Linguifex wrote:Khemehekis wrote:On the planet of Javarti in the Lehola Galaxy, kitchens and dining rooms are equipped not only with froks, knives, spoons and chopsticks, but also siltis. A silti has several velcro-like spikes on it that allow food to stick to it.
What kinds of foods do you normally use a silti to eat?
From my Javarti page:
The Javartis cultivate many of their own plants. Fruits include the tetramerous kaga; the aggregate, bubble-shaped ükha; the wavy-bumped jata; the soyko (a xylocarp like the coconut, with brown outside and cream inside); the kündu, with diagonal bumpy waves on its outside; the cherry-shaped semilti, with many tiny seeds inside; the peachy, beige-yellow tabeymu with a creamy inside; and the phallic tayga. Vegetables inlude the asparagus-like, thin vümu, the qaqoxü, a wavy-patterned squash-like vegetable that is botanically a fruit; the echeverria- or rose-like vegetables such as the alko, roga and dzosotu; the kohlrabi-like khordu; the stalky mükaysta with edible, little round leaves; the lefay garza; and the luzdi (a sausage-shaped tuber) and asanvi (two-lobed white tuber, also cultivated for its sugar). The three most important olvas (an order of pseudograins) are ghaylva, temni and zdanka. The vervi is grown for its nut. Ratxi, with its magenta, bird-of-paradise-like flowers, is the main fiber plant of Javarti. The neküstu, with its rhomboid shape, is an important hardwood tree. Ornamental flowers include the yellow-and-purple zdikhi and the spadix-and-spathe yellow-and-white tsanqa. Joysana, with its leaves that start out straight up than wilt out at the ends and its white flowers, its grown for its infusion. The mirga is a tall, billowing tree that produces seed-pods with green, triangular seeds packed with protein -- the equivalent of legumes in the Javarti biosphere. Juli, with its white, four-petaled flowers, is grown for its depressant drug juliksa (similar to drinking kava). Wild plants include the ango, a tropical tree; the nalpozgita, a tropical epiphyte that looks something like a giant oak leaf; and the aqi, an ornamental herbaceous plant with leaves of three. Domesticated rengadzis include the dzolmu, a pet that lives on scraps; the nüsta, a small, furry pet with a beaver-like tail that fills much the same role as a guinea pig or hamster; the ghotxo; cultivated for its meat and well as shaven for its heavy coat of renga; the kono, a carnivorous pet that can also pull ploughs and chase wild quarry; and the dapalvu, an indulgently delicious creature. Domesticated khüvas (the ornithologue, or bird-analogue, bioswath on Javarti) include the egg-laying pongha with its oval torso, and the squat, short-tailed edible maqi. The münetxi, a khüva, is often kept for its ability to pollinate bigger flowers, while the tibo, a snouted kheski (six-legged insectologue), pollinates most smaller flowers and is often raised for this purpose by farmers.
Javarti cuisine pulls mainly on the culinary strength of its native animals and plants (plus the occasional mushroom). Fruits, vegetables, olvas, nuts, meat, seafood and mirgas are the main food-groups in the Javarti diet. Culinary fruits include the kaga, ükha, jata, soyko, kündu, semilti, tabeymu and tayga, all eaten as snacks, desserts, juiced, or as flavorings or parts of sweets. Many dishes included mixed vegetables or meat, seafood or qasa mixed with vegetables. Qaqoxü fills the role of cucumber or squash in these dishes, while alkos, rogas and dzosotus have a more leaf-vegetable-like or Brussels-sproot-like texture. Garza is popular as a leaf vegetable, the standard salad herb of Javarti. Mükaysta is often eaten as a main course. Vümu can be eaten alone but is more often mixed with other vegetables. Pickled vümu, or azgi, is used whenever a pickled vegetable is called for in a recipe. Khordu is usually eaten alone but can be sliced up. And luzdi is eaten baked, mashed, fried, steamed, candied or as chops. All-vegetable dishes include vegetable soup; salted luzdi; ubali (oval-shaped pieces of luzdi baked on a sheet and then turned upside-down so the unexposed side is facing up and topped with sweet toppings); Seylvi's special (mükaysta with sliced roga and sliced qaqoxü alko, riga and dzosotu with azgi); and khaba (baked luzdi with azgi and qaqoxü).
