Food and Drink

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Recognition: man's gotta eat

Accuracy: Accurate

Stability: subject to minor revision

Food and drink on Alver are mostly similar to what we would expect from our own timeline for the period. The main difference from our modern diet is the lack of meat, which has to do with the difficulty of large scale livestock rearing in the post-cataclysm world. Most people eat a plant heavy diet, of which a large percentage are Salver hybrid-supercrops grown in hydroponic farms in the Steel Cities, with seafood and game meat making up the majority of the world's meat intake.

Food production

Livestock

Since the Cataclysm much of the formerly productive grasslands of Alver were changed into deserts or outback plains, unsuitable for domestic farm animals. In addition, the prevalence of bandits has stifled attempts to establish livestock farms in the new wildlands. Even now, 100 years since the Cataclysm, wildlands ranches are only found near large towns.

Because of the rarity of ranches and livestock, red meat is expensive and rare on Alver. It is not impossible for a middle class family to afford a steak, but it would be akin to buying a 5 star meal at a fancy restaurant: only for very special occasions.

Of the livestock industries that are doing well, dairy is the most productive. Dairy cows don't require large open fields and can be managed in much smaller areas and fed on hay. The remaining cow breeds on Alver have been bred for maximum dairy output and butter, cheese, and milk are more common than meat by a long shot.

In addition to dairy, Vulcania has successfully developed a large swine industry, with the pigs being fed on the Vulcanian mushrooms and providing fresh pork which is salted and both exported and eaten domestically.

Game and fishing

Once the fallout of the Cataclysm began to settle, wild animals flourished across the wildlands: with record populations of deer, boar, and Moki quail multiplying across the shattered world. The oceans and rivers were initially choked with the runoff of ash and oil and much marine life died, only to bounce back spectacularly, as the runoff settled and the ocean bloomed with nutrients. Now, wild caught fish and game provide the majority of meat for wildlands inhabitants, and even for some towns and cities.

The game creatures of the wildlands include deer, bears, boars, and quails. Experienced wildland travellers have no problem tracking and hunting enough food when travelling anywhere besides the most hostile deserts and tundras of Alver, with large populations of animals widespread across the wilderness. Many small wildlands settlements manage to hunt more than enough meat, and some preserved game finds its way into the towns and cities of Alver.

The waterways and oceans of Alver team with fish, crustaceans, and invertebrates, and seafood makes up a large portion of the diets of most coastal dwellers. Frozen seafood is exported from the fishing capital of the planet, Beacon, (and to a lesser extent from Saxa) and is widely consumed all over.

Traditional farming

Traditional farming of old-world crops- such as wheat, rye, rice, potatoes, and citrus - still occurs in many wildlands towns . These farms require a lot of land, are only able to harvest once or twice a year, and are low production. However, they are easy enough to run, and are hardy - perfect for the low-tech towns of the wildlands.

Utopia is the only Steel City that relies entirely on traditional farming.

An unusual traditional style farming industry is Beacon's seaweed farming. In the floating Weedfields of Beacon a strand of seaweed is cultivated that is harvested, dried, and ground into a dark green flour used to bake seaweed bread.

Hydroponic supercrop farms

The majority of the food on Alver is grown in the Steel Cities inside special hydroponic facilities; hybrid Salver/Alver supercrops such as Crimson Corn were developed in Harvest and spread from there. These plants are delicate and required careful care, but grow extremely efficiently in small spaces and fruit all year-round. The perennial supercrops allowed the Steel Cities to be food independent, leading to their security: as well as their isolation.

In Harvest, the supercrops are grown inside the remains of patched up old pre-cataclysm skyscrapers, with farms on each level. In other cities this is copied (as in Modopolis, Beacon and New Lange), while in Saxa and Greenfield the farms are located in greenhouses on the top stories of otherwise commercial or industrial buildings. Vulcania operates only a few hydroponic farms in aboveground greenhouses, preferring to farm mushrooms underground and import needed grains and fibres.

Supercrop varieties

Foods

The cuisine of Alver is dictated by the availabilities of foods in addition to local cultures and varies from town to town. Different cities have their own specialities while other basic staples are widespread.

In a town or city a traveller will find simple foods such as pies or soups available at pubs or cafes. Residents will usually buy their food from a local market or grocer.

World foods

Throughout the cities and the wildlands Soda Bread is a cheap ubiquitous bread leavened with sodium bicarbonate instead of yeast, which is easy to prepare quickly at a campsite. To go with the bread, Yaste is a fermented yeast spread rich in vitamins - but with a very strong bitter taste. It is made in Harvest but is found all over Alver due to its popularity.

In the Steel Cities, Harvest is known for their garden pies and sandwiches. Perhaps more famously they also serve cheesy garlic toasts, iced teas and fresh fruit juices. The markets of Harvest are famed for their variety of fresh fruits and vegetables, and for the quality of those therein. Most tea is produced in Harvest as well.

