There is no potato in Glorantha?

[mallion]

Hi,

I have searched through Guide to Glorantha and can't find "potato" in it.

There is no potato in Glorantha?

 

(And "coffee" is only in East Isles, right?)

[metcalph]

Potato bread is mentioned in Cults of Prax p40 as a mundane benefit of the Seven Mothers cult.

As for coffee, I'm sure there is a market for it in the Holy Country and Fonrit.  

[mallion]

Yes, and I remember an article about gin made from potato in TotRM. 

But there is no mention of potato in the Guide ...

[Noita]

Not a veggie I associate with the Bronze Age (i come from Europe) so never thought about it to be honest.

My Lunars drink Juniper gin.

 

[Joerg]

The information about Pelorian diet has actually become less in the Guide than there used to be elsewhere.

Food sections were moved to the cultural descriptions, which means that all of Peloria only gets one such entry (p.40):

Quote

Food
Rice, barley, and maize are the staple grains, supplemented by millet and various root crops. Fish is the most common domestic
meat, followed by pork. Cattle are used mainly to pull plows, while goats are a primary source of milk and meat. Food is flavored with a
variety of strong herbs and spices.

There are very few mentions of beet (in context with Beat-Pot Aelwrin) or carrot (with Rakenveg), both associated with Peloria.

In Fonrit yams is harvested (p.43, society), but in the food section on p. 46 it gets no direct mention ("starchy foods"). Given the American custom of assigning the wrong species name to remotely similar ones (like calling the wapiti "elk" or vultures "buzzard"), it isn't clear whether the sweet potato Ipomoea batatas or the real yam root Discorea is meant. Either way, these aren't the nightshade Solanum tuberosum spuds that were imported to Europe.

We do get the tomato here in Fonrit.

The Doraddi get root vegetables, too.

In our world, the potato was cultivated in the highlands of the Andes.The term potato likely is derived from the Caribbean word for sweet potatoes ("yams"), batatas. The highland breed was named papa in Quechua, a language which covers the natural range of the potato, too. It is unlikely that the cultivated highland plant was encountered in the Caribbean. While there is a wild relative of the potato found as far north as Texas, it probably never was used as food because of high alcaloid content. The Aztecs appear to have bred potatoes - sweet potatoes, which are mentioned by an early Spanish missionary along with sweet manioc. No mention of the nightshade highland one that conquered Europe. The Maya cultivated manioc.

http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodmaya.html

There are few such highland plateau regions in Glorantha where agriculture is practiced. Marana in Fonrit lies relatively low. The pass regions in the great Pamaltelan range might be a place where potatoes might thrive. Unfortunately, they are regions where the Pamaltelan uz thrive, too. The best candidates for potato growers might be the Exigers of the Tarmo pass region.

Pelorian uplands might be a place for potatoes, but they are few, far, and savage. The Hungry Plateau doesn't have agriculture. Neither does Balazar.

The Spolites might be the best chance to have potato farmers anywhere in Genertela.

 

 

 

[Byll]

5 hours ago, mallion said:

There is no potato in Glorantha?

That's why trolls are so hungry.

[Steve]

Yes, there is potato in Glorantha. See Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, in the cult write-up of Yelmalio (p382):

Quote

Light sons never eat fish, potatoes, or raw eggs in any form.

There are several mentions of potato bread in the same book, and also in the HeroQuest: Glorantha core rules.

Don't forget that the Guide to Glorantha is a 30,000 feet view of Glorantha, as has been said by Jeff and others. Just because it's not mentioned in the Guide, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Steve

[David Scott]

My favourite potato references can be found in Archane Lore:

Quote

The Blue Moon also teaches everyone present how to plant and nourish potatoes and then demonstrates by molding each member of the party into a potato and planting them in the soil of Hell. They burst forth from the earth where they were destroyed by lightning. This technique can also be used by Blue Moon initiates as an escape route whenever at this location. 

and in a different heroquest:

Quote

At the end of the quest, he was able to trade each for a magic potato. Each of the potatoes was good for the equivalent of a raise dead spell for the members of any earth or moon cult. 

There's clearly a Lunar connection with potatoes as the Seven Mother feed potato bread to everyone. Trollpak also mentions the potato. They are also one of the ingredients in Walktapus cooking in the RQ Companion. Overall I suspect they grow in Peloria, but aren't as popular as some foods.

[Noita]

Hot chips after a night out in Glamour then. Curry sauce or gravy?

[Joerg]

59 minutes ago, Iskallor said:

Hot chips after a night out in Glamour then. Curry sauce or gravy?

Spolite Fries. With hot chili sauce. Same stuff that is used for those maize tortillas.

 

1 hour ago, Steve said:

Yes, there is potato in Glorantha. See Pavis: Gateway to Adventure, in the cult write-up of Yelmalio (p382):

There are several mentions of potato bread in the same book, and also in the HeroQuest: Glorantha core rules.

The Yelmalio reference makes the Spolite (worshippers of Darkness under the Light of Yelm) a good choice. Also the chief sponsor of the Teelo Norri cult is Countess Yolanela of Spol...

