actually sir; the irish didn’t invent the potato
Writing by Jana on Thursday, 29 of May , 2008 at 7:48 am
We’ve been working on worldbuilding and culture over at Forward Motion’s 2YN class recently, and it’s got to me to thinking about glossed over aspects of culture and society when it comes to many fantasy novels.
Food is a major one.
Our society takes for granted certain foodstuff and naturally doesn’t give much thought to where and how a particular vegetable or fruit was cultivated and when it actually gained popularity as food for people rather than livestock or prisoners or the very poor.
Many fantasy novels don’t take into account that many of the foods we consider common today, were virtually unknown until Columbus introduced them to the new world, and even then, many were disdained for a long time after the fact. The potato and corn are perfect examples of this. Potatoes didn’t actually become a standard staple in our diet until the 1780’s. Corn didn’t achieve popularity until even later, the 1840’s, and both vegetables were not considered fit for your average person.
(The very poor and prisoners don’t count as “person” by the way in this definition.)
These foods were known and enjoyed in Latin America of course, but it took a while for that popularity to spread.
Other foods like this include: lettuce, tomatoes, peaches, broccoli, carrots, pumpkins, squash, strawberries and etc.
And, yes I did have to Google a few of these things to verify the bare facts, but even without knowing exact dates of inception, I know that when I read about Princess Moerghanna sitting down to her delicious meal of a leafy green salad followed by steak and potatoes, that unless her story takes place until well after the start of the 1700’s that the author didn’t do the research.
Furthermore, the peasant characters in fantasy eating a steady diet of meat is just as unrealistic.
And spices? Dude, don’t get me started on spices.
Not everyone will be as nit picky about these things. But I am, and I assume just as many others are.
So now as I start to build a culture around my characters and infuse it with food and textiles and other necessary things, I have to keep all these things in mind.
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