First off I am really sorry if this isn't in the right forum area. I wasn't very sure exactly where to post it.

I'm interested in what types of food you have in your fantasy worlds.

Have you made up new recipes/food ideas just for your world, and new names for the type of food they eat?

I think I'd like to have, in my fantasy world, bread that isn't like the bread we know, made out of completely different ingredients but something you can have as an extra. I'd also like to make it so that some of the flowers are edible but not sure where I'm going with that yet.

I don't have recipes yet, but I've made up some new things that are edible. There's a fruit that's kind of like a pomegranate but more one big seed pouch than many. There's also the random animals that are eaten.

Oh! I guess I did sort of create one. The Nohokai make noodles out of dried and ground algae...

So far beef and potatoes, with gravy, and bread are the only things the people in my world eat. It's on the menu at every inn and tavern, they all eat it, they all love it...it's the only thing on the menu.

Seriously though, I haven't gone into great detail about what they eat, but the beef and potatoes is all I've mentioned in writing, lol.

So far, most of my ideas for food have just been establishing what foods from our world are in the fantasy world. The only exception is meat, since there are some different animals to eat. I'll probably explore other types of food later.

This is a good detail of a fantasy world to think about, and one that can add uniqueness to a fantasy world.

I use Uzbek and Brazilian foods, but I'm running low so I gotta move someplace else.

Some very interesting ideas here!

I was thinking about using flowers as herbs that maybe make a different taste, but maybe that's just too fantastical!



That is true Jon, it can make it very unique in its own way.

I like the different fruits people have thought of! I mean in a fantasy world would they eat the same food as in our world? That's what I'm trying to puzzle out!



Love this, and true food does define a culture in some ways!

Sorry it's taken me a while to get to replies Have had lots of company today.

Lots of flowers are herbs, as a side note.

Brian Jacques goes way overboard with his descriptions of food. But there are things to learn from his technique (though hopefully you can use it more sparingly....)

It's never wise to read Redwall on an empty stomach. Between the fruit and preserves and cheeses and breads and cakes and puddings and scones and teas and...

Just about every book in the series has one or more meticulously described feast that could perhaps be useful for research purposes. Plus they're just fun to read.

That's true, thanks Airianna. I guess I'll have to look into it more before I decide anything.

I've never read Redwall but I don't want to put too much food in the books, but would like to add a little detail.

On a side note, (since they seem popular) there is a food that is often used in fantasy that is given to the traveler, quester, whoever just before he leaves. Stew. Please don't do that. It takes such a long time to prepare a good and actually substantial stew, and cold stew is disgusting. In most fantasy worlds, there isn't any kind of thermal case, so that means cold stew. Stew is not a good travelers food. I'd rather see you give the guy lembas.

Ok. I'm done rambling. Back on topic.

I like to have the same or similar foods in my stories that we eat in real life. However, I do have different cultures that consider some foods clean or unclean. For example, some peoples will not eat pork while their neighbors, on the other hand, love it. I also have one race that can't drink any alcoholic beverages, and they won't eat birds.
For traveling, it is usually jerky, cheese, and dried fruits on the menu.
Most of the time, though, I don't go into too much detail about foods unless it specifically adds to the story, but that's just me.

Uhoh I think she's already had stew,(Marita) only the guy knew before hand that she was coming.

Yea. Maybe that would be the best to go with. I just thought with it being a fantasy world, maybe I should make them eat things that aren't the same as our world. It's interesting hearing what everyone has as food in their world though.

Although I guess they could eat the same as us and have slight differences. *Muses*

Rice cakes... I think rice cakes would make a great fantasy travelers food. I don't like rice cakes however so would never wish them upon one of my characters. Except maybe Andorin... he should be doomed to eat rice cakes forever!

This is a great idea! I like them with honey on.

Would rice cakes be filling enough, though? There's no protein.

And, so as to stay on topic: I don't usually think about the food in my worlds. It probably leads to very boring diets of meat and bread.

I have a few, though not a lot, of different foods in my story. I like there to be similarities in my world, but a little difference adds interest.

I have all the same kinds of meat.

I guess you could also eat fantasy meats hehe! Like dragon and unicorn, eew not that I would.

I usually also take food from 'real life' - usually there's more or less spices or herbs (or different ones) depending on where they live and what they have access to.
So, basically, everything from standard "meat, potatoes, rice with a vegetable" to very spicy and Cape Malay, which, I guess, is somewhere in-between. And I will still write a scene where the characters are eating Melkkos - just because I like it so much...
Meat for travelling - biltong/jerky. Preferably with lots of coriander - just the way I like it

Hmm.. now I'm hungry for some Bobotie...

Marsh

Without peanutbutter!!!

They're magically delicious!

