DWARVEN
FOOD,
MANNERS
AND TABLEWARE |
Diet. The
dwarven diet is much more varied than you might
think, for a race that lives under the earth.
Dwarves funnel and filter light (and
air, naturally) down into their dwelling
caverns via long diamonte-lined shafts, the same design that the
timeclock
uses. Similar structures are used, closer to the surface, to light the large
fields of vegetation.
Green-Leaf, the Brownies' "ARroo-AoEI",
actually grows well this way, as do most tuberroots (potatoes,
carroots, turnips and blood-fists).
Another popular starch is the mezpuu,
"Goldsponge", a large vine
fruit with deep yellow, airy flesh. When
cooked, it becomes a soft, nutty-flavoured pulp, and is a great favorite of all
age groups. Mushrooms of all sorts are very popular with the
dwarven and are eaten raw,
roasted, fried, stuffed, and are added
to any savory concoction where possible, as is the common white
"Rootweep",
or onion.
Tart and refreshing in the winter months when fresh items are running low,
"Ak-ak Blilurt"
(“provokes-the-tongue”) is a pickle medley of whatever vegetables were to hand
at harvest time. Cucumber Ak-ak is light and tangy, cabbage Ak-ak somewhat
fibrous and filling; to the human palate,
lýth'bél Ak-ak
is probably the most accessible. It has a fresh, slightly sweet flavour overlaid
with the vinous vinegar in which it is preserved, and the glossy red
lýth'bél
contrasts beautifully with the pearly chunks of
rootweep and the soft texture of pickled
pear.
Assorted mosses and edible lichens, which require lots of damp and low light
conditions, are grown on specially-constructed arches over the farmfields.
Dwarf 'bread', Borwul, is created by drying the Tol
Kurr moss, powdering it, and then mixing into a dough with stale beer (which
helps raise it) and baking in any of the small ovens which are always built into
their forges. It more closely resembles a human scone
or elven journeycake in its tough consistency, high
fiber content, and long durability.
‘Cakes’, ‘pies’ and ‘pastries’ are also made from this mossflour, or from a
similar, tougher lichen, but a more closely human
equivalent is achieved with imported
golden rain and has
proved popular over the last couple of generations. As a result, young
dwarves now have a taste for wheat products and trade
has prospered to the extent that dwarven
ale is much more commonly available throughout
Sarvonia than it used to be!
Their diet includes mithanjor,
blind-fish and slow-eels from the great underwater cave pools, and freshwater
molluscs, shrimp, lizard, and
bat. (The latter is considered a delicacy
rather than a staple…) Certain larvae are dried or roasted, and even one type of
nightcrawling worm has been included in the stew before now.
Dwarven hunters are not adverse to doing night hunts
aboveground, either, to bring back the various mountain/forest animals. Deer,
lynx, mountain goat, and small game such as
kuatu and minch are all Puvjor,
"pot-meat", and usually shared out upon the hunt's return. In certain areas
horse is considered a great treat by the
local clans. All organs and ‘numbles’ are used as well where feasible; tongue,
liver, heart, and even the lungs or intestines of the animal can be prepared by
the clever cooks of the Thergerim.
Milch and cheese are not a natural part of their diet, as they keep no large
domestic animals. As a result, most dwarves dislike
the smell of any dairy product, describing it as 'sour' and 'decayed'. Where we
might use cream to create a sauce or thicken gravies, the
dwarves either use a frothy neutral mushroom
concoction or reduce meat stocks down to intense proportions. However, the
taenish egg was
introduced fairly early in their trading relations, and
dwarven aunties have come to depend on eyren, or
'birdfruit', as they call them, for many of their dishes.
Drinks.