The rengadzi animals most often eaten are the ghotxo (whose meat is called vuri), the dapalvu (whose meat is called palvu), the zayma (a seal-like creature renowned for its blubber called dzesti), and the pürmo (a favorite hunting target), Edible khüvas include the maqi (whose meat is called üngolu), the pongha (whose meat is called jinkhu), the wild, sharp-nosed, arrow-tailed vilkha, the ring-necked arvu, the bumpy-nosed matürvi, and the large, plesiosaur-necked djilghano. Popular seafood includes the armadillo-shelled, wobbling txiva with antennae and barbels; the ampoyla, which looks like a cross betweem a sea slug and a caterpillar; the six-legged, triangular zgendi; and such types of lonkho (a four-legged, meaty, flat-bodied class of animal) as the lobster-bodied, moustached, white-eyed ampova; the dzasta (a barbeled, bell-curve-and-its-mirror shaped creature) and the chunky poynu, with bumps going down its back. Some creatures have special terms for the meat of their young: a baby ghotxo is a pingha, and pingha meat is called ezbü a baby dapalvu is called a vanonda, and vanonda meat is called khepa; a maqi under two years is called a rezda, and rezda meat is called urarsa; and a pongha under three years is called a dardü, and dardü meat is called tsatxi. Vuri and palvu steaks are revered as high-class eat-out dining. Ground vuri is known as rurzi. Sausages of palvu in ghotxo intestine are called ghiburta, and sausages of khüva in dapalvu intestine are called djavu. Burtanga is sliced sausage filled with palvu blood in zayma intestine and seasoned with salt then set out to dry for three days. Lunch meat includes layba (vilkha organ meats with salt, cut into circles), bubu poqa (pongha organ meats mixed in a blender with pongha eggs and cooked in juices), and malmoyvi (dapalvu organ meats cooked in pongha fat and a hot sauce, leaving red circle-shaped bumps all over the finished product). Nuggets and sticks of various meats and seafoods are popular as well, especially ülqo (jinkhu sticks). The ribcages of pürmos are called jandi, and come at high price in most restaurants. Smoked dzasta strips are called isti, while smoked poynu strips are called saymüla and salted poynu strips are called noymi. The Javartis were also the inventors of qasa, a form of meat grown without brains or even heads. Qasa is fertilized with the genes of the animals it replicates, and looks and tastes just like meat or seafood, but without the ethical questions that surround raising and killing animals. Vegetarians often eat qasa, but some, the azoöproteinarians, forgo any form of animal protein, and there is even a word in LIE, "aqasarian", for people who specifically avoid eating qasa. Qasa exists for vuri, palvu, dzesti, pürmo, üngolu, jinkhu, vilkha, arvu, matürvi, djilghano, txiva, ampoyla, zgendi and most lokho species, as well as such foreign meats as pork, chicken, tapir, wenschar, fezina, shrimp, lusbukhet, lusbef and lusifes. All pet food for carnivorous pets on Javarti is now made with qasa.
Among the olvas, ghaylva is considered something like a miracle crop. This one millet-like plant, with its characteristic pairs of leaves facing each other, produces so many foods for the Javartis. Its flour made into boyla (a substance like dough), the boyla can be cooked flat on an oven to make makho or cooked with yeast to make qünsi. When it is toasted, you get ghaylva tortillas, or eyndja. An eyndja folded once like a taco and filled with food is called a dalpa. Filled with meat and mirgas and then double-cooked flat, a noykümba is made. An eyndja cooked, filled with fruits and then double-cooked produces a sweet known as a djoysa. Boyla pressed on the outside of a bowl becomes banda and is very full and thick, like a chalupa. Banda wrapped in a semicircle around meat and dzosotu becomes a jipibu, while banda in burrito shape and filled with vegetables is called a tayna. Seafood bandas are called qotoru. An eyndja cut into triangular chips is called a dendi; when this chip is topped with mirga and vegetables with possibly some khüva as well, the result is called a taylanü. When cooked with water, like pasta, an orange food called turtayna results. Turtayna can be cut into rectangular strips (sapatu), thick but long rectangles (gaynda), thin, cubical pieces (oyti), long, spaghetti-like noodles (lemitxi), something like lemitxi but even thinner (sutxi), something like lemitxi but very thin (djurna), scalloped pieces (pimiki), triangles (khusu), bowtie shapes (viqi), bagel shapes (bovoru), small rings (txodja), arches (kaymi) or giant balls of savory fillings (djineystu). The ultimate ghaylva dish is omposto, a semircircular "ball" of cooked boyla with a hole at the top, through which one can see such fillings as meat, seafood,v vegetables and mirga. Another important olva is temni, with its two broad leaves per stock and its full head of grain. Temni produces ghoynkha under most cooking conditions, which tastes like bread. When steamed it yields a pasta-like dish called txeyndi. The most popular form of txeyndi is karmanda, which resembles macaroni, although the chow-mein-like singu is also a big hit at most restaurants. A bubbly form of temni, cooked with extra yeast in a closed oven, is guysi. There is also the rice-cake-like ghoso, made from the thin, pretty-flowered olva known as zdanka. Straight zdanka grain tastes a lot like orzo, and zdanka grains uncooked can even be sprinkled onto desserts.
Several dishes combine meat/qasa with plants. Mükaysta with vuri is one of the most famous Javarti dishes. Teja combines ground palvu with alko, roga and qikhu (a paste made from mirgas). Gen. Laykeynxa's jinkhu consists of jinkhu with qaqoxü, dzosotu, mükaysta, asanvi and azgi. Xadaxa consists of asanvis and arvu with nuts and qikhu. Garza, vümu, qaqoxü, asanvi, eggs and zayma baked in a "pie" is known as axilgha. Turtayna with sausage on boyla is known as tsalba. Eggs with turtayna, or Ritxi's Breakfast, is a popular breakfast food in rural areas.