Thank you Lady E for posting this! It gave me ideas on how to develop my world more! I'll get back to you with the foods! I'm going to go work on my plants and food!

So far I have written only one scene involving food; the one where my MC girl's family eats supper at home together. They each take a bowl of stew (I have not determined the ingredients of said stew yet), and then a hunk of bread. They dip their bread in the stew while it cools, then they take spoons and eat what is left in the bowl.

I really enjoy this type of world building. Unfortunately with me, the foods must actually work in our world as well as in my world. So I don't get a lot of creating foods done, except for just mentioning when creating plants that they can be used for food or clothing or whatever. In my current novella, some random foods might be mentioned, but not in detail; food isn't the highest priority when trying to stop a war. But I'll have to think about this...

There's protein in rice, it's just incomplete (missing some essential amino acids). If you also eat some sort of legume, usually beans, you can get complete protein. Even though the beans are also missing some essential amino acids, they're not the same ones as in rice--so, the net result is complete protein; all EAA's covered. I suppose the nice thing about rice & beans as travel food is that they can both be dried out and therefore give you lots of value for the weight you carry. Of course, that could make them more inconvenient to prepare. I don't know about most beans, but when we cook chickpeas we need to let them soak for several hours first.

@cephron: That type of bean can be boiled, and is actually practical for travel, since when you set up camp, generally you build a fire. I do not know how long it takes to be softened by boiling, but since it has been used as food during travel, I'd assume not more than an hour. So not the most practical food, but it does have a fair portion of protein in it.

Ah, thanks for the info. Do you happen to know what kind of bean that is?

As for making a fire at every camp...perhaps generally, but I can think of times when it's not so convenient!

It's called the pinto bean.

I haven't read LOTR.

I haven't given a lot of thought to this yet, but I hope to make up some recipes that are possible in this world (some sort of pemmican, trailmix, soups and stuff) because I think it'd be cool to 'experience' some of the same foods my characters do (then I could share those recipes if they are swallowable). But I also plan on having some exclusively Vadran fruits, vegetables, herbs/spices, etc. A certain race in my world lives mostly in the woods, so I would want plenty of things for them to gather.

I've thought of creating edible recipes also, RunningWolf. I think it would be quite fun and a good experiment. The trouble is when your world has a lot of fantasy food, as you mentioned. Although, you might be able to write the recipe with real-world "substitutes."

Yeah, I've thought about that too, maybe I could say something like "the nearest thing to it we can make here is: ...."
It's amazing how much attention your fantasy world needs...this thread makes me think of it because it seems like one of the more 'obscure' sections of worldbuilding, a lot of fantasy worlds don't really mention much made-up food. Hmm...

Yes, if you want to go all-out in developing a world down to the tiniest detail, there is a lot to cover. However, not everything in your world needs to be "different" or "fantastical." It is acceptable for your world to have a lot of the same foods, especially if it shares a lot of other geographical characteristics with Earth. Additionally, for some books, food doesn't play that big of a role, so there's no need to get creative with food. Even so, it can be a great area to explore for adding some flavor and variety to your world/story.

*agrees with Aubrey*

*Agrees with Aubrey also*

*Agrees with Aubrey, as well*

*fond eye roll* Okay, enough dittoing now, y'all. But thank you.

*needs to develop the food in Erde* I am trying to decide if they will have basic grains like wheat and corn, or if I should invent something different. If so, how different? They have cotton, so I may leave the basic grains alone.

Hmm, I don't really know that much...I'm going to go both ways probably. But if you want to do one or the other, maybe you should invent something that is good in 'kernel form' (similar to beans or something) that can also be ground into flour and baked into bread, it could be a sort of peasant's food or something-cheap and versatile.

*nods* I agree. For practicality I am sure I'd want something that can be used as flour. (I don't want to get that otherworldly with food that we don't have flour!) I am just not sure whether it is wheat/corn, something similar but under a different name, or something else entirely...

Hmm...I'm anticipating having to think about this myself in the future...have fun and update us when you think of something!

I shall! Although, I might forget to update this thread... but it'll end up in my subforum for sure.

Good!

I haven't been in this thread for a while. In the second book in my trilogy, towards the end, I decided to focus on the extravagance of the King's table, which allowed me to have a lot of fun. My character had never seen many of the foods present.

While I don't explore food normally, I found this was a perfect time to look at an aspect little explored up to that point.

I drew a lot from Mediterranean and Japanese culture, making the food colorful and ostentatiously displayed.

Cool, that sounds interesting! It's curious how much describing something like food can really show you things about the setting, such as what could grow there and how rich the king must be to have such a good kitchen staff...and even how it is arranged tells you something about the nature of the gathering and those present.
*tries to wrap head around how every single aspect of world-building vastly effects so many different things*
Cool, good job!