An Alt-Historical Cookbook

[The_Persian_Cat]

Hello everyone,
So, one of the most important aspects of culture is cuisine. Food and drink directly impacts one's day-to-day life, and is central to social life in every culture throughout history. Often, food can have special social, ritual, or cultural meanings, and one's diet also often reflects one's aesthetic tastes and socioeconomic status. But cuisine is also historically contingent. For example, without the Columbian Exchange, potatoes would never have been introduced to the Old World. Without rationing and food shortages during World War II, English cuisine would be a lot more diverse during the mid-20th century; it'd probably rely more on the exotic spices which had become popular during the Victorian era, which Britain only had access to because of the historical development of its empire. If it wasn't for the Islamic conquests, Persia may still be famous for its wine, as it was in ancient times; and if it wasn't for the Reconquista, pork probably wouldn't be a staple of Iberian cuisine.

So, in this thread, discuss recipes and dishes from alt-historical cultures from around the world. Write a bit about their ingredients, history, cultural context, social importance, and so on.

 

[TheLoneAmigo]

I think the most considered entry in this genre is probably The Stomach of Man Under Socialism. But it's certainly ripe for further development!

 

[The_Persian_Cat]

Algharbiyan Pomegranates

In 1512, the Nasrid Emirate of Granada -- having recovered Cordoba, Sevilla, and Algarve -- sponsored a series of expeditions into the Atlantic, discovering what we IOTL call the western coast of Brazil. They called this land "al-Gharbiyah" ("the West"), and set up a network of trading posts and feitorias. These fortified trading-towns would thrive on a plantation economy (often worked by European Christian slaves, kidnapped in battle or by Barbary Pirates), as it was discovered that al-Gharbiyah was ideal for growing lucrative cash crops. The coffee and sugar trades -- once dominated by Arabia and the Levant -- quickly became dominated by Moors, as the Nasrids granted trade monopoly rights to Andalusian guilds and merchant-families.
However, the pomegranate -- Gharnatah in Arabic; from which Granada gets its name -- became increasingly fashionable. Pomegranates, too, were grown on Gharbiyan plantations, and were exported across the Mediterranean. They were also the symbol of the Nasrid dynasty, featured in art and architecture, so they became kind of a symbol of wealth and abundance. They were kind of like OTL pineapples during the 1600s or tulips during Tulip Mania -- only much more affordable, and therefore had a further-reaching cultural impact. People across Europe and the Islamic Mediterranean came to think of pomegranates a fairly high-status food, appropriate for the old aristocracy and the new bourgeoisie alike.
The Nasrids' rival, the Kingdom of Portugal, established a competing network of trading-posts along the northern coast of the Gharbiyan continent (OTL Colombia and Venezuela), and established their own plantations (with Moorish, Muslim slave labour) there. The pomegranate trade therefore became important to the Portuguese economy, and pomegranate wine remains Portugal's national drink to this day.

 

[Neoteros]

Here's my attempt:

Prester John's Stew

The roots of this dish lie in the commercial links between the Malabar Coast and Venice, established not long after the Suez Canal was built, in the early 16th century [1]; essentially, it's a Venetian spin on meen molee, a spicy dish of stewed fish quite popular among the St. Thomas Christians of southern India (a community that sailors' tall tales transformed into the last relic of Prester John's legendary kingdom), except made with ingredients typical of the Venetian lagoon, or at least well-known to the people of the Serenissima: the stewed fish in question is, more often than not, goby, cow's milk is used in place of coconut milk, while garlic and oregano take the place of Indian spices.

Indian Gnocchi

...no, not that India. Around the same time, in this alternate 16th century, Genoan sailors are trying to trade with the peoples of the Americas - an endeavour that started in the worst way possible, given the dishonour Christopher Columbus brought to the flag of St. George during his voyage (he was summarily executed as soon as he set foot back in Gibraltar) [2] and the wave of epidemics that threatened to decimate the republic's new business partners (quarantine measures were eventually introduced to the continent) [3], but that eventually bore fruit - one of Genoa's main exports to the Americas being gnocchi. Except, the local peoples took to using corn in order to make them, for rather obvious reasons - the fillings vary, with deer meat being quite popular in the Haudenosaunee version of the dish.