Mirgas can be eaten straight, or as paste (qikhu), or roasted (ketidji).
Sugar from the asanvi flavors candies like the spice drops and oyju (the latter of which is made from juli nectar allowed to ferment and then hardened). Many treats, such as alkos, roga, garza and luzdis, are allowed to caramelize and then they are sevred as desserts. The caramel extracted from them makes caramel candies like those sold by Brach's. Fermented caramel is popular too. Kagas, ükhas, jatas, semiltis and tabeymus are often allowed to ferment and then eaten as liqueur candies. Sugar is also often extracted from the soyko and made into cookies. Soyko and zdanka cookies are called jitepas (nakhanxas if covered with ground soyko and ango seeds), while soyko and temni cookies in bagel shape are called ogolos. Djüntas resemble doughnuts and are baked out of ghaylva.
Water is the most important drink on Javarti, but there are others. The juices of kagas, ükha, jatas, kündus, semiltis, tabeymus and taygas are all commonly drunk. Txalza, or soyko "milk" is common in rural areas, and served at thatched buildings called alpas. The infusion of the joysana plant, called joysana itself, is extracted from the leaves of the plant. Another popular infusion is xoyva, brewed from ango leaves. The intoxicating infusion of aqi leaves is called tempapeyka. Soda is served at basically every establishment across the planet. Wines are fermented from ükha, semilti and tayga; soyko wine is called quva. Ghaylva produces a 20% alcoholic drink called marxa. The most popular marxa brands are Kilenxe, Loto's, Azbirma, Portü, Zarita and Tseji. Zbomü is another alcoholic drink, brewed from zdanka and known for its urine-yellow color. Zbomüis 44% alcoholic, and popular brands include Ozdi, Tarayka, Nenvu and Xalülgha. Fermented tsanqa nectar is known as tsoyleyza.
Being the world traders that they are, the Javartis are not content to eat and drink only their own plants, animals and mushrooms. Important fruits include bananas, pineapples, apples, grapes and oranges; imported vegetables include potatoes, tomatoes, beans and onions; other imported plants include coffee, tea, wheat, barley, rice, ba e monu, marijuana, pham, oezha, camoscas, poppies, roses and a plant called nidu. Nidu, found on many planets (the LIE name is from Bodusian), can be made into a curd much like tofu. Potatoes are sometimes substituted for luzdis, whereas nidu is cooked into soft, dalpa-like pieces of food called belayvas. Belayvas can be wrapped around various savory fillings like a taco. A more burrito-like nidu wrap is called a pampa. Pampas are filled with all sorts of fillings, such as eggs, palvu, jinkhu, arvu, alko, azgi, dzosotu, luzdi, garza, zayma and mirgas. A nidu crêpe is called a saypaxü. Popular foreign animals include salmon, shrimp, pigs, sheep, chicken and ducks.
Informal, formal and luxury restaurants are established across Javarti. At many of the luxury restaurants, people can be pedicured while eating, or eat in a hot tub. You may have the opportunity of eating with some sexy women, ilti or non-ilti. (Luxury restaurants with men have been less in demand.) There are also nude restaurants, where everyone eats naked and adult films are shown. Restaurants called ambültas serve mostly breakfast; fast food restaurants serve lots of nidu wraps, tsalba, axilgha and sweets. Bars serve all alcoholic drinks, while at a xoyvelpa you can drink xoyva (and buy snacks). Künghis are the bohemian establishments that specialize in joysana. Candy stores sell candy exclusively, while grocery stores sell all sorts of food. A grocery store has the meat and qasa up front, the vegetables to the back right of the meat, the fruit behind the vegetables, the nuts and snacks at the center, carbohydrates at the very back, seafood and seafood qasa to the back left of the meat, mixed foods behind the seafood and seafood qasa, beverages and drugs behind the nuts and snacks, and non-foods (such as diapers) in front of the nuts and snacks. Because of the way an ilti's brain processes knowledge of food groups, Javartis have an intuitive, inborn understanding of where everything in a grocery store is, and will not get lost in the grocery store. Javartis eat three meals a day. When they eat at home, their entire families join together thrice a day to eat, seated at the large tables in their luxurious rooms. More often though, they are eating out, or some members of the family will be eating out and others will be eating in. At the beginning of each home or formal restaurant meal, a cloth serviette is placed to the left side of the food and used to wipe. At the right is a red, square towel called an orpü, used exclusively for cleaning up spills. Javarti meals start with a drink before each course, and end with a drink. Kitchens, dining rooms and restaurants are equipped not only with froks, knives, spoons and chopsticks, but also siltis. A silti is a long utensil with a dome-shaped end covered with velcro-like spikes that allow food to stick to it. Foods eaten with the silti include ubali, layba, bubu poqa, malmoyvi, nuggets, ülqo, djoysa, banda, omposto, guysi, and belayvas.