Re: OFF: Red Meat Stinkiness

On Fri, 16 Jun 2000, Jonathan Chang wrote:

>     I am inordinately fond of beef tendon & seaslugs.
We went to the best Indian restaurant I've ever been in yesterday.
What that cook could do with spinach or a bit of yoghurt & mint...
And the lamb was incredible!

>     Concultures: what are some eating habits/ideologies in various
> concultures?
Meat is much prized, but it needs to be diced, cubed, minced or sliced -
no chops, not even the spare-ribs you can find in Chinese restaurants.
In the countryside people have readily access to sheep, goats, pigs,
chickens and a lot of other fowl. Oxen and buffaloes are far to useful
as draught animals, and horses are very rare - only available in the
far east.  Some amphibians are prized, too. On the plains there are large
bipedal mammals, about the size of elephants, and one can feed a largish
village at a feast. Dragons are a bit hard to get - only the aged mounts
of the Imperial Dragon Riders are sold for meat to connoisseurs. Except
for some northren kingdoms and people living near to a river, fish is
not eaten.

Everyone in the cities, even the poorest beggar, believes himself to be
an authority on food, but most people cannot afford meat more than once
every nine days, and that will be bacon or trotters. People can't keep
pigs or fowl in the city - a family of five generally lives in one or
two rooms in an insulae-like boarding house.

There are large market gardens near Broi and orchards everywhere within
the city walls, so fruit and vegetables are plentiful. Fruit and
vegetables are eaten with every meal. Bread is plentiful, made from a
white variety of grains, in a wide variety of styles. Everything from
loaves like croissants  to hard & flat poppadom-like wavers.

And then there are sweets... And more sweets, sticky, sickly sweet sweets.

Wine is mostly made from fruit, like cherries, or from staples like
rice. Beer is made from underdone bread soaked in water.

> Any bug-eaters? hehe...
In the western desert of Vustla, yes. There are some peoples who are
considered uncivilized by Charyans or the Vustlan oasis dwellers, who
eat insects, snakes and other desert fries.

Boudewijn Rempt  | http://www.valdyas.org