|
|
Post by aearwen on Sept 26, 2010 13:00:38 GMT -6
Not exactly certain if this should go into Tolkien Canon or Language - but I'll settle it here...
I need a Sindarin word (looks to Darth for this) for a thoroughly disgusting (to Gilraen) dish prepared and relished by the Imladhrim up to and including Aragorn (as a result of having been raised there.) I was originally thinking something on the line of fresh-water eels, or some other invertebrate that Gilraen will characterize as "something that should be scraped off the bottom of a shoe, not smothered in butter sauce." It could also be a larval/pupal insectoid, I suppose. Either way, it needs to thoroughly offend Gilraen's sense of culinary propriety while being a favorite of Elrond and the rest of the Elves.
I'm setting up a small culinary culture clash here in the beginning of this new chapter - borrowing ever so slightly from the infamous "Elves Don't Eat Cheese" debate that took place elsewhere (planting an inside joke, as it were) so that there is an equal and opposite revulsion in Erestor and Aurin (my OC Imladhrin chief cook) for melted cheese. Aurin characterizes that as "something with the consistency of melted wax."
HELP!!! Accepting all kinds of ideas here - it's a small detail, but I want it done properly... AND need a Sindarin word for it that makes linguistic sense.
Thanks ahead of time!
|
|
|
|
Post by russandol on Sept 26, 2010 14:34:54 GMT -6
AND need a Sindarin word for it that makes linguistic sense. Caterpillar omelette? Or centipede kebabs? Our SUL will know how to build the word for centipede, well, maybe in duodecimal base, it would be 144 legs instead of 100?  |
|
|
|
Post by samtyr on Sept 26, 2010 15:36:07 GMT -6
Maybe some "imported lobster" (aka spiders, or better yet, spider eggs) from Mirkwood?
|
|
|
|
Post by Darth Fingon on Sept 26, 2010 17:24:52 GMT -6
I need a Sindarin word (looks to Darth for this) for a thoroughly disgusting (to Gilraen) dish prepared and relished by the Imladhrim up to and including Aragorn (as a result of having been raised there.) Oh come on, Aearwen. Elves don't ever eat anything disgusting (or anything they can't hunt-and-gather, for that matter). I know this because of my learnings.  Anyhow, what I'm thinking is this: any kind of animal or vegetation would likely not be repulsive to the Dúnedain, since they live off the land and would be forced to eat whatever they can find in times of hardship. Up to and including slimy water creatures and insects/larva. So the disgust factor would probably be due to the way normal foods are prepared. Rangers are long-lived for Men, but have short lives compared to Elves and still not very much time on their hands. Also, since they spend so much time travelling around, they probably spend little effort on their cooking and eat things more or less the way nature made them. Elves, on the other hand, have been living in the same settlements for thousands of years and can take all the time in the world on their food, making some very elaborate dishes. Maybe some things that take a lot of time to ferment. I'm thinking along the lines of these: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karlen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_eggMaybe even something that's been buried underground for literally a hundred years, dug up, and eaten with much ceremony. I kind of like the idea of century eggs that really are a century (or long-year) old. In Sindarin, a century egg would be enninoch (pl enninych). |
|
|
|
Post by erulisse on Sept 26, 2010 18:48:27 GMT -6
Ohhhhh....ICKY!!!!! Eating food that is OK in other cultures sometimes can be SO difficult.
- Erulisse (one L)
|
|
|
|
Post by aearwen on Sept 27, 2010 1:13:14 GMT -6
Oh! Your reasoning is very sound - I'd never have thought of the way the Dúnedain would have been more into survival mode a lot of the time. And those links are delightfully disgusting, both of them - and definitely fitting with a culture that deals with issues of time differently. I think I'll use them both! Wonderful!
Fantastic - thanks! What do you think: should I just go ahead and use hakarl as is, or do you think you can come up with something suitably Sindarin-ish-sounding for it?
Actually this works out VERY well. The timeframe for this chapter is approx. 5 years after Aragorn returns to the Dúnedain. He's coming home to Imladris in time for a Mettarë celebration. I'm figuring that the enninych might be a traditional food served at that time - one that Gilraen has never been able to stomach but which Aragorn loves because it's been a part of his life ever since he can remember. The hakarl is a particular favorite of the Els, but I'm gonna have Aragorn eating that with relish as well.
Pretty please, Darth: a Sindarin version of the stinky dried fish too?