[1] Venice actually tried to do this, but a regime change in Egypt sunk this project before it even started;
[2] A wealthier Italy, thanks to the Italic League enduring, and a poorer Spain, due to the conquistadores fucking up massively in Mesoamerica and the Andes = the relationship between Genoa and Spain becomes not unlike that of an impoverished businessman and a loan shark, with Spain being forced to pawn off Gibraltar to the Genoese in order to repay their massive debts - Gibraltar's got quite a community of people of Genoese descent IRL, so...
[3] Having been ground zero for the Black Death, Genoa puts two and two together rather quickly.

 

[MusuMankata]

Seamerstress' Wafer: sarcastic name of a small pound cake made with eggs, flour, honey, and silphium, a plant with a tangy flavour... and alleged abortive properties, hence the name. Legend goes that the plant used to be able to grow only on a steep, rocky hill near Cyrene, in what is now Lybia, before six saplings were extracted to be shipped to Emperor Nero: three of them however were stolen by a farmer desiring to make a profit, and brought to be grown in Egypt and on the coast of Nubia; while the other three reached Rome safely, but struggled to survive and thrive, resisting until flowering only thanks to regular pourings of goat milk and urine as ordered by Nero himself. [1] Other say that the plant had always existed all over the Mediterranean, and the legend is just fanciful self-aggradinzing.
Whatever the case, silphium is credited as the reason for North Africa's wealth past the Atlantic Shift, and to this day Silphium cultivation is an important part of the economies of countries on the Red Sea.

Hisatsinomen Beanery: a cross between a bean soup and a chicken stew, it is extremely popular in the areas around Mesa Verde's sites and in the state of Cibola.

[1]: number of saplings and steal aside, the gifting actually happened.

 

[shearsforest]

J.J. McCollough's two-video series on "cultural appropriation" foods shows just how much modern cuisine is based on popular dishes adapted from the dishes of other cultures. One simple change down the line and you might get a different popular dish.

 

[Kerney]

Glyptodont: It's what's for dinner.

 

[da Racontor]

Chinese meat pie (name after the OTL unrelated French Canadian name for Shepard's pie, pâté chinois) sometimes called teriyaki pie.

Chinese meat pie was invented by Chinese cook working for their Western colonial governors. They enjoyed it so much that it was exported to their home nations.

Chicken is mixed with soybean sprouts and other vegetables are mixed in a thick teriyaki sauce and ginger. Then placed into a pie crust (traditionally made out of rice flour) and baked. There are several regional variations of this, a Szechuan variation is especially popular.

I wish I had the money to actually try alternate recipes to make an actual cookbook.

 

[Tessitore]

Something from the ADWLverse:

Meat with Green Sauce

Originally one of a number of dishes based on and celebrating the first green vegetables of the year that were a feature of the New Year's festival during the spring equinox. Typically flavoured with ramsons, ground elder and something mustardy (scurvy grass and/or dittander are common choices) with mallow leaves used as a thickener, original version was relatively restrained, as is typical for most cuisine from the region, but for some reason things escalated, with the sauce becoming progressively stronger and more pungent, along with versions substituting other suitable alliums for the seasonally restricted ramsons, until arriving at its current incarnation which is mildly notorious amongst foreigners and has a reputation as something that can cure congestion after one bite. Usually served with thin cattail flour flatbread/pancakes.

On a more general note, I think that, much as how much of OTL Far Eastern cuisine is an exercise in finding as many uses for soybeans as possible and much of OTL Middle Eastern and Middle East-adjacent cuisine is an exercise in finding multiple uses for chickpeas, a sizable chunk of the cuisine of the civilization developing in my ATL would be about finding uses for hazelnuts. Especially during mast years when they're awash in the things.

 

[Arkenfolm]

I find substituting pork into traditional "Middle Eastern" dishes like a tajine works very well. I think such a thing might resemble an ATL dish from a Christian North Africa. Of course, beef in curries is done occasionally by Muslims and tastes delicious.

I have also used native Australian pepper spices on various dishes, including kangaroo. It reminded me of the Lands of Red and Gold TL.

Does this thread include alternate liquor/alcohol? Because apple brandy deserves special mention given its role in the early United States. Most of the early whiskey distilleries from Tennessee to Kentucky to elsewhere were also distilling apple brandy. Some suggest folk hero Johnny Appleseed was planting his apple trees for cider, but it was probably for apple brandy too since that was huge in the Midwest in the 19th century.