Foods

Not all of the food listed below will be available everywhere on Gor. Some are regional items that would be very rare outside of their place of origin. Not every tavern will stock all of these products. Some items would be too expensive for an average paga tavern to keep on stock such as Falarian wine or black wine. Other items would be so rarely ordered, that a tavern would see little profit in stocking the item. For example, a paga tavern in Thentis would see little need to stock fermented milk curds, a drink of the Wagon Peoples.

There are many types of food on Gor and all women, free and kajirae, learn how to prepare a variety of meals. Trained kajirae especially learn how to prepare intricate meals, many with an alleged aphrodisiac effect. "Sa-Tassna," that literally means "Life-Mother," is the general Gorean word for "meat" though it can also refer to "food" in general.

Fruits: These include such fruits similar to Earth fruits like

apricots,

berries,

cherries,

dates,

grapes,

melons,

olives,

yellow peach,

yellow pear,

plums,

pomegranates,

 raisins,

 strawberries.

The cherries of Tyros are famed.

There is a yellowish, red-striped spherical variety of melon.

The red olives of Tyros and the Torian olives are very popular.

There are also fruits indigenous to Gor. These include

 larmas,

ram-berries,

Ta grapes, and tospits.

 There are two varieties of larma, a hard larma and a segmented juicy larma. The hard variety is red with a crunchy shell like an apple. It has a single-seed, a large stone, and thus is also called a pit fruit. If a slave offers a larma to her master, it is a plea to be raped. The segmented type is more similar to an orange. Ram-berries are small, succulent reddish berries with edible seeds. It is like a tiny plum. The tospit is a yellowish-white peachlike fruit, about the size of a plum. It has a fairly hard-fleshed fruit and a bitter taste. It is commonly eaten sliced with honey, used in syrups, or its juices used as a flavoring. It usually has an odd number of seeds except for the rare, long-stemmed variety. Seamen eat it to prevent against disease and is thus sometimes called seamen's larma. Ta grapes may have originated on the island of Cos though they are now grown in many areas. They may be the size of a tiny plum and are often peeled by slaves before eaten.

Vegetables: These include such vegetables similar to Earth ones like

cabbage,

carrot,

corn,

garlic,

mushroom,

onions,

peas,

peppers,

pumpkins,

radish,

squash,

 turnips.

There are also vegetables indigenous to Gor such as katch,

korts,

suls

vangis.

Katch is a foliated leaf vegetable, likely similar to lettuce, cabbage or spinach. The kort is a brown and thick-skinned, sphere-shaped vegetable which is about six inches wide. The interior is yellow, fibrous and heavily seeded. It grows in the Tahari region and is often served sliced with melted cheese and nutmeg. Suls are a tuberous vegetable like a potato. They are large, thick-skinned, starchy, and yellow-fleshed. There are a thousand ways to prepare and serve suls. Vangis are an unknown type of produce. They are mentioned though never described in the novels.

Sa-Tarna: This is a yellow grain and the staple crop of much of Gor. There is a brown variety grown near and in the Tahari that has been specifically developed to withstand the hotter temperatures of that area. Most Sa-Tarna is now ground in mills. It is used to make the popular Sa-Tarna bread. This bread is baked in ovens and commonly made in round flat loaves. Larger loaves are commonly cut into eight pieces and small loaves into four pieces. The bread may be served with honey, melted cheese, melted butter or unmelted butter. Many are under the misconception that the bread is cut into six pieces. This is based on two references in the early books. Multiple references in the latter books though correct this error and even give a reason for commonality of the eight-slice cut. As there are eight tarsk bits in a copper tarsk, bread is also similarly cut. There are other grains available on Gor. One type makes black bread which is most common with the Low Castes. It is cheaper and of poorer quality than Sa-Tarna bread.

Soups and Stews: These are very popular on Gor and come in a wide variety. One such soup is sullage made from Tur-pah leaves, suls, kes, and anything else around. Kes is a salty, blue secondary root of the Kes shrub. Stews with meat and vegetables are very common in low caste homes.

