This is the perfect time to speak of high gastronomy. Gary Gygax is well known for his epicurian tastes; he wrote an amazing restaurant scene in his novel (found in Saga of Old City, chapter 15, pp. 147-149).
Gellor leads Gord in Holdroon, a suburb of Stoink, in the Bandit Kingdoms, and they enter the tavern owned by Tubb, The Horn and Haunch. The bill of fare follows, translated by your truly, if you want to add the french touch to your campaign.
MENU
Morsels of radishes with black skins, smoked rounds of eel, scallions and pickles
Bouchées de radis noirs, roulées d’anguille fumée, oignons et petits légumes marinés au vinaigre
Young giant crayfish soup with wine, cream and herbs
Soupe de jeunes écrevisses géantes au vin et à la crème épicée
Brace of squabs roasted, stuffed with green graps
Duo de pigeonneaux rôtis, farcis au raisin blanc
Mutton and legumes, seasoned with garlic and herbs
Mouton et ses légumes assaisonnés d’ail et fines herbes
Various sort of green, vinegar, fine oil and pepper
Assiette de verdure à la vinaigrette
Dozen cheeses and crock of butter
Plateau de fromage et pot de beurre
Goat cheese from Ket (Earth equivalent: fromage de chèvre)
Cheese with great holes and sharp vaguely nutty flavor from Perrenland (Earth equivalent: emmental)
Creamy smelly cheese made by Fruztii, named Djekul (Earth equivalent: St Marcelin)
Ivory colored cheese with greenish marbling trough its center named Wickler from the Yeomanry (Earth equivalent: Morbier)
Diminutive tarts, berry, nut, mincemeat
Ronde des desserts : tartelettes aux fruits rouges, noisettes, amandines
CARTE DES VINS
Dry white wine from Furiondy
Vin blanc sec de Furiondy
Emerald-colored elvish wine from Celene or Ulek
Vin elfique couleur émeraude de Celene ou Ulek
My questions are:
Are there other sources –canon or not– with culinary references?
Do you know other specialities from any country of Oerik?
Where in the Flanaess do the best wines (red, white, rosé... green?) come from?
As a side note, it is said that Pyremius is the God of Cooks, does anybody have details about this aspect of the God’s portfolio?
I had a question about halflings but... nevermind.
Food! Ah, great way to get the table to order a pizza or Chinese!
Food for Thought
To add some ambiance to some of my games, I've drawn up a few menu types for some particular taverns of ill repute, such as the Green Dragon and the Black Dragon, of the Free City Greyhawk to name a few... my best found resource was actual medieval and classical history "cook books" which you can pick up thru Amazon or similar book supporters and there are also a number web sites that "cater" to such.
You can "regionalize" the dishes to reflect certain areas of the Flaness by reflecting certain European/Western Asian countries of the classical to early to even late medieval eras. One book in particular which comes to mind is "Around the Roman Table" by Patrick Faas. Great for a sea bound country like Keoland or Hold of the Sea Princes, etc... Different staples of diet for different times of the year and based off of the geography can make a huge difference...availability, climate, etc...
Then you can shake it up, add some fantasy cuisine such as sweet pepper and owlbear stew with golden Furyondy potatoes.
With such a menu made I would place scribble notes on the back relating important information for the adventure... great prop with flare.
Or the ordering of particular dish “not” on the menu to make a contact for that special exchange of info.
Sometimes a meal could help or hinder the PC group (odd/new food might equal a mild to sevre stomach ache or actually promote healing or energy).
Lots of fun thru food.... orc specialties could be elven blood pudding with a sprinkle of roasted roaches.
The possibilities are limited only by your imagination!
Lets eat! and Enjoy!
AncientGamer aka BusterBudd
Last edited by BusterBudd on Fri Jan 02, 2009 8:25 am; edited 2 times in total
I remember there was a Dungeon adventure that dealt with an inn's special mustard made with memory moss... _________________ Greyhawk is dead; long live Greyahwk! It is not heresy; I will not recant!
I had more than a bit of fun adding a menu to my postfest entry. Its sadly what took the most time. I limited myself on ingredients, mostly rabbit, sheep and game hens. Some of the recipes actually sound good! There are quite few reproduceable recipes available online. Just do a google search for medieval recipes. Medieval Recipes was quite helpful, as was Gode Cookery.
not GH, but if anyone can find "The Inn of the Last Homme", a dragonlance suplement, it have lots of cool recipes, like cochee (elven dog, dont remember the name) cookies and the famosu Otiks spiced potatoes.
I don't have my notes on me, but, when I write up a tavern or inn, I always figure out the menu and drink list.
Other than the "Welcome Wench" in Hommlet, the "Slumbering Serpent" in Orlane had a good wine that (once the trouble is over) would probably get some distribution; I don't remember if any of the inns/taverns in Restenford or Garrotten had a wine list.
I think I remember one of the Gord books listing whiskey from one of the cold barbarian states, and rum from Duxchan (which would make sense); I think it's on my list...
The WOTC website has a random tavern generator that I use occasionally when I'm not feeling creative myself. It produces the name, bartender, NPCs, rumors, and a pricelist
The WOTC website has a random tavern generator that I use occasionally when I'm not feeling creative myself. It produces the name, bartender, NPCs, rumors, and a pricelist
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Canonfire! is a production of the Thursday Group in assocation with GREYtalk and Canonfire! Enterprises
great prop with flare.