Dwarves drink the
water of their particular clan's cavern,
small-beer, ale, and sharp ciders. The clan
water is usually high in dissolved minerals and
calciums from the rock, which may contribute to Thergerim
bone density and their enlarged teeth. Dwarves
claim that they can tell a member of their clan in
pitch-blackness by the scent of the water
on their breath (always assuming that is the only
liquid they have had recently), and it is certainly true that each cavern spring
has its own particular flavour – some sulphurous, some tart, some chalky.
Of course the Thergerim are best-known for their
alcoholic potations, and here they are certainly masters of the hop! Various
beers and ales are brewed by the masters and stored in great stone cisterns, or
wooden kegs for export. Wine is
generally imported on a small scale for a bit of variety, and is always in
demand for cooking, whether directly into the pot, or reduced to create a sauce,
or left to sharpen into vinegar. Many a dwarf makes
her own ciders and vinegars from the local fruits and vegetables brought in by
the farmers and hunters, as well.
Condiments and Spices.
Dwarves eat quite spicy food compared to
humans, although not as hot as
orcish tastes would require. They use most of the major spices found on
Caelereth with a generous hand, and two or
three main sauces on the side. Trumpuk, or rocksalt, is always placed on the
table as a large crystal chunk with a miniature flint scraper next to it. The
Thergerim shaves as much or as little seasoning over
his food as he prefers. Children love Ummadon, a kind of sweet-sour chutney
(mushrooms, walnuts, pears, wine vinegar, and honey are some of the identifiable
ingredients) usually served with meat. The orcish Kraggi
vine, in the hands of the dwarfwives, loses its rough-edged burn and becomes a
rust-coloured paste that adds a warm glow to stews, soups, and gravies. And
Moorgul, "Batgall", which is
actually a blackish-green distillate of oya
peas and
breddengrain, has had a place of favour on the
dwarven table for several
centuries now.
Meals.
Most dwarven clans cook in a communal fashion
but eat in their own quarters for fastbreaking and dinner/supper.
Breakfast is a solid affair which sets a foundation for the day’s work (actually
night, by the reversed schedule of the Thergerim,
though it would not seem to matter in the protective masses of their rock caves…
however, for simplicity we shall use the conventional form). Cold meats from the
dinner the ‘evening’ before are sliced thinly and laid out, eyren are fried and
scrambled and poached in elaborate soupstocks, and the
dwarven bread comes into its own as large, steaming loaves redolent with
earthy aromas and grainy texture. The
cooks rise much earlier to have everything ready and laid out on the long stone
tables that run next the Great Hearth by the time that the first wakers come
blear-eyed out of their cave portals, plates and trenchers in hand.
The diner scoops up her choices onto her own platter, pours a cup of steaming
kave or hot kao‘shroom (a drink made of a creamy
fungal concoction with kao-kao whipped
through it), and returns with the rest of her family to their own quarters. She
may have a babe at breast or a toddler on her hip; her mate will make sure that
she gets refills if necessary. Married males with older offspring will take the
extra time to make sure their two children’s plates are amply supplied before
going back, and youngsters old enough to carry their own breakfast without
spilling will serve themselves.
After breaking fast, the families reunite in the main cavern for a short
blessing on the workday from the Denirim. They place their soiled tableware in
the soaking troughs behind the Great Hearth, where an underground freshet has
been diverted to flow through and carry away detritus. In some deeper caverns
the dwarves have successfully brought a natural hotspring up to the troughs,
while in less fortunate regions the water is taken through clay or metal pipes
set into the back of the Great Hearth to warm it first. A bit of scrubbing from
the adolescents on duty, and the platters are then set up to dry on warm racks
also set into the back of the hearth. On feast days the cooks and regular
dishwashers are excused from any dishwashing duties whatsoever; rather, the
feasters, whether male or female, are expected to be responsible. Many a
dwarf
has learned to moderate his intake of ale on a feast day, remembering that he
will be scrubbing burnt pots with a serious headache otherwise the next morning!