In Modopolis, a visitor can expect to find a huge variety of fried fast foods: flavoured popcorn, boiled nuts, deep pizzas, loaded baked potatoes, and sweet carbonated soft drinks. Food is available from vendors on the streets, both freshly cooked and packaged. Coffee also famously comes from Modopolis, and coffee houses are popular with locals and visitors alike. Modopolis is also home to a thriving high society dining scene, with extravagant and expensive red meat steak restaurants at the forefront of Alver culinary expense.

Real food snobs however prefer Saxa, the true home of Alver's fine dining. Saxa's ancient restaurants serve the finest dishes, with preference for lobster and reindeer meat, and white wine and cheese sauces. In general Saxan dishes make heavy use of cheese and soups, stews and wild game meats. Saxan bread is dark and coarse, and their bakeries produce elaborate pastries. In addition, Saxan wines and cordials are among the finest on the planet.

Contrast this opulence with the austerity of Utopia; whose people prefer a simple diet of roasted vegetables, beans in molasses, rice, cornbread wraps, and tonic waters.

Continuing this trend towards austerity, but this time not by choice, New Lange's cuisine is also quite stunted. The city used to boast a famous style that is still replicated across Alver as "Langian", but New Lange itself has fallen on hard times and the city has little to offer anymore. The few remaining open restaurants still serve the original Langian style: hot pasta and curry dishes, making liberal use of Salver spices in butter sauces.

Greenfield's focus is on purely functional foods and puts taste as a firm second consideration. In fact, restaurants or cafes are rare in the city, with citizens preferring to carry their own food around or eat at home. When they do it, it is mostly locally made chemically fortified preserved foods; most infamously their dry "Sustina" biscuits, which are made mainly from imported Beacon seaweed flour. Modopolis fast food companies have started setting up shop in Greenfield recently as well, and are proving popular there.

Beacon, being a maritime city, has a justified reputation as the seafood capital of the world. The great trawler fleets of Beacon bring back the bounty of the sea, and the people of the city enjoy it fresh before exporting the frozen surplus to the rest of the world. Beacon's taverns and restaurants searve fresh fishes, seaweed breads, and butter-boiled crabs. Popular drinks include rum and hot lemon or peppermint tea imported from Harvest.

Finally, the foods of Vulcania are best described as "acquired tastes". The infamous Black Soup of Vulcania is well known and generally reviled by those outside of the city. The soup is made from vinegar, pig blood, broth, mushrooms, and salt, and is said by Vulcanians to make the drinker immune to fear. Outside of the soup, the main foods of the Vulcanians are pig meats and mushrooms - they grow a variety of unique mushrooms in their underground farms. Vulcanian dishes are in general heavy and salty and disliked by visitors.

Canned foods

Travellers and citizens alike enjoy canned foods for their shelf lives and convenience. The foods are canned in the Steel Cities, and exported all over the world. Once the food has been eaten, the cans are useful in their own rights, as water tins or cooking vessels.

Common canned foods include

Vulcanian mushrooms

Vulcania is host to a unique mushroom farming industry. The underground mushroom farms make good use of Vulcania's strength - being an underground city - and provide a lot of high protein food for both the citizens of the city and for the pig farms there as well. The most important of the mushroom varieties grown are Dimlight mushrooms; dense, ultra high protein cultivars grown exclusively in a few farms in Vulcania. They are highly valued and are often diced and mixed in to other dishes.

Drinks

Water is the main drink of choice for most people on Alver. It is often freely available in the Steel Cities and towns, but can be hard to come by in the wildland deserts.

Outside of water, some other soft drinks are available. Milk is common wherever there is a local dairy industry. Fruit juices are sometimes found in summer, especially in Harvest, while cordials are popular in colder places like Saxa. Soda drinks are a new invention, first created and still mainly produced in Modopolis. Tea is popular across society, with poor travellers and rich city-dwellers alike. Coffee is newer and less popular than tea, but is gaining a lot of traction in Modopolis and Greenfield.

Notable non-alcoholic drinks

Alcohol

Across both Alver and Salver, alcohol is common. Most of it is beer, mainly locally brewed ales. There are also a scattering of distilleries that still operate in the wildlands or in cities, and their products are highly valued.

The public perception towards alcohol across the planet is that it's a harmless relaxant and staple of civilisation; except in Vulcania and Utopia. In Vulcania, the government tried to ban alcohol but after a disastrous few months has instead settled for a strict tax on the alcoholic content of drinks. Beers in Vulcania are typically very weak compared to most, as companies try to avoid the tax. In Utopia, alcohol is strictly banned and all visitors are searched in case they are trying to smuggle it in.

Notable alcoholic drinks

See also