Atrian Cuisine



Atrian cuisine puts great emphasis on simple, almost austere foods created with a strong eye towards preparation methods and quality of ingredients. The central elements of Atrian cuisine is the use of grapes, olives and wheat. From this triad, one gets wine, oil and bread (amoung other things).

Knives are used to portion meat and spoons, when provided, are used for soups and broths while bread is used to spoon food and as well as napkins to wipe the fingers on.

In addition to the basic cereals (wheat and barley), broad beans, cabbage, chickpeas, lentils, onions and sweet peas are common vegetables which fill out the menu. Most commonly, one sees these in etnos, a soup seasoned with oil, vinegar, herbs and gáron (a fish sauce). Olives, figs, raisins and nuts of differing varieties are commonly served as appetizers.

Of interest, cheese, garlic and onions are commonly associated with soldiers and long sailing voyages, due to their excellent preservation capabilities. The long voyages and hardships of being on campaign are often associated with these humble ingredients, normally without nostalgia.

The consumption of meat is not as important in the cuisine of the League as it is in some other cultures. The overall warmth and lack of easy preservation methods (other than the salting), preclude long-term storage methods of butchered meat. Fish, both of the finned and shell varieties, is common amoung those who live in proximity to the ocean. For land creatures, the domestication of chickens, coneys (rabbits) and ducks combined with the hunting of wild birds and forest creatures form the basis of the flesh eaten in the League. Less commonly, one sees goats, wild boar and even mutton or lamb.

The most common potables are wine, mead, beer and water with wine being the most common drink by far. Of interest, wine is normally ‘smoothed’ by the addition of water, as drinking it straight is uncivilized. A beverage that is commonly drunk at symposiums is called hyppokrys and is made from smoothed wine to which honey and spices are added. Beer is considered a libation for the common man, while mead is more commonly consumed by women.