*blinks coyly at the Supreme Lizard*
|
|
sanna
Councillor 
Eternal Bosom of Hot Love
Posts: 189
|
Post by sanna on Sept 27, 2010 9:18:22 GMT -6
Uh- fermented fish *shudder* I have been in the general vicinity of a can of surströmming, fermented baltic herring, being opened and let me tell you, the smell was something not from this world. They say that in Sweden it's illegal to open a can of surströmming in an apartment building and if it's not true it darn well ought to. |
|
|
|
Post by russandol on Sept 27, 2010 12:15:04 GMT -6
They say that in Sweden it's illegal to open a can of surströmming in an apartment building and if it's not true it darn well ought to. It's like durian fruits, in some paces it is illegal to eat them in public, not sure if it was Malaysia or Indonesia. They stink abominably. I was persuaded to try them and the flavour did not justify the stench. I'll stick to peaches. |
|
|
|
Post by Darth Fingon on Sept 27, 2010 18:42:19 GMT -6
Pretty please, Darth: a Sindarin version of the stinky dried fish too? * blinks coyly at the Supreme Lizard* Well, in absence of an Elvish word for 'ferment', I'd just go with calling it 'century fish', and say it's the traditional counterpart to the century egg. That would be ennilim (no distinct plural). You could call it 'stench fish', but I don't think the Elves would go for that. 'Century fish' sounds far nicer and might even trick a few people into trying it. |
|
|
|
Post by Darth Fingon on Sept 27, 2010 18:44:21 GMT -6
It's like durian fruits, in some paces it is illegal to eat them in public, not sure if it was Malaysia or Indonesia. They stink abominably. I was persuaded to try them and the flavour did not justify the stench. I'll stick to peaches. Durians are canon. There's one in Bag End in one of the early FotR scenes. |
|
|
|
Post by aearwen on Sept 28, 2010 11:34:49 GMT -6
Pretty please, Darth: a Sindarin version of the stinky dried fish too? * blinks coyly at the Supreme Lizard* Well, in absence of an Elvish word for 'ferment', I'd just go with calling it 'century fish', and say it's the traditional counterpart to the century egg. That would be ennilim (no distinct plural). You could call it 'stench fish', but I don't think the Elves would go for that. 'Century fish' sounds far nicer and might even trick a few people into trying it. I'm thinking of calling them "rock fish" - is it proper to combine gond and lim and come up with gondlim? I can take care of the more squicky discriptions in the narrative that draw the parallel to hakarl... Frankly, I'd really rather not echo the ennin for both fish and eggs - I had considered that the Elves might call "century eggs" aduialoch based on the coloring, but decided that I liked the idea that the eggs really WERE that old. Whatcha think? |
|
|
|
Post by Ysilme on Mar 4, 2013 4:33:49 GMT -6
This is an awesome discussion! ;D I have watched a documentary some time back where the process of producing Hákarl was shown, as well as a similar speciality, kæst skata (fermented rotten stingray). There is no English Wiki entry, but I found this one. (Have also my source, the German Wiki entry). The skate needs to be fermented to be digestive for the same reasons as the shark for Hákarl, but the end result looked much different in the documentary, and much more disgusting to my humble (and vegetarian) eye - a kind of stringy, sticky goo smeared on some bread and, as I was told by a Swede once, like Hákarl and sürströmming mainly a reason to have a large quantity of strong spirits to go with it. ;D I didn't find any images of the look of the documentary samples, just this one which looks much better. Doubtlessly no longer interesting for the original discussion, but perhaps for some latecomer like me, I'd like to add some regional specialities also needing an acquired taste for it - or not. I was literally raised on both but have refused to taste it even as a child: blood sausage and " Metzelsupp". The link for the latter is a bit misleading for what I mean, but it gives a good general idea. Hereabouts, "Metzelsupp", which literally translates into "butcher's bits stew" and is done only when a pig is slaugthered. It's essentially a stew made from the water/broth where the sausages have been scalded or cooked in, with little bits and parts from imperfect sausages still in, lots of fat from the process, and later all kinds of leftovers from the whole butchering process thrown in for good measure. It looks always a bit greenish and has a murky consistence with chunks of all sizes and forms swimming in it. I only know the look and the smell, and short of fermented shark and stingray it's the most disgusting food I can think of, while many people are besides themselves when it is served - rarely enough, as you'll need a home slaughtering to produce it. Blood sausage hereabouts are short, thick sausages either served in half-inch thick slices for a cold cut platter, or fried in one piece and served with Sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. The most disgusting part is when the fried sausage is broken open in the middle and the fried, curdled blood-and-fat-mass spills over the Sauerkraut and mash. It looks like spilled intestines, to be honest. Again, a delicacy for the initiated. Of course, both might be well-known among the Rangers, as they are by-products of the regular butchering of pigs, and therefore not be suitable for the original question here. But since they require some effort and time as well as large cauldrons to prepare, they're not the kind of food I would attribute to the way of Ranger eating and cooking as mentioned above. |
|
