[jason taylor]

Transplant Cuisines:

When Sophants took to the stars they took the foods from home with them. Often of course they would not take locally leaving the option of adapting growing them artificially (by such means as terraforming, hydroponics, or gengineering), or exporting them from the planet of origin. The last option is often so prohibitive that it is something that only the rich and powerful can afford.

Food as always is a cultural symbol and is taken seriously. For instance Maple has taken in a lot of places. Naturally it is impractical to depend on a product which will not profit for decades. So syrup is divided into modified, natural, and Terran (among other more technical divisions), the later of which has the best price and comes from ancient orchards in what used to be New England and Canada. Natural comes from trees who were planted without genetic engineering and sometimes the details of their pedigrees are as closely examined as that of racing animals. Modified is quite common, common enough to make into affordable liquor which the natural format is less often because of the loss of material in the process.

Some of the records of preparation methods are retained in detail so the cooking methods are little different. Some styles though require ingredients with a specialized ecology (like Revived New England, and Revived New Orleans styles). This often needs a Terraforming project though the above two styles are popular enough that Terraformers will incorporate it, in fact making a contract to modify plans will often cut the expense.

Aslan have brought their favorite herd and game animals from their homeworld and products of these are often tasty to humaniti as well. Sylean cooking has high honor, and is an ancient tradition among them. Caledonians are less esteemed because the tradition they base some of their cultural dishes is underestimated. Some things were transplanted almost whole from Ancient Terra however.

Transplant dishes are well known part of the Known Universe and any people with a populous diaspora is likely to have brought contributions.