Saturday 24 August 2019

Bowls Of New Potatoes

Vicariously enjoyed meals can be one of the pleasures of reading fiction  - depending on who wrote it.

Poul Anderson's Nicholas van Rijn is a gourmet. See:

Dinner At The Winged Cross...
What Van Rijn Eats During Business Meetings
In The Saturn Room...

Anderson's Chives is a chef. See:

Open Sandwiches
Captain's Dinner
In The Hooligan

Chives' employer, Dominic Flandry, learned to dine well earlier in life. See:

From The Lavishly Stocked...
Two Rijstaffels

Visitors to Poul and Karen Anderson's Ys ate well. See:

Faith, Food And Freedom

However, SM Stirling surpasses Poul Anderson in two respects: alternative histories and food. Most of the posts on our Food Thread are Stirlingian, not Andersonian.

Would you eat the flesh of a man-sized biped or might that feel like getting a bit too close to home? It might not taste like "long pig." In fact, it wouldn't if the animal were reptilian rather than mammalian:

the white meat of a local, man-sized, sheep-headed, slightly feathered, grazing sauroid baked with bacon in an earth-oven;
new potatoes in butter;
fresh flatbread;
olives;
green salad;
fruit;
cheese;
local wine -

- plundered or bought with plundered goods.
- The Hammer, CHAPTER EIGHT, p. 438.

I would manage quite well on the potatoes, bread, salad, fruit and cheese, thank you, sir.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Yes, I would have no hesitation eating that sauroid. After all, it was neither human or an intelligent being. So, why not?

People don't HAVE to eat meat, but if we are going to be active and engage in physically strenuous activities, then CONCENTRATED foods like various kinds of meats really will be necessary for strength and good health.

Sean