Caladraland Culture and Cuisine

[Squaredeal Sten]

What do you imagine Caladraland cuisine is like?

I note some relevant facts: Caladraland is mostly jungle.  Their agriculture is mostly slash and burn, and they do not plow.  It is very productive, due to Caladra and Aurelion's magic.  Their dominant grain seems to be wheat, If I read the small map in the Grain Goddesses section of the Earth Goddesses book correctly.

They are adjacent to Esrolia but much different in lifestyle, religion, and politics.

I am not sure what the RW inspiration for Caladraland is, if any, but it does not seem to match the Amazon jungle ( which is not volcanic) and while the vulcanism and slash and burn agriculture might match ancient  Nicaragua, the dominant grain is definitely not maize.

I do imagine that wine grapes do well there because Vinvale, volcanic soil, and all that.  Jungle often means fruit from the trees.  

I might imagine squash and beans grow well there, because those crops originated without the plow.

There is no indication of olive trees, so if they fry food it is probably done with animal fat.  

 

[Sir_Godspeed]

Lots of pork and fowl, I'd reckon.

[Darius West]

Wheat means bread.  Jungles generally means high biodiversity, and that means spices, as well as plenty of fruit and mushrooms.  You mention squash and beans, and I agree, but would add sweet potato, coconuts, and maybe ordinary potato too (likely introduced via Godlearners). There is the possibility of other grains too.  Caladraland also has a long coast which means fish in abundance, traded from the merfolk in those regions, but that would not go inland.  What I don't see much evidence of is lamb and cattle.  I would imagine that Caladraland cuisine would be something like Mexican, Thai or Vietnamese cuisines, but where the rice or maize starch component is replaced with wheat, bread, and potentially potatoes.   I would expect a lot of highly spiced dishes which are good for warding off internal parasites, and as medicines.  Hot foods go with hot climates.  I would expect potentially expect thick goulash-like noodles, a variety of breads, and likely meat and vegies in wraps.  Hot weather makes food storage difficult, so the problem will likely be solved by animals being slaughtered, butchered, cooked and distributed on the same day across a whole village.  The main preservative will be salt, but potentially common spices can be substituted, when they could work in that role.  If you have a bean culture, you may well have soybeans, and soy sauce, or something equivalent.  There is also the potential to cook by wrapping the meal in large leaves and burying it in hot volcanic ground.

I would imagine there would be plenty of hot spicy soups with meat, eggs, mushrooms, fresh herbs and noodles.  While the Caladralanders likely have beans that could provide cooking oil, this is likely something they will trade for, as they won't have the technology to extract it.  Daily lunch will likely be something akin to a burrito. Breakfast is likely to be a porridge with fruit. They will likely have some potent local hooches, based on fermenting local fruit and even beans.  Bean alcohol would be like a whisky that makes you fart like a bugle.  Given the high spice foods, the taco bell effect may find foreigners "disgracing" themselves with this in combination with bean whiskey.  Invariably, Caladraland's wealthiest cuisine will be influenced by Esrolian cuisine.  It is possible that reusable cans have been purchased from the dwarves, that can be boiled and filled for longer storage.  

 

[David Scott]

https://wellofdaliath.chaosium.com/esrolian-mud-pot/

[Jeff]

Caladraland is subtropical, like Esrolia (which likely has had a MASSIVE influence in Caladraland), but more humid. The volcanic soil, plenty of rain, and climate means that the volcanic hills are covered with vegetation that forms a tangled thicket - lots of undergrowth. Things grow so easy there - thanks to Lodril and Ernalda. You don't really need to plow in Highvale - just poke a hole in the dirt and plant your seeds. But you will do a lot of weeding!

[Cassius]

Then something like cuisine of the West Indies would be just right.
 

Edited January 20 by Cassius

[Jeff]

1 minute ago, Cassius said:

Then something like cuisine for West Indies would be just right.
 

Personally, I don't imagine it as being Caribbean. More Southern US food (but without the rice or maize). So pork, chicken, beans, okra, turnips, etc. And lots of bbq, which makes sense with a volcano god!

[Manunancy]

Climate and soil wise that sounds quite lieke what you can find near lake Tanganika - that's tropical/subtropical (going to equatorial on the northern part) with some seriously volcanic areas around (the Niyragongo volcano is around here)

 

Edited January 19 by Manunancy

[Jeff]

9 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Personally, I don't imagine it as being Caribbean. More Southern US food (but without the rice or maize). So pork, chicken, beans, okra, turnips, etc. And lots of bbq, which makes sense with a volcano god!

Also remember that Caladraland overlaps with Esrolia. So there's going to be a lot of shared elements there.

[Joerg]

Given the presence of hot mineral springs in the chain, I would imagine that these would be used for long-term stewing, lowering earthware pots (possibly unglazed) into the springs.