Cuisine of Lordaeron

File:Lordaeronfood.jpg
The fertile land of Lordaeron offered up great bounties of fruits, grains and meats for the table, and the now fallen Kingdom of Lordaeron developed an equally rich and versatile cuisine. Though the Kingdom is dead, its cuisine persists in Hearthglen, isolated pockets of survivors in Lordaeron (most notably, until their recent destruction, the Scarlet Crusade's enclaves), and in expatriate communities in the Kingdom of Stormwind, Kingdom of Kul Tiras, and the Kingdom of Ironforge.

## Common Ingredients

### Meat and Dairy

* Goats and mutton.
* Beef.
* Pork.
* Hard cheeses and butter.
* Rabbit meat.
* Turkeys in Tirisfal.
* Seabass.
* Chicken.

### Fruits and Vegetables

* Potatos.
* Apples and oranges.
* Apricots - sometimes in scones.
* Carrots.
* Beet soup.
* Pumpkins in Tirisfal.

### Grains

Wheat was the predominant grain among the Kingdom's wealthier inhabitants, as in the bulk of the human Kingdoms. The cold winters left oats a major component of the diet, however, consumed in the form of porridge and sometimes beers, as winter wheat was rarely a viable crop due to the sharp frosts and often over-heavy rains.

The most frequently encountered grain, however, is barley - used in beers and bread, to bulk stews and soups, and eaten in porridge mixtures. The rich and slightly nutty flavour of barley bread is often assumed in many of the regional dishes calling for bread as an ingredient - in particular, Tirisfal spice bread.

Despite this, it remains wheat which occupies pride of place. The pastries, pies and scones enjoyed in the region are difficult, if not impossible, to make with wheat, as is the fine soft white bread enjoyed by the upper crust of society. Wheat was a major cash crop accordingly, and often produced in sufficient quantities for export throughout the continent of Lordaeron.

## Common Dishes

### Bread

Bread formed the backbone of the diet of Lordaeron. Whether rye or wheat or barley, spiced or plain, it was a poor table that could not afford bread on it.

#### Daily Bread

Most bread eaten in the Kingdom was of a somewhat rough character, typically made with barley or a mixture of barley and wheat flour. Nourishing and flavoursome, the bread was used - save for finer white breads, typically - to sop up sauces and drippings, juices from other foods, to thicken stews and soups, and frequently, was eaten on its own or as a sandwich. Grades of bread differed significantly in different regions, with the grand farmlands of the Plaguelands seeing more brown wheat bread than barley on the whole and the poorer residents of the capital or marginal farmlands frequently resorting to barley or even less desired grains.

#### Spice Bread

Few foodstuffs are as popular or as widespread as spiced bread, which is found across nearly every culture and people of Azeroth. Pre-Fall Lordaeron enjoyed a particular variant made with summer-sown caraway and citrus zest, giving a delicate anise and orange note to a loaf made with rye and wheat (often in direct proportion as sown as maslin in years where the weather permitted), and a flavour well-suited to enhancing with preserves and drinking with hoppy ales.

#### Related Laws and Offices

Of the foodstuffs of Lordaeron, bread was the most tightly regulated - which tragically failed to protect the people from the plague. Laws dictated the weights and purity of loaves, with the intention not only of protecting consumers, but fostering the growth of a healthy nation. With bread a key foodstuff and so easily subject to tampering, large cities maintained the post of 'Baker's Inspector' - a low-paying but important office created to keep uphold the various laws.

The most important of these laws was that prohibiting the adulterating of bread with fillers such as saw dust or inedible shredded plants, which would otherwise be common during times of scarcity as bakers sought to maintain the weight of their loaves and thus, their profits. With prices pegged at the weight of the loaf by its type of flour, lean years made such practices deeply attractive. It was for this reason that the Baker's Inspector also had the power to issue variances on permitted weight per price in dire circumstances, raising it by up to two pence.

When bread was visibly mouldy or the flour so infested with vermin and their leavings that it could not reasonably be sold, the Inspector was also authorized to confiscate and dispose of it as they saw fit. This liberty proved insufficient during the outbreak of the Plague of Lordaeron - the grain and flour shipments were utterly devoid of mold and vermin, and though somewhat unusual in odour, could not be confiscated as they did not meet the criteria of 'unwholesome stuffs'.

The office of the Baker's Inspector survives today in Argent and independent areas of Lordaeron, though it now has a much more important mandate: To ensure the wholesomeness of all foodstuffs and their purity from plague and other diseases. The grave mistakes leading to the plague were taken as educational lessons and the Inspectors now have sweeping powers to confiscate and test any foodstuff they believe to be tainted.

### Stews and Soups

There is little more welcome on a cold night than a bowl of hot and nourishing stew, whether it is meat or vegetable or both; whether thickened with flour or bread or barley or not at all, stews and soups fill the stomach and ensures health.

#### Poor Stews and Soups

* Beet soups.
* Beef stews.
* Mutton stews.

#### Fine Stews

* Fish stews.
* Game stews.
* Finer beef stews, of better quality or richer composition.

## Regional Specialties

### Capital and Tirisfal Glades

* Pastries.
* Scones.
* Roast venison.
* Roast fowl.
* Fish in cream sauce.
* Spiced bread - used as a stuffing and also on its own.
* Pumpkin pie.
* Pike.
* Biscuits.

### Hillsbrad Foothills

* Roast Quail.
* Porridge.
* Turtle bisque.
* Mountain lion.
* Fish.

## Drinking Culture

### Beer

* Lambics, tripels, and stouts.
* Southshore stout specifically.

### Wine

* White wine.
* Watered wine.
* Red wine - including Southshore production.
* Chilled wine in Hearthglen.

## Rationales and Disclaimers

* For the Forsaken, see Forsaken Cuisine.
* Why an article for the cuisine of a dead kingdom? It continues to exist in small holdings like Hearthglen, and in the form of foreign influences in the cuisine of Stromgarde, Stormwind, and Dalaran.
* This article will be expanded as much as possible, but likely will be more fanon than similar articles due to the fall of the Kingdom.
* The Baker's Inspector office is complete fanon, but based on a number of medieval laws and regulations in its original form (most especially the Bakers Assize). In its modern form, it's essentially a form of quasi-FDA born out of a devastating plague, and thematically fitting to my eye. When plagued bread has lead to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, all food will be under much more scrutiny, because bread is the most innocuous of all foods to eat (though not to produce.)