User:Montecara/Sandbox 3

Agriculture and fishing

Montecara must import nearly all of its basic foodstuffs because of its lack of arable land. It does, however, harvest a great deal of seafood, which is reflected in traditional dishes. The limited farmland is devoted to high-value crops suitable to the climate, mainly grapes (mainly for wine production), citrus, coffee, saffron (zafràn), and flowers.

Ingredients

Xinòta cut in half

Montecara's island location and long culinary tradition has led to a great variety of specialties making use of local ingredients.

Grains

Historically, rice (rixo) was the supreme staple food for Montecarans. There was always some domestic production, but Montecarans have relied on the sea trade for the bulk of their rice import for centuries. This is reflected in traditional dishes such as rixoto, a soupy preparation of rice simmered in broth, and rixi e bixi, rice and peas cooked together. In modern times, corn (biàva) is popular as well, and is used to make bread, polènta, and many other dishes.

Fats

Cooking fat was historically an expensive and rare commodity given Montecara's relative lack of arable land on which oily vegetable crops could be grown or milk-producing ruminants could be raised. When cooking fat was available to ordinary people, it was usually duck fat from hunted wild ducks or olive oil produced locally or imported a short distance from mainland Euclea. This lack of fat led Montecaran cuisine to rely heavily on water-based preparation methods like steaming, boiling, and stewing as well as dry methods like grilling and slow-roasting. Fortunately, these methods are well-suited to the delicate flavors of seafood.

Seafood

Montecara has always enjoyed access to an enormous variety of fish and shellfish as well as aquatic plants, seaweed, and other forms of marine life. Cuttlefish braised in ink, fried sardines, and bixàto, or roast eel, are all typical dishes. Other local favorites include sepe col nero (squid with its ink), gó (a small, local fish, often fried), small soft-shell crabs which are eaten after molting, razor clams, and sea urchin. One of the most iconic dishes is bàcala, creamed salt fish, which is usually served with polènta. Sardi a saor, a dish consisting of sardines in a sweet-sour sauce, is another dish synonymous with Montecaran cuisine.

Meat and fowl

Montecara has very little land suitable for pasturing, so large ruminants like cows have never been economical. Sheep were introduced to the island by the Solarians and were mainly used for their wool and milk, with lamb and mutton rare delicacies that only the very rich could afford. Goats were introduced from Coius at some point in the third to fifth century and have thrived in the marginal, dry, and hilly areas that have little other use. Goat milk was long the most common form of animal milk and goat meat the most widely available form of land-animal food, a situation that has changed only very recently with the advent of cheap refrigerated shipping. Horse and donkey meat were once eaten by the poor but are now virtually impossible to find due in large part to their reputation for unpleasant flavor and texture and association with hardship. Montecarans had to make full use of the animals that they did have, and to this day offal remains popular; fegato (the liver of a lamb or young goat) is a traditional delicacy.

Much more common than red meat, both historically and up to the present, is fowl, both wild and domesticated. Montecara has access to a huge variety of birds as it is on a major flyway, and for centuries locals took advantage of this situation by putting up stakes covered in birdlime (vignòla) to catch birds. Many of the captures were songbirds, which were eaten in large numbers up to the 1980s when their capture was banned by environmental legislation in the face of rapidly dwindling populations; though illegal, it is reportedly still possible to find some chefs who will prepare songbirds in the traditional manner. Far more common, though, were the two major domesticated bird species: ducks and chickens. Ducks and duck eggs were up until recently cheaper and more accessible than chickens for most people, as duck farmers could let their birds eat for free by allowing them to feed in shallow coastal waters. Chickens, on the other hand, had to have their diet supplemented by grain given the lack of open land or forest where they could eat their traditional diet of insects, seeds, berries, and leaves, which drove prices up. This was reinforced by the reputation of chicken meat as so delicious that the rich were willing to pay a huge premium for well-raised birds.

Cheese

Conçàta cheese; indentations from aging in wicker are visible on the exterior

Although a lack of pasture land has traditionally limited the local production of milk and therefore cheese, farmers have been able to coax enough product from their herds to sustain a cheesemaking tradition that goes back millennia to pre-Sotirian times. Milk from sheep and goats was historically preserved in rennet and either brined in seawater or aged in one of Montecara's many caves. These methods are still in use to make heritage cheeses today.

Most favored are sheep's-milk cheeses, especially those aged long enough to take on a finely grained texture. Goat cheeses enjoy somewhat less prestige but even greater popularity thanks to their lower price and multitude of styles. Perhaps the most common is a local variant of a crumbly brined-curd cheese originating in northwestern Coius known locally as livàni. It is one of the four Montecaran cheeses that enjoy protected designation of origin status, along with dozòcoli, a firmer brined cheese made of a mixture of sheep's and goat's milk; conçàta, a highly complex cheese made from 100% sheep's milk formed in wicker baskets and cave-aged for at least 12 months; and perùt, a strongly flavored goat cheese with a moldy rind.

