce, artichoke, radish, cabbage, beans, gourd, and turnips.

Within cities, the most popular vegetables to complement the populace's diet are dried peas, beans and lentils, which are then reconstituted through boiling.

### **Fruits**

Fruits of the inner sea include apples, pears, figs, grapes, quinces, citron, strawberries, blackberries, elderberries, currants, damson plums, dates, melons, rose hips and pomegranates. As orchards are complex affairs and typically less productive use of land, most fruits are the domain of the affluent or eaten during special occasions such as religious festivals.

### **Nuts**

Nuts are commonly eaten within the inner sea region. Both as is, and as part of sweet or savory dishes. Nuts are often pulverized into a paste and mixed in with spices to thicken them. Nuts eaten in the inner sea include; almond, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts, chestnuts, and pistachios.

## Condiment and Spices

### **Olive Oil**

Olive oil is the most commonly used cooking fat within the Inner Sea and is also used to dress cold dishes such as salads, or as a dip for bread.

### **Vinegar**

Vinegar, typically made of grapes is used as a condiment and for pickling vegetables to ensure longer longevity.

### **Honey and Date Syrup**

Honey is one of only two known source of sugar within the Inner sea and is quite valuable. Honey is not only used to dress dishes and make deserts but also in medicine and in preserving certain foods.

The other, date syrup is a rare concoction from the Kn'n Free States. It is created by mashing and boiling date into a sweet paste.

### **Garum**

A Solis favorite, Garum is a sauce made of fermented salted fish paste. Garum is liberally applied to many dishes.

### **Herbs and** **Spices**

Cumin, coriander, poppy, mint, anise, myrtle, juniper, marjoram, rosemary, fennel, thyme, bay, basil, rue, laser, savory, and dill are grown within the inner sea and often found enhancing the dishes of the middle and upper classes.

The much-valued black pepper and cinnamon, however, are imported from far away from western lands at exceptional cost, typically costing their weight in gold by the time they arrive in Inner Sea markets.

### **Mustard**

Mustard is another condiment used by the people of the inner sea, mixing ground mustard seeds with wine must and other ingredients resulting in a thick paste often used as a glaze for spit roast meat.

### **Yogurt**

Yogurt is often mixed with oil and herbs and used to created a dip for bread, or used to slowly bake meats in.

### **Tahini**

Most common in the southern nations, Tahini is made by toasted ground hulled sesame. It is commonly used as a dip or as a garnish.

## Cooking

In cities where space is often at a premium, few commoners can afford to have cooking facilities. As such, most food is bought ready to eat such as bread, pickles and dried foods such as nuts. However, a dining out culture exists with restaurants and shops offering ready to eat hot meals affordable to all classes.

Within the countryside, most homes are furnished with cooking pits which although it allows more culinary independence, also requires a lot of work, particularly in grinding one's daily grain, which although hulled and threshed are not typically bought as flour.

## See Also

### **Cuisine by Region**

* Solii Cuisine
* Akythan Cuisine
* Khenmet Cuisine
* Kn'n Cuisine
* Qart Cuisine
* Azanid Cuisine
* Barbarian Cuisine