Island Cuisine

Pern has a rich culture of foods which vary tremendously from area to area. Because of its location on an island, one notable aspect of this at Ista is that red meat is much more scarce than fish.

Although klah is a popular Pernese beverage, due to Ista's tropical heat, water and fruit juices are much more frequent a sight.

Ices, ice creams, fools, and sorbets are popular treats; when klah is present, it's available as iced klah. Ista Island and Nerat are both reknowned for their teas; raspberry tea is a popular choice, as is iced fruit cider; sangria (sweetener and yellow and orange citrus and wine); slushes (made with prickly fruit--pineapple--citrus, berries, furred greenfruits--kiwi--and more); liquored citrus (margaritas);

Other dishes which are commonly available at Ista during mealtimes (and of course many more than mentioned here):

Fish: grilled fish, smoked fish, fish jerky, fishrolls; ginger-citrus-glazed speckle; baked fish with mushrooms (using onions and thyme); yellowtail with mango salsa; rivergrain-stuffed fish; wedgenut-coated packtail; fish patties; spiderclaws with mushrooms, onion, cheese, and wine; spiderclaw cakes; broiled spiderclaws; shellfish creole, using onion, peppers, garlic, tomatoes, paprika, ground pepper, and rivergrains; shellfish and legumes with cheese; grilled fish with pricklyfruit; and skewered spiderclaws and peppers.

Other meats: apple-and-walnut stuffed grilled porcine chops; porcine steak with citrus salsa; red wine marinated herdbeast; peanut-sauced ribs; barbequed chicken; yellow citrusfruit-and-garlic grilled chicken; mushroom-sauced roast beef; pepper steak; cubed steaks paprika; pot roast in cider; curried ham and fruit (with pricklyfruit and raspberries and citrus juice); chops with walnut-raisin stuffing; herb-rubbed meat legs; apple-glazed meat dishes; lamb and peppers; mufful sandwich (Terran muffuleta with olives, parsley, citrus juice, oregano, garlic, bread, lettuce leaves, sliced meat, cheese, tomatoes, and coarsley ground pepper); pepper-citrus chicken; and chicken rolls filled with cheese-stuffed chili peppers.

Stew and soups: fish stew, fish soup; legumes soup, vegetable soup; whiteroots (onions) soup; fingerroots (carrots) stew; chili; rivergrain soup; black legume soup with sausage (made with ground red pepper, sherry, and cheese); shellfish chowder; chicken and sausage gumbo (with green pepper, black pepper, red pepper, onion); shellfish stew; rivergrains-and-mushroom soup; fruit soup (with mango, pricklyfruit, pear, mint, and citrus-flavored water, served cold).

Vegetable dishes: stuffed peppers; stuffed mushrooms; onion rings; spicy black beans and rice; tamale pies from Red Sands; rice-and-legume patties; mushrooms with marinade and citrus juice; herb-buttered mushrooms; baked cheese-mushrooms; dilled peas and wedgenuts; and legumes with citrus-ginger butter.

Breads: jalapeno rolls; brown bread; rye bread; nutbreads; fruitbreads; wedgenut bread; wedgenut-and-cheese slices glazed with cinnamon and sweetener; sweetener bread (sourdough with citrus peel, cinnamon, and sweetener); citrus-nutmeg puffs; orangefruit bowknots; sage-wheat bread; raisin-fingerroot bread; fingerroot cakes; cheddar-apple muffins; spice cake; pricklyfruit upside-down cake; nut torte; and Ladyholdercake and liquor (Terran tiramisu).

Grain dishes: oat cereals and porriges; granola; oat cookies; grainbars; rivergrain pudding; rivergrains with mushrooms and peppers; rivergrains with tomatoes and onion and chili powder and cheese; browned rivergrains stirred in vegetable or cheese-and-onion broth; legume casseroles; and legume-rice patties.

Fruits and nuts: Neratian spiced walnuts; chili nuts (toasted nuts spiced with chili powder); fruit salsas; pecan snaps; klahbars; poached pears; cherry cobbler; fruit crisp (made with oats, nutmeg/ginger/cinnamon and apples and pears and redfruit; berry betty (baked berries with bread cubes); yellowfruit pudding cake; and trifle with furred greenfruit (kiwi) and blueberries.

Mixed dishes: stir fry; paella (rice and fish); jambalaya (cubed meat with celery, onion, chopped sweet green pepper, tomatoes, garlic powder, rivergrains, hot pepper sauce); Gar meatballs (meatballs with cilantro and peanuts and pineapple); Neratian cheese turnovers (made with pepper jelly, cheese, toasted nuts and eggs); Istan cocktails (spiderclaws and orangefruit); and rice with walnuts and dates and fish from Half-Circle.

A Hatching celebration might see a dinner offering a wide spread of available foods all at once: wine, veal, porcines, ovines, lambs, kids, aivans, whersports, wherries, poultry, and fish all combined into extravagant dishes, not to mention bread sculptures, marzipan delicacies, ices, sorbets, vegetables, fruits, and a wealth of pastries.

Ista Weyr makes its own cheese every spring, when the holds and halls beholden send surplus calves to the Weyr (the stomach lining of calves being necessary to produce rennet, which is an essential ingredient in making cheese); although nowhere near the level of the cheeses produced at Fort.