Food of the Seven Kingdoms (Evandar)

 In my world building, I have thought a lot about food. It may seem silly to some authors and more than a few readers to spend my time thinking about what someone eats in a fantasy setting. Honestly, I didn't start out thinking about what my characters ate. At first, I just didn't consider it important. All it was to me at that time was background color for the story.

After all, I wasn't writing a cookbook. Then, as time went on and I looked at the fiction I had read and enjoyed, I realized that truly immersive settings were what I deeply enjoyed. These stories gave the characters greater depth and realism through the inclusion of daily activities. I have attempted to emulate these techniques in my writing. You can see a progression through the books that I have out as I included more details about the world.

I really think that it is forcing me to grow as an author. Asking questions about regional differences in the Seven Kingdoms lead to my describing clothing and climate. Then I found myself thinking no one in these stories sits down and eats. You have to eat to survive. I tried to put more scenes about food into my books. I don't think I've been as successful at that as I'd like to be. I acknowledge in some cases, it comes off as contrived and rather forced.

But, as I look at it all, I think about what the different regions have in common and what is unique to each one. I also have been thinking a lot about food because of my diabetes. Somehow, this turned into my questioning what food is popular in what region, what food is most common, and what do they use to season it. At one point, I started working on posting recipes that would have been served in the world of Evandar. 

I am going to pick that thread up again after some experimentation in the kitchen and a deep dive into the kinds of food you can find in our world. Research and experimentation is what promises to make a recipe work. It is my hope that I will stumble on to things that my kids will enjoy because they're picky eaters. I also hope that I will eventually have recipes that literally add flavor to what I'm writing. It's a tricky part of worldbuilding that most authors don't get to. I think, however, I am up for the challenge. Who knows, maybe a cookbook will come out of this fantasy series after all. Wouldn't that be funny?