Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions

Diet

• What dishes are considered holiday food? What foods/drinks are associated with particular holidays, events, (e.g., funerals, weddings) or times of the year?
• When a guest arrives, is food or drink offered immediately, after an interval, or only on request? Is there a particular food or drink that it is customary to offer a newly arrived guest? A guest who is departing (stirrup cup)?
• How many meals are considered normal in a day? When are they served? Which are substantial, and which are smaller? Are certain foods (e.g., eggs and bacon) reserved mainly for a particular meal (breakfast)?
• What dishes would be considered typical of this area? What wines or beers?
• Is there a safe supply of drinking water, or do people (including children) drink ale or beer exclusively because "water is unhealthy" (i.e., contaminated and will make you sick)?
• What foods are considered peasant food? What foods are staples, commonly eaten every day? What foods are rare? What foods are normally cooked/eaten raw?
• What is the food like? What herbs and spices are readily available, and which must be imported? How common/expensive are imported foods and spices? What spices are commonly used? Do people tend to like highly spiced food, or not?
• How is food preserved for use during the off-season--smoking, canning, drying, etc.? How reliable are the methods used--how often does "preserved" food spoil?
• When food is in limited supply, who gets first crack? The laborers and farmers who have to work to produce more, or the children who are the next generation, or the wise and revered elders?
• What foods do non-humans like, and how do these differ from those favored by humans? Are some foods poisonous or distasteful to one species that are delicacies or necessary to another?

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