Patrica C. Wrede's Worldbuilder Questions

Eating customs

• Do men and women, parents and children, servants and master, eat separately, or does everyone eat together? How is status displayed at the table (seating above or below the salt, near or far from the head, serving first with the best, etc.)?
• What dishes are considered holiday food? What foods/drinks are associated with particular holidays, special events (e.g., weddings, funerals), or times of the year?
• What distinguishes a formal, high-court dinner from an ordinary meal, besides quantity and variety of food? How do formal, high-court manners differ from everyday ones?
• What eating utensils are used, if any? Forks, eating knife, spoons, chopsticks, what?
• What is the order of a typical upper-class meal--do they start with wine, then a sweet, then stew, then salad, or is everything brought in at once?
• What shape are tables/eating areas (round, oblong, square, rectangular, etc.)? Where is the "place of honor" for a guest? Where do important members of the household sit/recline/whatever?
• Are special arrangements necessary for entertaining guests of different races/species--taller chairs for dwarves, raw meat for werewolves, perches for harpies, etc.? How do the eating customs of different races reflect their cultures and biology?
• What things are never eaten (i.e., what's not kosher)? Why? Are some common human foods poisonous to dwarves or elves (or vice versa)?

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