What to eat/drink?
- Thread starter Mark
- Start date
Rystil Arden
First Post
It depends strongly on the country, city, and quality of the establishment where food is purchased. Memorable offerings include the dragon steak that one group of PCs cooked up after a tough fight, the 500 English muffins that one guy carried around and made sure to give one to every single NPC they met, including enemies they didn't kill, and the delicious, expensive lobster bisque that two PCs ordered at the most expensive inn in a port city, paying for the meal and the lodging from the money of their unconscious comrades (and later transferring the unconscious to a ratty wharf shanty just before they woke up).Mark said:What do commoners eat/drink in your game world?
What do nobles eat/drink?
What do regular adventurers eat/drink?
What about while on the road?
(If you have regional menus, break it down as much as you can, please.)
Thanks!
Wombat
First Post
I tend to follow medieval/renaissance diets pretty closely.
So peasants get a lot of stews (excruciatingly light on the meat) and a fair amount of beer, though most of it is "small beer" (just alcoholic enough to make it safer than drinking water) as well as buttermilk.
The higher the class, the more meat in the diet, as well as more spices (as opposed to local herbs) and wines. Subtleties (foods made to look like other foods or items -- meat-eggs, edible "castles", etc.) are also in order, especially for fancy occaisions.
So peasants get a lot of stews (excruciatingly light on the meat) and a fair amount of beer, though most of it is "small beer" (just alcoholic enough to make it safer than drinking water) as well as buttermilk.
The higher the class, the more meat in the diet, as well as more spices (as opposed to local herbs) and wines. Subtleties (foods made to look like other foods or items -- meat-eggs, edible "castles", etc.) are also in order, especially for fancy occaisions.
realmprotector
Explorer
This site is a great referance for medieval and renaissance foods. Including recipes.
Medieval Foods
Medieval Foods
I usually have peasants eat food similar to what Wombat does.
Mainly stews with lots of meat or fish depending on if the peasants are ranchers or fishermen. They also almost always drink small beer or grain alcohol fermented from the the food they grow themselves. They also sometimes make thick black bread if they are farmers.
For nobles I usually have them eat more prepared meat dishes along with some exotic foods. Most of it comes from monsters killed somewhere and then served as a delicacy.
I even have a celebrity chef that owns a large restaurant in the city. That place is a must be seen place where all the nobles come to try strange food killed on the hinterland. It's called the Adventurers Inn. Even though real adventurers aren't welcome anywhere but at the delivery enterance.
The PCs basically eat trail rations and food prepared by Create Food and Drink when they are out in the wilderness. Which is the majority of the time.
Mainly stews with lots of meat or fish depending on if the peasants are ranchers or fishermen. They also almost always drink small beer or grain alcohol fermented from the the food they grow themselves. They also sometimes make thick black bread if they are farmers.
For nobles I usually have them eat more prepared meat dishes along with some exotic foods. Most of it comes from monsters killed somewhere and then served as a delicacy.
I even have a celebrity chef that owns a large restaurant in the city. That place is a must be seen place where all the nobles come to try strange food killed on the hinterland. It's called the Adventurers Inn. Even though real adventurers aren't welcome anywhere but at the delivery enterance.
The PCs basically eat trail rations and food prepared by Create Food and Drink when they are out in the wilderness. Which is the majority of the time.
BigFreekinGoblinoid
First Post
Commoners eat Gnomes but the well to do eat Halflings.
sorry - that's much more detail than I go into in my games. Commoners spend 1 cp for a meal, adventures spend a silver + a cp each for drinks - that is about all the detail I have needed ...
sorry - that's much more detail than I go into in my games. Commoners spend 1 cp for a meal, adventures spend a silver + a cp each for drinks - that is about all the detail I have needed ...
WayneLigon
Adventurer
In general:
Commoners will get meat maybe once a week if they are lucky; country people get it a bit more often, since they'll often be able to get a chicken and boil it. More often if they live near a stream or the sea. Then it's fish, fish, fish. And lobster (lobster is not a rare thing; lobster only became a 'delicacy' when the old money of the 20's, looking to enjoy 'the rustic life' hit upon the simple boiled lobster dinner of the fishermen. Before that, lobsters were just poor man's food, often discarded).
Potatoes, onions, leeks, various other veggies, with a soup bone to flavor up the stews. Stew, ladled over coarse bread. Apples. Cheese. Milk. Cream. Oats. Oatmeal. Oatbread. Cracked oats. Oat gumbo, um, no, but you get the picture. On feast days or special holidays: rabbit, maybe mutton. Sometimes the village will slaughter pigs or cattle for a wedding feast or the greater religious holidays. Beer, wine, applejack, cider. Herb tea. Water. Sausages are popular workingman's food in the towns and cities; your typical workman will bring some dough and a cold sausage, then leave it to be heated along with the dough at a local baker. Then if there is a food break, he gets a nice sausage and bun to hold it with.
Nobles eat meat at least twice a week, sometimes more. They have more elaborate meals, with better spices and more expensive ingredients, but a lot of the basic dishes are the same: soups, vegetable dishes, stews. The bread is finer-ground. Better wines. Better, stronger herbal teas.
Adventurers usually eat meat more often than anyone since they can afford it and since they're often away from civilization and anyone who can say 'You can't kill that deer'. They live off the land a lot more, especially if there is a druid in the party. Herb teas. They often have a lot of preserved food; sometimes magically preserved, sometimes not. Travelling in civilized terrain, they'll often be able to get hot meat pies or wrapped cheese/meat rolls from the inns. They also eat out a lot more.
Commoners will get meat maybe once a week if they are lucky; country people get it a bit more often, since they'll often be able to get a chicken and boil it. More often if they live near a stream or the sea. Then it's fish, fish, fish. And lobster (lobster is not a rare thing; lobster only became a 'delicacy' when the old money of the 20's, looking to enjoy 'the rustic life' hit upon the simple boiled lobster dinner of the fishermen. Before that, lobsters were just poor man's food, often discarded).
Potatoes, onions, leeks, various other veggies, with a soup bone to flavor up the stews. Stew, ladled over coarse bread. Apples. Cheese. Milk. Cream. Oats. Oatmeal. Oatbread. Cracked oats. Oat gumbo, um, no, but you get the picture. On feast days or special holidays: rabbit, maybe mutton. Sometimes the village will slaughter pigs or cattle for a wedding feast or the greater religious holidays. Beer, wine, applejack, cider. Herb tea. Water. Sausages are popular workingman's food in the towns and cities; your typical workman will bring some dough and a cold sausage, then leave it to be heated along with the dough at a local baker. Then if there is a food break, he gets a nice sausage and bun to hold it with.
Nobles eat meat at least twice a week, sometimes more. They have more elaborate meals, with better spices and more expensive ingredients, but a lot of the basic dishes are the same: soups, vegetable dishes, stews. The bread is finer-ground. Better wines. Better, stronger herbal teas.
Adventurers usually eat meat more often than anyone since they can afford it and since they're often away from civilization and anyone who can say 'You can't kill that deer'. They live off the land a lot more, especially if there is a druid in the party. Herb teas. They often have a lot of preserved food; sometimes magically preserved, sometimes not. Travelling in civilized terrain, they'll often be able to get hot meat pies or wrapped cheese/meat rolls from the inns. They also eat out a lot more.
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