Revisiting Rations Part 2: High Elf

Revisiting Rations Part 2:  High Elf

Continuing down this series, I decided to work on a "High Elf" ration.  Now, everyone is going to have their own ideas here, so please don't crucify me too much for food choices.

Before we start with that, though, I'd like to give a bit of insight as to my thought process regarding these rations. My goal is to keep things distinctly "fitting" both within a culture and the overall world in my head.  I'm not going to worry about keeping food strictly pre-Columbian Exchange, but there shouldn't be anything blatantly modern included.

Now, to me, High Elves are a society who predominantly live on an island off somewhere isolated from the rest of the world.  The climate is temperate and they predominantly eat fish and wild game for protein, with a variety of subtly-flavored vegetables to accompany them.  As such, this would be a fairly typical "High Elf" meal that one could get to go at a tavern:  pickled fish and onions, dilled green beans, a very fancy hunk of bread (I can't cut bread, deal with it), a yellow dragonfruit, and pyment.

Pickled Fish (and Dilled Green Beans)

One thing you're going to notice is that pickling is going to come up a LOT on these rations.  It's a darn good way to keep food going and has been used for ages.  Here, Tilapia and onions have been first brined with salt, and then with sugar over the course of about two weeks.  It's actually a very good dish.

The green beans are simpler, but take more time, as they tend to remain raw in the brine for far longer.  Still, both of these make a wonderfully sweet-and-sour dish to snack on while on the trail and can last in a sealed container for days if not weeks.

Bread

I'm not the best baker in the world, but I wanted to make something to go along with the sweet-and-sour fish and beans that would be different, but familiar.  In this case, the bread is made of equal parts wheat and almond flour.  Honey, ginger, sesame seed and oil, and lemon zest were added for flavor.  It's definitely good (and my dogs kept trying to get it), but it's very different.  It'll last several days if kept dry, so bonus.

Yellow Dragonfruit

I figured High Elves would like some sort of exotic fruit, and the grocery store had these. Well, why not open it up and see what it looks like!

Woah.  That's pretty neat, huh?  Dragonfruit doesn't really taste like much, but it sure adds a little bit of exotic to a race that's all about the conspicuous consumption.  Plus the texture is really neat.

Pyment

Not the best picture, but deal with it.  Pyment is a sort of mead made with grapes, or wine made with honey.  Or something like that.  This is another batch I started a long time ago and brought out just for this occasion.  It's pretty good, I fully admit, although there's a bit of a taste of cough syrup as some friends have brought up.  That's pretty standard with sweet reds, and this one is very sweet.

How long with it last?

So, assuming you don't cut open the fruit to see just how weird it looks, you can easily get through a weekend with this ration.  The fish and beans will last so long as they're in a sealed, cool container, the bread likewise will last, and the fruit might start to soften in heat, so keep it out of the sun!  The pyment is likewise something that, properly stored, should last through your excursion.

Let's have one more shot of everything.  Just because!