Lunch is a simpler meal, often soup or stew with a side pastry, bread, or
koeken
‘pancake’ and some raw vegetables. It is usually provided at the Great Hearth
for most of the women and children of the cavern, and the men who are not down
labouring at the face or forges, such as the Denirim, the batspeakers, some of
the clan elders, and so on. The hungry dwarves duck behind the Great Hearth
first to pick up their own platters and bowls, then sit at the long tables to
eat together.
For those who are at work away from the main cavern, the foodcrafters prepare
stacks of portable lunch victuals that can be taken along and reheated easily.
The sturdy dwarven pastries warm up by the forge, while eyren can be boiled in
the deeper hotsprings. Various pickled and fresh vegetables can simply be
wrapped in a damp linen cloth and crunched alongside the heartier food. Of
course a tun of ‘Laagr’ or Koten Thuttle (a light beer drunk like
water to
relieve thirst) always stands handy for workers!
Dinner is prepared and served in the same way as breakfast except that the bill
of fare is far more generous. In the more prosperous clans there is usually a
main roast, plus fish and one bird dish such as stuffed
garthook. There are
always mushrooms of various sorts and styles, and plenty of choice for
vegetables. Condiments are kept on a hollowed-out ledge over the dining table in
each family’s quarters, but if a certain dish requires a particular sauce,
little brass bowls or cuplets are set in a tall stack next to the saucepot so
that dinners may carry as much or as little as they want back with them. And at
least once a week supper is a completely communal affair, where the
dwarves
remain at the tables to mix, laugh, quaff, socialize, and do justice to the
foodcrafters’ efforts on that evening!
Manners.
It is considered courteous to lick one’s fingers, to belch softly, to
pour drinks for others, to keep the beard clean, and to not waste ale by
spilling it. It is considered rude to blow one’s nose at the table, carve salt
in public, and fill one’s own glass. Dwarves are puzzled at the
human habit of
using one hand, and also of ‘wasting flavour’ by using napkins or laver bowls to
cleanse the fingers of the same food one has just been devouring.
People seat themselves where they will at the long communal table, and children
in particular are encouraged to sit with friends or with adults not of their
family at dinner times. The Thergerim assert that this develops independence and
interdependence at the same time, allowing everyone to be involved in the
raising of the young dwarf and for clan spirit to be reaffirmed. The babetenders
turn their charges over to their parents, for everyone goes ‘off duty’ at the
same time, and status is cheerfully ignored in the scuffle for favourite dishes.
Tableware.
Platters and divided bowls are the most common shapes of tableware, and
most practical for the dwarven habit of transporting their food. In the same
way, drinks are carried in tall, double-handled mugs, or for the more
traditional caverns, in cattle horns wrapped with brass ‘legs’ to enable them to
stand upright after being dipped into the general cauldron.
Dwarves all carry a beltknife and eating knife, the former a sharp multi-purpose
cutting blade, the latter a short-pointed, dull-edged utensil that can ‘butter’
bread, divide the soft layers of fish, spear pickles, scrape away at the salt
block, and convey chunks of food to the mouth in relative safety.
There are also large spoons, ladles by the human standard, used for consuming
soups and puddings, and ‘stabsticks’ which are only set on the table for
odd-textured things like jellied eel, roast larvae, or pickled eggs. A stabstick
is merely a slim stylus of wood with three short metal barbed prongs set into
the end, very much resembling a miniature fishing trident; it is an efficient
way of getting slippery morsels into the mouth, though more care must be
exercised than with the eating knife.
We may sum up by saying that the Thergerim are justifiably proud of their
foodcrafters’ ability to transform their limited raw materials into a feast’s
worth of cuisine; certainly many of their dishes transfer well to the
human
palate. And for a race that works under the handicap of cooking without milch or
milch products, they have been able to create parallel textures and almost
alchemically identical permutations. Overall, any human fortunate enough to
receive the rare invitation to a dwarven banquet should have no hesitation in
accepting - and skipping his breakfast and lunch that day to ensure appetite!
Information provided by
Bard Judith
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