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Old 02-16-2015, 05:55 AM   #101
Rupert
 
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Default Re: Chacteristic foods of your campaigns?

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There's nothing wrong with drying vegetables. Wet foods don't last long. Though I did recently discover that a small unbroken pumpkin lasts a lot longer than I ever would have guessed.
Undamaged pumpkins, stored in a cool, dark place, can last through a winter. So can potatoes (though if they're not brushed clean of dirt and/or get even a little warm and damp they'll sprout, making them next to useless as food. the same goes for carrots and many other root vegetables. Many fruits can as well - apples in particular.

One of the things that prevents this is having been chilled - which fruit and vegetables bought in a supermarket almost invariably has been - this kills the produce, so it doesn't keep at all, but simply rots. The tendency to pick under-ripe and force ripen also reduces storage life, as does mechanical picking, sorting, packing, and then long-distance transport.

Modern food production and distribution is amazingly productive and efficient, but it's pretty hard on the produce, and the breeds used are selected for their ability to survive this and remain acceptable (and for crop size), rather than for keeping well (or for their great flavour off the tree/vine, out of the ground, etc.).
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Old 02-17-2015, 12:30 AM   #102
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Default Re: Chacteristic foods of your campaigns?

I've always said that if I ever magically hit it rich, I would travel to eat food fresh rather than shipped under ripe.
The time I ate macadamias fresh in Hawaii made me dream of such trips.

(The parents of friends getting married paid for me and my GF, plane trip and hotel.)
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Old 02-17-2015, 11:25 AM   #103
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I've always said that if I ever magically hit it rich, I would travel to eat food fresh rather than shipped under ripe.
The time I ate macadamias fresh in Hawaii made me dream of such trips.

(The parents of friends getting married paid for me and my GF, plane trip and hotel.)
Speaking of that, there was a scene in an Alan Furst novel where a fleeing OSS agent is sheltered by Balkan villagers who don't know who he is. In response the OSS smuggles a feast in in the night and lays it out on the beach. The villagers agree that they must accidently have sheltered a very rich man which is close to the truth as he had a very rich uncle named Sam. But one of the things they notice was green vegetables in the dead of winter which means, not only could the mysterious grateful party afford a feast, he could afford a greenhouse.
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Old 02-17-2015, 01:47 PM   #104
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We haven't had good experience with hot house fruit and vegetables. I'm sure in the dead of winter and really hungry, they would have been appreciated.
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Old 02-17-2015, 01:50 PM   #105
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We haven't had good experience with hot house fruit and vegetables. I'm sure in the dead of winter and really hungry, they would have been appreciated.
And of course respecting hospitality codes in this fashion is good for native relations. Though the OSS never told them who it was so it wouldn't matter for that purpose.
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Old 02-17-2015, 02:15 PM   #106
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And of course respecting hospitality codes in this fashion is good for native relations. Though the OSS never told them who it was so it wouldn't matter for that purpose.
Well when someone saves your life, you might choose to break the bank in thank yous.
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Old 02-17-2015, 02:31 PM   #107
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Well when someone saves your life, you might choose to break the bank in thank yous.
Bingo. Though the same logic might or might not apply to a spymaster whose agent was saved, depending on how much he valued the agent and how much consideration he gave to considerations outside of cold calculations.

The novel didn't give the details of how that idea was wangled out of headquarters. The actual feast is only shown from the villagers point of view.

Alan Furst, by the way, loves food porn and indeed all kinds of culture porn and he has a fancrush on the City of Paris.
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