Vavardi Cuisine

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Food is an obsession in the Vavardi culture, and meals are expected to be a delight to all the senses. A traditional Vavardi meal is served one course at a time in an order curated by the host. The number of courses grows with the wealth of the host, but even poor households would try to serve at least two distinct courses on their own and be embarrassed to serve less than three to a guest. On the other hand, it is expected that a guest will try at least a small amount of all courses for which he is present, and the Vavardi palate is usually both adventurous and quick to form an opinion.

A wide variety of ingredients are used in Vavardi dishes. Fresh fish and other seafoods are especially popular, but other meats are also used, both cured and fresh, as are other proteins like cheeses, nuts and eggs, often in combinations of several different proteins. Rices and pastas are more popular starches than potatoes, which are eschewed as bland, and hot, fresh breads are included in most meals. Fruits and vegetables are used heavily, but they are incorporated into the dish itself. Side dishes have no place in Vavardi cuisine, and foods that are unaltered, like straight vegetables, are considered crude. Any single course is expected to stand on its own, presenting a cohesive interplay of flavors and textures, whether it be a few marinated olives or an extravagant meat dish..

Seasoning and sauces are considered highly important. According to the Vavardi mind, the flavors should be subtle and sophisticated, not overpowering the flavors of individual elements. Wealthy households make use of a wide array of expensive, imported spices, while even poor households make a point to keep a small herb garden with as much variety as can be managed. Blandness is practically unforgivable in Vavardi cuisine.

The Vavardi have several other thoughts around food and meals that are sometimes considered odd in other parts of the kingdom. Fancy pastries are well-loved and considered an artform, but it is generally believed that they should be purchased from professional patisseries instead of made in the home. Subtleties are considered the height of style foods made to resemble other objects. Wine is more popular than beer or ale for table drinking, but harder alcohols, such as the famous Capuan brandy, should be served as their own course. Dairy products are more likely to come from goats rather than their bovine counterparts, although milk is not considered a beverage but is instead consumed in cheeses and yogurts.

Most foreigners knowledge of Vavardi food is highly focused around the extravagance of upper class cuisine, perhaps because even lower class Vavardi attempt to emulate that decadence in their own food. Servants eat the leftovers from their masters table as an expected perk of the job; the expected portions ensure there is always plenty for them as well. Other lower class Vavardi are expected to push their finances to make good food, as it is considered a priority, and they make dishes similar to the upper classes that omit expensive imported ingredients, and make use of greater ratios of rice or pasta to meat.