Porridge: There is sul porridge and grain porridge. Both are often seasoned and some people prefer to season it themselves. A hand-rack of small vials and pots of seasonings, spices and condiments will often be brought with the porridge.

Meats: The most common meats are

tabuk,

bosk,

tarsk

  verr.

Tarsk is rather salty, like pork. Many of these meats are roasted over an open flame. They are served in a variety of ways. In taverns, cubes of meat may be cooked and served with a variety of sauces for dipping. Sausages are also made with some of these meats.

 Vulo is the primary type of poultry. At least some of the meat of the vulo is white meat. It too is served in a myriad of ways. Its eggs are also eaten.

Seafood: There are many varieties of fish and shellfish eaten including

 carp,

clams,

oysters,

eels,

crayfish,

 grunts,

shark,

parsits.

The blue, four-spined Cosian wingfish is a tiny, delicate fish and is a great delicacy, especially its liver. The clustered, black tiny eggs of the white grunt are similar to caviar. In the equatorial waters, most of the fish are poisonous to eat due to certain seaweeds they eat which are harmless to them. The river fish though are generally good to eat.

Other foods: Butter and cheeses from verr, bosk and kaiila are common. Rice and beans are also common.

Wakapapi: This is a word in the languages of the Red Savages that means "pemmican." Pemmican is a word used by the Native Americans of Earth to describe a certain type of food, similar to the one on Gor. Pemmican are soft cakes, made in various ways depending on what one adds in the way of meat, herbs, seasonings and fruit. One common way on Gor is to take strips of dried kailiauk meat, thinly sliced, and pounded fine almost to a powder. Then you add crushed fruit, commonly chokecherries, to the meat. This is then mixed with kailiauk fat and then divided into small, flattish, rounded cakes. It is normally carried by hunting or war parties.

Spices: There are many spices including

nutmeg,

cinnamon,

cloves,

spikenard,

various salts including red and yellow salt,

and hot peppers. The Tahari is known for very spicy foods.

Desserts: Desserts are very popular on Gor especially with kajirae. Chocolate, pudding, pastries with creams and custards, molasses, honey, hard candy, mint sticks, flavored, minced ices and nuts are all common. Sweetmeats are candied or crystalized fruits. There are at least four varieties of different sugars including white and yellow. Not all of the types of sugar are listed though so various other colored-sugars may exist. Red sugar is a real possibility. Tastas, also known as stick candies, are soft, rounded, succulent candies, usually covered with a coating of syrup or fudge, and mounted on a stick like a candy apple. Sweets are a common reward for kajirae whose diet is commonly rather bland.

MISCELLANEOUS

There is little cold storage on Gor. Most food is preserved by being dried or salted. Ice is cut from ponds in winter and then stored in icehouses under sawdust. You may go to the icehouse to get it, or have it delivered from ice wagons. Ice is an expensive luxury, especially in the summer. Few paga taverns will have cold storage areas. It would be much more common for them to store certain foods and drinks in a basement area to keep it cool, though not really cold. An amphora is a two-handled, narrow-necked vessel with a narrow, usually pointed base. It is a storage container for liquids and is commonly put into a storage hole in the ground at night to keep it cool.

The most common utensils used on Gor are knives and spoons. There is an eating prong, similar to a fork, which was invented in Turia. It is not commonly used outside of that city. The wealthy of other cities though may use these prongs. Eating prongs would be very rare in taverns outside of Turia.

Goreans are very sociable people and enjoy giving dinners and having parties. At such events, it is an honor to be seated above the bowls of red and yellow salts. It denotes your high station and status. The Turian feast is a unique dinner. It consumes the better part of a night and there may be as many as 150 courses. Etiquette requires that you at least taste each course. Guests may use a tufted banquet stick, dipped in scented oils, and a golden bowl to vomit into between courses. Different wines are commonly served with each course, specially chosen to complement the cuisine.