Still, are we dealing with the Andes variety (the nightshade plant, requiring lots of sun (check for Peloria) and no frost (not quite a check, but manageable by storing them under straw and soil, or by maintaining Lodrili Earthwarm for the duration of the winter)), or do we deal with sweet potatoes?

 

1 hour ago, Steve said:

Don't forget that the Guide to Glorantha is a 30,000 feet view of Glorantha, as has been said by Jeff and others. Just because it's not mentioned in the Guide, doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

True. At the same time, the absence from the write-up of Pelorian food pushes the potato to the fringes of Peloria.

Edited March 18, 2017 by Joerg

[Byll]

59 minutes ago, Iskallor said:

Hot chips after a night out in Glamour then. Curry sauce or gravy?

Dara Happan purists insist on gravy, but most people go for the curry sauce and be damned to the Carmanian cultural influences.

[Mark Mohrfield]

Maybe they are native to Pamaltela, to compensate for the lack of cereal crops.

[davecake]

Potatoes are Pelorian, yes. And probably introduced around the Blue Moon area, but could certainly be also popular in Spol. 

In Pamaltela the plants that substitute for cereals are mostly legumes. While bloodbeans, squaa etc have no direct terrestrial equivalent, we can assume they are mostly non-cereal grains like soybeans or quinoa. Sweet grass is a special case, again with no terrestrial equivalent (but not actually a grass). 

[jajagappa]

6 hours ago, davecake said:

Potatoes are Pelorian, yes. And probably introduced around the Blue Moon area, but could certainly be also popular in Spol. 

If potatoes are a Moon-Earth plant, then possible they existed in the Artmali Empire as well, but largely lost in Pamaltela when that empire fell.

[davecake]

Yes, it is entirely possible the Artmali also had potatoes. I've never heard anything about anyone in Pamaltela having them in the modern era. 

[Tindalos]

YGWV

During the great darkness, Potatoes were revealed by the Stargazers, who taught the dwellers in Yuthuppa how to grow and harvest the subterranean vegetable, and showed that it was sacred to their goddess, Thilla the Keeper of Earth. They are also known as her tears, because of how they hang off a harvested root.

In Yuthuppa and Esvuthil, a porridge or pottage made from the plant has been part of their diet since the dawn, even after other grains became popular. It is often eaten on holy days, in memory of the star time. It has also been used to make flatbreads.

During the Bright Empire, potatoes were traded to the south, becoming a curiosity. While they never became a major crop, many gardens will have a small patch of potatoes, even in Caladraland.

Many Pelorian and other solar potatoes are bred to be large, golden in colour, and as spherical as possible -- to mimic the sun in the sky. Since the rise of the lunars, breeding them in shades of red has become dominant, and while of secondary importance to maize, potato farms exist across the breadth of the Empire.

 

 

[mikkling]

Slight thread-jack here -- does an overview of Gloranthan foodstuffs exist? Or is this information scattered all over? 

[Joerg]

The Cultures section of the Guide has Food paragraphs, but only as a general overview over the main cultures. Agriculture, fishing and hunting also gets discussed under the Society paragraphs of the various regions, and may occur in the place descriptions. And that's only the Guide.

In my old index/encyclopedia I had Food as a category. The printed index to the Guide doesn't cover ordinary food, plants or minerals, so you have to do a full text search for each and any variation of it.

I mean to redo my index/encyclopedia project starting with the guide, but I don't seem to find the time to do so.

[KeithN]

In Alkoth they only eat Smashed Potato! 

Otherwise, it must be a Blue Moon vegetable. I'd make it rare and gift worthy "she gave me a potato!".  I like the idea of the Artmal Empire having them - perhaps Loper people carry a few around. 

 

[Noita]

Loper people make sauteed potatoes.

[Ali the Helering]

Somewhere there is a joke lurking concerning George W Small-Aldryami and his freedom fries, but I can't seem to figure it out....

[Martin]

Would I be right in thinking that many "original" (now heirlomm) potato types in our world were blue (purple tinted)  skinned and "blue" fleshed rich in flavonoids.

If so maybe these are the kinds in Glorantha...hence their association with the Blue Moon  ?

[Ali the Helering]

Indeed, and they are still popular in South America. More commercially available is a new-wish line, named - I think - the Adirondack blue.

The blue spheroid sprouting forth alkaloid-laden shoot, leaves and fruit in a doomed attempt to reach the sky could have true mythic resonance for the Blue Lunies!

[soltakss]

I can see some Mostali laughing about how the primitive Gloranthans still peel, slice and cook potatoes rather than using their prepackagaed instant variety.

[Yelm's Light]

On 3/25/2017 at 11:10 PM, Ali the Helering said:

Somewhere there is a joke lurking concerning George W Small-Aldryami and his freedom fries, but I can't seem to figure it out....

Actually, that was the brainchild of a few overzealous Republican Congressmen (is that a truism?), but Georgie-Porgie did sign on to it.

 

Yes, we have no potatoes...

Sorry, I couldn't resist.