Herbs, spices and flavorings

The all-importance of salt

• Mastic (lentìscio)
• Saffron (zafràn)
• Mahleb (sbolsafrìn)
• Carom, a now little-used herb with a strong fragrance of thyme and pungent flavor
• Hyssop (ìsopo), in fatty lamb dishes, baked goods, and as an herbal tea
• Lemon verbena (melìsa), especially in sauces and marinades for fish
• Rue (rùa), as a flavoring for liquor and egg dishes or battered and fried shoots

Meals

Montecarans generally have a light breakfast on the way to work or school at cafés or stalls located throughout the city. This often consists of a pastry, sandwich, or fruit accompanied by coffee or juice. There is a traditional mid-morning break for coffee around 11:00, and shops and offices often close briefly to allow for this. Lunch, usually the largest meal of the day, is eaten around 14:00 to 15:00, and workers generally take a full hour to do so, often eating at home. It usually consists of a main dish and at least one accompaniment, such as a salad or antipasti. Dinner is eaten at about 21:00.

Courses

A full meal with all the traditional courses consists of the following:

Aperitìv

Sparkling wine, liqueur-based cocktails and accompanying snacks such as nuts or dried fruit

Antipasto

Cold, light pre-first course

Primo

Starchy first course

Secònd

Meaty second course

Contorno

Accompaniment to the second course, usually cooked vegetables

Salàta

Salad

Formàxi e fruti

Cheese and fruit

Desèr

Dessert

Cafè

Coffee or orzo

Digestìv

Stronger, bittersweet liqueur

Eating establishments

Ruins of the taberna of Graccus, Montecara

Eating meals outside the home has been a tradition in Montecara since the days of the Solarian Republic at least. Solarian Montecara had many taverns (tabernae), usually located in the ground floors of a typical apartment building (insula), where cheap and simple food and wine was available. As the poor and middle classes who made up the vast majority of the population lived in small dwellings without their own kitchens, the tavern was the main source of food for most. Typical dishes included soups and stews served out of large cauldrons, fresh and dried fruit, olives, nuts, cheese, bread, and grilled or roasted fish, goat, or pork. It was typical for urban dwellers to meet for a meal and conversation at the neighborhood tavern at least once a day.

The tradition of dining out seems to have faded during the post-Solarian period as supply lines and the complex urban life they supported withered. Even as Montecara recovered and prospered, fine dining was limited to the homes of the elite who could afford well-equipped kitchens and professional cooks. Evidence suggests that commercial dining establishments were not common again until the thirteenth century at the earliest, when the concept of a public tavern where food was prepared and served daily was revived. These taverns usually served essentially a prix-fixe meal with no choice on the customer's part, usually at a common table. As Montecara prospered during the high middle ages, dining reached new heights of sophistication.

The first restaurants in the modern sense, with a menu of options at various prices and private tables, appeared in the seventeenth century amid the craze for new imported luxury foods like coffee and chocolate.

Bars

Montecara has a rich and storied bar culture. Bars range in size from gardens that can seat hundreds to tiny nooks that seat four or five. Some establishments are centuries-old.

Bars (bacàri), by definition, emphasize drinking over food. However, nearly all offer some type of chixeto (snack) to complement the drinks. Chixèti are eaten with fingers or a toothpick, never cutlery, and are usually priced at Ł5-15 each. Chixèti include:

• Marinated or fried:
  • Artichoke
  • Zucchini
  • Mushrooms
  • Cheese
  • Squid
• Arancini di risotto
• Fried polenta alla marinara
• Bean paste on toast
• Bacalà on toast
• Grilled or boiled baby octopus
• Boiled duck eggs
• Oysters
• Clams
• Charcuterie
• Cheese
• Olives
• Snails
• Sea urchin
• Radish with salt
• Crudi of scallops or shrimp

A bar specializing in beer is a birrerìa.

Street food

Traditionally served from carts in the shadow of towers and big buildings in public squares. In some areas, upgraded over time to permanent booths with one vendor inside. These one-man kiosks are now considered icons of Montecaran life.

Drinks

Spaiòl grapes drying indoors

Wine

Montecara produces several grape varietals, three of which enjoy protected status as heirloom crops in Montecaran law, all white: Garganèga, Verdùxo, and Spaiòl. Garganèga is used to make still wine noted for its lemon and almond notes, Verdùxo is favored for the sparkling white Caràxa, and Spaiòl is used to make both a golden dessert wine with notes of honeysuckle and apricot and a light, acidic still wine. Under Montecaran law, only wine that is produced from 100% domestic grapes can be sold as "Montecaran wine" (vin Montecarà).

A particular specialty of Montecaran wine culture is xàca, a fortified wine made from white grapes. Xàca can range in color and sugar content from nearly clear and dry to almost black and very sweet.

Liquor

• Local version of anisette

Beer

Bìra crùd

Sweets

Montecara is known for its sweets, notably xinòta-flavored marmalade and hard candy and formàxo giàço, a frozen dessert and snack similar to ice cream that is flavored with soft cheese and usually served in a split-open sweet bun (brioxa).

Holiday food

Special foods are eaten around Easter. These include galani, a rum-flavored fried pastry served with lemon zest, and pandòr, a sweet egg bread. Easter lunch traditionally includes a feast of seven different types of fish, the exact components of which vary but which generally include clams, scallops, salt cod, anchovy, and sea snails.