www.kongurrikkidroidenska.drd/cuisine

From Droidenpedia, the Droidenian Encyclopaedia


A Norwegian salmon bar at Kongur Edgar III's 30th birthday party

A Livonian Family's dinner preparations

Karelian Pasties are consumed as mid-day snacks across Droiden

Hanseatic Beer served at a bar in Rostock

Borscht is Novgorod's favorite dish

Because of Droiden's multicultural background, there is no de facto national dish, but rather, a national dish from the different cultural groups from across the empire. Most Droidenians are avid consumers of beer, wine, and coffee, as well as cigarettes. Foods that are rich in carbs, such as breads, pastries, and potatoes, as well as those rich in proteins, such as fish and pork, comprise most of the Droidenian diet. There are few vegans and vegetarians in the nation, though during lent many people revert to more vegetarian diets corresponding to the Orthodox Church's teachings. Droidenians usually eat three meals a day when it is not Lent, and, uniquely to Droidenian Orthodoxy, many feast days are marked with a feast of food, called a "Grand Meal." Food in the harsh Northern climate is a necessity, as it provides energy throughout the day, especially for those closer to and beyond the Arctic Circle.

Droiden's favored means of preserving food is pickling, which has become quite a hot topic on the world stage, with many people thinking it is utterly gross. However, Droiden is quite a fan of the method, with pickled herring becoming a popular dish in the late 2030s.

Droiden's majority-minority ethnic makeup allows many different backgrounds to reach the forefront of Droidenian popular cuisine. However, across every ethnic group, staples such as bread, meat, and berries comprise the primary foods eaten. Culinary culture also serves many socio-political purposes such as:

Morning Community

In Droiden, several morning community aspects revolve around food and drink, such as coffee-houses, lunch breaks, and group dinners during holidays such as Paschua and Christmas. At coffee-houses, mostly a breakfast phenomenon, families, pre-school (as in "before school") and carpool groups often meet at coffee-houses to make friends and socialize. As there is usually a presence of younger children, coffee is served along with tea and other drinks considered to be "breakfast appropriate" such as juice and milk. Many of these coffee-houses also have smoking rooms, where smokers can enjoy a morning cigarette served with their coffee for a fee. Many of these coffee-houses serve their own self-rolled cigarettes, though many prefer to bring their own. "Holy Morning" papers, called such by the youth due to their conservative leanings, are also provided with meals for an extra fee.

During these morning congregations in coffee-houses, many groups of acquaintances will sit together and discuss business, family, politics, and other subjects. Also present in these coffee-houses is the practice of morning gossip. This gossip pertains usually to workplace or school drama and is usually difficult to restrict despite Droiden's restrictive defamation and derogatory speech laws.

A simple breakfast usually consists of sweet bread, berries, cold meat, and occasionally chicken eggs. In rural areas, breakfasts are usually eaten at the family dining table before heading off to work or school.

Nestí (Packed Lunches)

Though schools and state-owned workplaces are mandated to have a kitchen, often accompanied by a small cafeteria, to feed students and workers, many opt to bring their own lunches from home. These are called Nestí, and are often enjoyed in a group setting. Children in schools often eat outdoors or in their classrooms with friends and teachers. Students who order lunch from the cafeteria often eat there with friends, though some reports indicate that eating a school-provided meal may be a source of bullying. The mandated lunch hour, a provision introduced by the Syndicalists, is one of very few remnants of the system still in Droiden post-restoration. The hour of 11:30 - 12:30 is designated across the nation as lunch hour, giving students and workers a break. As a trade-off, the usual work hours are 9:00 - 18:00, and school hours are usually 9:00 - 17:00. During these breaks, parents may drop off lunches for their children if they do not make them in the morning before school, and may also return home to eat. Industrial workers usually eat in designated places on the job site, where these lunches are usually kept.

A simple Nestí usually consists of dried meat, a bread or other grain, cheese, grapes or other small fruits, and a large, insulated bottle of water or an electrolyte solution.

Evening Meals

As families reconvene for the evening, they often cook and eat dinner before anything else. Dinners are almost always a greater meal than breakfast and lunch, and usually comprise a soup appetizer, a main dish, and usually some sort of sweet pastry for dessert. During this time, meads, wines, whiskeys, and other alcoholic beverages are also consumed. A favorite of the Droidenian people is berry mead, which is usually served to everyone in a family, including children, though babies and toddlers are often served milk or juice. Family dinners are usually prepared by the mother of the family, though the father cooking is not unheard of. These meals are a time for family and fellowship, and several neighbors meeting to eat together is common in rural areas.

Dinners are far heartier and fulfilling, and almost always have a range of flavors and temperatures. Dinners in restaurants are different, however, as there are usually entree meals that are often served a la carte, with side dishes available for purchase. Dinner restaurants are distinct from coffee-houses in the sense that they do not offer smoking areas, but do offer the "Loose Evening" tabloids, called such for their more liberal leanings. These restaurants also do not often serve alcohol beyond a house-brewed beer.

A simple dinner often consists of a soup, such as chicken tomato, a staple in Pomerania, a meat dish with vegetables and bread, which is usually toasted, and light pastries or frozen skyr. Mead is most commonly served at these meals in Scandinavia, while vodka and beer are more popular in Finland and Russia and Pomerania respectively.

Status Symbols

Certain foods carry with them the connotation of status in Droiden. Meat is the main contender here; though fish and, in most instances, poultry, are easily accessible, beef is usually thought of as an upper-class food. Tropical imports, such as bananas and mangoes, are also high-class. This does not mean that the lower classes are unable to access these foods, as wealth inequality is quite low in the empire. Rather, these are historical divisions within popular culture.

Food is often also a gift in Droiden, as well as a symbol of respect. Birthday celebrations are usually marked by a cake made by the person's family, as well as other gifts of fruits and favorite foods. These cakes are not often sold at local supermarkets, though some have begun selling decorated ones for children. In addition to this, at one's funeral, after the body is buried, people will usually meet, often at the deceased person's family's house, to partake in a meal. At company outings, high-quality restaurants are almost-exclusively selected, which has led to many restaurants mandating reservations for groups larger than five. This has caused many to call groups of five men in suits at a restaurant the "business-patrons" for the evening.

Special Occasions

During many holidays, anniversaries, and other significant days in the lives of the Droidenian people, special meals are often consumed. On anniversaries, couples usually partake in a shared meal of steaks garnished with butter and berries, asparagus, and wine. Christmas dinner is almost always a turkey or ham with several dishes prepared alongside it. Droidenian Thanksgiving, similar to American Thanksgiving, is marked by a meal of chicken or turkey, potato mash, green beans, berry jelly, and yam casserole.

In Prisons

Food in Droidenian prisons is much less satisfactory than in the free world. Dishes usually are sustenance-only in nature, and are usually forms of bread, hard meat, a vegetable, fruit, and water or milk. Recent attempts to improve the quality of meals for the sake of emphasizing rehabilitative justice have met some success, with dinner provisions including dessert, and meals during holidays becoming more celebratory.

BACK TO Culture