Intergalactic Summit

Call me jaded already, but I for one am a bit tired of the worthless mud-slinging and name-calling ever present on the IGS. It always seems to be the same old re-hashed arguments. Slaver this, terrorist that. Caldari vs. Gallente, New Eden vs. Sansha. Sure we're all set in our political affiliations, but let's set that aside for a moment and talk about something [most] of us have in common.

Food!

Now, before you go calling me a fat little overeating chubber, allow me to explain. I have a passion for trying new things, and new foods have been something of a personal affair for me ever since I left my sheltered life in the State. Really, when I lived in the State, I didn't even experience much of my own culture's cuisine. Did you know I've never actually tried authentic Achur food?

So, imagine my shock when after being deployed to the Placid region following my employment by Revenent Defence Corporation, I encountered the Gallente concept of 'Caldari Take-Out'. I was homesick for a good Caldari meal, and saw the ad for it on a local holoscreen, deciding it can't be any worse than the advertisement itself was.

I think that was the spark that lit the fire for me. Caldari Take-Out was something so unhealthy but so good. Let it be known that it's nothing like actual Caldari cuisine, except for maybe the use of certain ingredients ubiquitous to the entire cluster. This stuff was greasy, loaded with chemicals, probably added at least a kilogram after the first meal, and didn't even keep me feeling full for two hours. I was hooked.

I suppose I'm lucky I work out and I can clone, because otherwise I'd probably have trouble fitting into the pod. I've sampled Intaki desserts, traditional Amarr breads, plenty of Gallente 'knockoffs', and some thick Matari stews. The capsule, for all the evils that seem to have come with it, have allowed me to try things I otherwise wouldn't be, and I am grateful for that.

Lately I've begun learning how to cook. I'm still fairly new at it, and the most advanced thing I can make is fresh bread and a roast bird. Soups are much easier, as they tend to cook easier.

So tell me, New Eden... what are your favorite dishes? What do you prefer after a long day, or on your time off? Do you subside mostly off the capsule's nutrient injections, or do you cook at home? Do you go out to eat, and where do you go? What are some of the traditional or popular dishes of your affiliates?

I have a friend planet-side who farms and hunts and gardens. He and his wife have taught me a great deal about cooking. My favorite dish is a small piece of venison loin (venison is the meat of wild, split hoofed mammals hunted for meat). The loin is cooked together with a dark purple cabbage and orange colored tuber. The sauce and seasoning consist of a salted brew made from wheat, a sweetened spice concoction, and an assortment of herbs from the garden. When done, the textures of the venison and vegetables together and the sweet spicy saltiness of the herb/sauce combination is very satisfying. They also squeeze out a tart, astringent kind of berry juice that is marvelous to drink with a meal. I visit my friend whenever I can for this dish that has become a treat that I happily return to enjoy.

I was going to do a thread like this at some point, but you've saved me the trouble which is excellent.

I don't have a lot of time to contribute to this right now, but I can say that I worked for Native Freshfood for years and there isn't much I can't do with a tin of roes. As the slogan said, we were "those who knows where roes goes".

Aside from your cooking Caldari Take-Out is probably my favorite thing to eat after a long day. Mom always cooked more traditional meals, and here lately I've been trying to mix the two together and make...Caldari Take-In. I'm also highly addicted to pretty much anything sweet especially if it has icing on it. Lots and lots of icing.

When I was young, my mother used to send my brothers and I out into the forest to collect the wild sweet pod melons which grew there. She'd make a few different things with them, but I enjoyed the ice cream the most. I've not found any place which makes melon ice cream the way my mother did.

Whenever I disconnect from my pod I find I have an immediate craving for 'real' food. There is just something about sitting down and consuming a good meal over conversation and drinks with friends or loved ones which is immensely more satisfying than just subsisting off the goo's nutrients.

I'm not much of a cook myself. A gentleman I've known for many years now, Njal, owns an Intaki bar and grill currently located in Dodixie called Deck 17. He often does much of the cooking himself and everything on his menu is scrumptious.

I'm not a drinker; I don't enjoy the effects of alcohol nor see much point in it. But there is a non-alcoholic drink, a nectar, produced in southern Intaki called Payloqan k'Adharnam which is very pleasing to the senses. It's rare and quite expensive, but worth a taste if you can obtain any.

I approve of this thread. Explosions are not (quite) everything.

Personally i'm a fan of spice, give me some variety of meat cooked over flame and basted in some kind of peppery sauce, and i'm happy.

Calamari!

I wholeheartedly approve of this topic. So nice to see something a bit lighter in tone and actually somewhat practical on the IGS. I've personally grown up with a bit of a high amount of exposure to Ni-Kunni cuisine and I've come to be very fond of most spicy dishes as a result. Now then, I learned this little recipe from the mother of a childhood friend and I have to say it's easily one of my favorite meals. I'm sure it has other names in other circles, but the woman who taught me to make it simply referred to them as "Buried Skink Eggs."

What you'll need:
3 onions, finely chopped
2 large Steppe Skink eggs, beaten
1 kilogram ground skink meat
1 tablespoon cooking oil (Ni-Kunni dew blossom is preferred but use what you have)
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 tablespoons Tegari sauce (Ni-Kunni concoction again, but any "hot and spicy sauce" should do)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 a cup of dried bread crumbs
1/3 a cup of poultry stock

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 175 c, and start heating your cooking oil in a saute pan. Add stir in the onions and ground pepper (and any other dry spices or seasonings you like) over low heat. Remove from heat when the onions are translucent (a bit before they genuinely brown) and stir in the tomato paste, tegari sauce, and poultry stock. Let that cool then lightly mix the ground skink, bread crumbs, sauteed onions and the eggs together in a large bowl. Don't mash it or after cooking you're going to end up with too solid and dense a texture. Now the fun part, reach right in and start separating the mixture into 5 or 6 egg like shapes. Set the "eggs" on sheet pan and put them in the oven to bake for about 40-45 minutes.

You'll know they're done because the skink meat will brown as it cooks, going from it's normal off-white color to a light golden brown. The cooked color is reminiscent of freshly uncovered skink eggs, hence the name of the dish.

Well I could, however I could also interest you in our new menu, it starts this week.

Im sure ill find an excuse to get the apprentice start prewashing the rice for sushi amuse-bouche's

I have a terrible weakness for Sebiestor food - a lot of the spicy things from the Republic, in fact. Hits hard, without overloading on tastes like some Gallente dishes. Morwen has introduced me to Intaki cuisine, which is also a favourite of mine.

I'm not much of a cook myself, mind - despite her efforts, my pancakes still never fail to set off the smoke alarms, which can be... interesting on board a Chimera. It doesn't help that I've somehow managed to get banned from the kitchen in every single place that I've lived - including my own estates, unless I'm giving instructions and leave right after. Holder or not, never cross the head chef.