Tavern Fare

[MoxieFu]

Mark that reminds me of growing up in East Texas. Lots of turnips and greens, sweet potatoes, green onions, and venison prepared in a variety of ways, squirrel too. The ham we ate was domestic as there weren't too many wild hogs and javalinas in the area the way it is now.

 

[Mark CMG]

Mark that reminds me of growing up in East Texas. Lots of turnips and greens, sweet potatoes, green onions, and venison prepared in a variety of ways, squirrel too. The ham we ate was domestic as there weren't too many wild hogs and javalinas in the area the way it is now.

Cool. I wonder if it might be a good setting plan to have javelinas/peccaries closer to civilized communities and wild boars a bit further off. And you're right, can't forget about squirrels as a food source right along with rabbits!

 

[steeldragons]

If you're looking for "medieval era tavern fare" you need look no further than the modern menus of Andorra.

Pork (particularly smoked products) and chicken exist...but wild boar and "venison" (the deer here are called "izards", they are quite smaller than American deer, but just as tasty), rabbit is a common element, plus mushrooms (many many varieties...several of which are sickly to deadly poisonous, the others are delicious. You NEED to know what you're doing to go "picking mushrooms."), potatoes, onion and garlic. Goat and/or mutton are available though not so common (or cheap). Pork and lamb are still cheaper than beef, though. Cows are bred more for milk and, thus, making cheese, than "beef".

With the spanish influence, there are 2 kinds of "traditional" paella (a delicious mix of rice, meats, vegetables and spices). There is the Spanish paella which most know: rice, clams, shrimp, hunks of fish (I believe any variety of white fish will do), peppers, onions, and various spices (usually including saffron).

Then there's "paella de montange" (paella of the mountain), from the Catalunya region (which Andorra highly identifies with). Which, naturally, (for those areas of Catalunya away from the coast) does not include seafood, but chicken and rabbit instead and usually mushrooms amongst other vegetables. The rest is basically the same, but the meat, for obvious reasons, is different.

So, as a DM to a DM, take note of WHERE (in your campaign world)this tavern is...it will have great baring on what their fare, liquid and solid, will be.

[EDIT] CRAP! I forget sausages! They make sausages OUT OF ANYTHING! Sometimes with herbs or spices in them, sometimes bland as the day is long. But just about any kind of meat and/or veggie combo, there's a sausage that goes with that. [/EDIT]

Have fun and happy pubbing.
--SD

 

[TheAuldGrump]

That's perhaps not the major distinction for a medieval tavern. More important is whether you're talking beer, or "small beer".

"Small beer" is low-alcohol beer, sometimes served unfiltered (and thus kind of porridgey). The point here was that the water supplies were none-too-good, but you don't want to drink full beer all day, as you'd be drunk all day. Small beer is brewed long enough for the alcohol to kill off microbes, but not enough that you're stumbling around soused all the time.

And thus the name Drinkwater. Because insisting on drinking water just stood out that much. In the London cholera epidemic the folks working at a brewery in the area around the tainted well were unaffected, because if you were working at a brewery then why drink water?

St. Guinness!

St. Guinness the Stout of Brewer's Gate? I think that I've heard of him!

And his archnemesis Sir Scrumpy Jackpalsy!

I'd like to mention cider as a drink that would probably be available in taverns, particularly in temperate countries where apples are abundant. Cider was traditionally drunk pretty much throughought Western and Southwestern Europe, and since it's fermented for anywhere between 3 months and 3 years, it would be available all year.

The high acid content made it turn vinegary rather than go green. And a scrumpy or rough cider used forced fermentation - traditionally a leg of mutton was sealed into the keg with the cider, when the keg was opened, there'd be naught left but bone.

The Auld Grump

*EDIT* Mutton, or... other meat....

Dead Dog Cider

In eighteen hundred and forty-nine, in a little cider mill,
A poor old dog lay down to rest, for he was feeling ill;
He chose a most precarious perch, above the apple press,
And in his sleep he tumbled in and perished in distress.

This caused his master for to grieve, likewise his mistress too,
And so their sorrows to relieve, they sampled of the brew;
"Gadzooks," cried Farmer Afwater, "the likes I ne'er did sup;
Let's summon all the neighbors in, and bid them take a cup."

Now, here's to Dead Dog Cider, the best there is by far;
Here's to Dead Dog Cider, no moaning at the bar;
You can search this wide world over, find many a beer or ale;
But, when you've tried Dead Dog Cider – your search will be curtailed!

Now everyone that drank that night got drunk as drunk could be,
And wondered how the scrumpy had acquired such potency;
The farmer kept his council, as he took another drop,
When all at once that poor old dog came floating to the top.

A silence fell around the room, and everyone did frown,
For they recognized old Bendigo, though he was upside down;
The parson lost his color and collapsed upon the floor,
And the squire split his britches in the rush to reach the door.

Now, here's to Dead Dog Cider, the best there is by far;
Here's to Dead Dog Cider, no moaning at the bar;
You can search this wide world over, find many a beer or ale;
But, when you've tried Dead Dog Cider – your search will be curtailed!

"Oh, halt!" cried Farmer Afwater, "For in his life I vow,
He never bit man nor beast, nor will he bite ye now;
And this shall be his epitaph, 'Here lies old faithful Ben
Who perished in the cider vat, only to rise again.'"

So if you're down in Devon, and you stops off at a bar,
Just call for Dead Dog Cider, it's the best there is by far;
Refuse all imitations; you'll sleep just like a log,
You can always recognize it by – the hair of the dog.

Now, here's to Dead Dog Cider, the best there is by far;
Here's to Dead Dog Cider, no moaning at the bar;
You can search this wide world over, find many a beer or ale;
But, when you've tried Dead Dog Cider – your search will be curtailed!
Yes, when you've tried Dead Dog Cider – your search will be cur-tailed!

Written by Trevor Crozier © 1977
After the singing of Norman & Betty MacDonald,
Bristol-Birmingham, England, as learned from Anne Dodson

 

[steeldragons]

Apologies...you were looking for liquid fare.

"Small beer" (as Umbran pointed out) and cider year round definitely.

But in a country where hops and barley are plentiful...let's not forget the other farmers growing Rye (care for a whisky?) and the natural abundance of juniper bushes/berries (gin and tonic, anyone? No, of course they didn't have 'tonic", per se...you could certainly include it in your fantasy world, but someone was making gin, most certainly.)

Not to mention wines, whether they were local or from a neighboring region...from grapes, rice, cherries? (Great now I'm gonna have this stuck in my head all night...

http://youtu.be/HWZisnZ-RGE

--SD