In the cafes I had feasted well. I had had verr meat, cut in chunks
and threaded on a metal rod, with slices of peppers and larma, and
roasted; vulo stew with raisins, nuts, onions and honey; a kort
with melted cheese and nutmeg; hot Bazi tea, sugared and later,
Turian wine.
---Tribesmen of Gor, page 48
Meats
The most common meats are tabuk, bosk, tarsk and verr. Tarsk is rather salty,
like pork. Many of these meats are roasted over an open flame. They are served in a variety
of ways. In taverns, cubes of meat may be cooked and served with a variety of sauces for dipping. Sausages are also made with some of these meats. Vulo is the primary type of poultry. At least some of the meat of the vulo is white meat. It too is served in a myriad of ways. Its eggs are also eaten.
Sa-Tassna
A term used to describe meat, or food in general.
Bosk
A large, shaggy, long-horned bovine similar to the Earth cow; served like beef;
may be roasted, stewed, dried, broiled or sliced; oftentimes deep pit roasted with spices; may
be garnished with slices of tospit and kalana; when served on a spit, the outside is very
dark, inside is pink and juicy, served with suls and sa-tarna bread.
Gant
Aquatic fowl; a web-footed, horned, small bird. Hunted by marsh girls and/or
Rencers for food. It resembles a duck on earth
Tabuk
A swift, one horned gazelle like animals known for their sweet meat and speed;
generally served roasted or grilled.
Tarn
A rare delicacy eaten on the battlefield by Warriors after a battle. The tarn
is roasted, but into chunks and served with red (blood) gravy.
Tarsk
A 6 tusked porcine animal akin to the Urth wild boar/pig, having a bristly mane
which runs down its spine to the base of the tail; not favored because it is a carrion eater;
may be roasted, stuffed with suls and peppers; also a diet for rence growers.
Tumits
A large carnivorous bird of the southern plains; hunted and eaten by the Nomadic
people of Gor; traditionally hunted with bolas; the sport lies in whether you or the bird gets
to eat that night; generally roasted.
Verr
A goatlike animal raised for meat and milk; wrapped in leaves, cooked in the
ground to prevent meat from becoming stringy.
Vulo
A tawny-coloured poultry bird similar to a pigeon; used for meat and eggs;
cooked in quantity due to the small size; the eggs are fried in a flat pan, also very small;
vulo is usually roasted, stuffed with herbs, grains and spices, or may be baked; brains of this
bird are considered a delicacy.
Seafood
There are many varieties of fish and shellfish eaten including carp, clams, oysters,
eels, crayfish, grunts, shark, and parsits. The blue, four-spined Cosian wingfish is a tiny,
delicate fish and is a great delicacy, especially its liver. The clustered, black tiny eggs of
the white grunt are similar to caviar. In the equatorial waters, most of the fish are poisonous
to eat due to certain seaweeds they eat which are harmless to them. The river fish though are
generally good to eat.
Eels
These are mentioned as a menu item, but not described; however, eels are eels.
Parsit
A silvery, slender, flaky fish having brown stripes and wing fish - tiny blue
salt-water fish with 4 poisonous spines on its dorsal fin; its liver is considered a delicacy in
Turia. The meat itself is normally added to bond maid gruel; may be roasted in a rence 'bag'
topped with verr butter, herbs, and sliced red Tyros olives; served on a platter
Sorp
A shell fish common especially in the Vosk river, similar to an oyster; can be
served steamed, raw, smoked or in a thick fish stew; serve raw, place them on a bed of colored
salts on the half shell; serve steamed or smoked, served them on the same platter of colored
salts or on a bed of greens; stew is served in the traditional footed clay bowls.
White Grunt
A large fish, found in the cold waters of the North that feeds on parsit fish.
The eggs of the white bellied grunt are a delicacy, much like caviar found on earth.
Wingfish
Tiny blue saltwater fish found in the waters off Port Kar; livers are considered
a delicacy and it is served in fried nuggets or as a paté with small squares of sa-tarna toast;
be careful of the four poisonous dorsal fins; livers are considered a delicacy in Turia, and
commonly served in the cities of Cos, Port Kar, and Thassa
Porridge and Soups
: Soups, or stews, are very popular on Gor and come in a wide variety. One such
soup is sullage made from Tur-pah leaves, suls, kes, and anything else around. Kes is a salty,
blue secondary root of the Kes shrub. Stews with meat and vegetables are very common in low
caste homes. There is sul porridge and grain porridge. Both are often seasoned and some people
prefer to season it themselves. A hand-rack of small vials and pots of seasonings, spices and
condiments will often be brought with the porridge.
Slave porridge/gruel
A cold, unsweetened mixture of water and Sa-Tarna meal on which slaves are fed;
in Torvaldsland, it is called "bond-maid gruel"; often mixed with pieces of chopped parsit
fish.
Sullage
A soup made mainly from suls, tur-pah, and kes, along with whatever else may be
handy.
Vegetables
These include such vegetables similar to Earth ones like cabbage, carrot, corn,
garlic, mushroom, onions, peas, peppers, pumpkins, radish, squash, and turnips. There are
also vegetables indigenous to Gor such as katch, korts, suls and vangis. Katch is a foliated
leaf vegetable, likely similar to lettuce, cabbage or spinach. The kort is a brown and
thick-skinned, sphere-shaped vegetable which is about six inches wide. The interior is yellow,
fibrous and heavily seeded. It grows in the Tahari region and is often served sliced with
melted cheese and nutmeg. Suls are a tuberous vegetable like a potato. They are large,
thick-skinned, starchy, and yellow-fleshed. There are a thousand ways to prepare and serve suls.
Vangis are an unknown type of produce. They are mentioned though never described in the novels.
Beans
Beans are beans.
Carrots
Carrots are carrots.
Katch
A leafy vegetable, probably like spinach.
Kes
A shrub whose salty, blue secondary roots are a main ingredient in sullage.
Kort
A rinded vegetable of the Tahari; served sliced with melted cheese and nutmeg.
Mul fungus
A bland, tasteless vegetable eaten by the slaves in the Nest of the Priest Kings.
Onions
Onions are onions.
Peas
Peas are peas.
Peppers
Peppers are peppers.
Radishes
These are mentioned as a menu item, but not described; however, radishes are
radishes.
Suls
A starchy, golden-brown, vegetable, principal ingredient in sullage, a tuberous
vegetable similar to the potato; often served sliced and fried. It can also be distilled to
make sul-paga.
Turnips
Turnips are turnips
Tur-pah
An edible tree parasite with curly, red, ovate leaves; grows on the tur tree; a
main ingredient in sullage.
Fruits
These include such fruits similar to Earth fruits like apricots, berries, cherries,
dates, grapes, melons, olives, yellow peach, yellow pear, plums, pomegranates, raisins,
strawberries. The cherries of Tyros are famed. There is a yellowish, red-striped spherical
variety of melon. The red olives of Tyros and the Torian olives are very popular. There are
also fruits indigenous to Gor. These include larmas, ram-berries, Ta grapes, and tospits. There
are two varieties of larma, a hard larma and a segmented juicy larma. The hard variety is red
with a crunchy shell like an apple. It has a single-seed, a large stone, and thus is also
called a pit fruit. If a slave offers a larma to her master, it is a plea to be raped. The
segmented type is more similar to an orange. Ram-berries are small, succulent reddish berries
with edible seeds. It is like a tiny plum. The tospit is a yellowish-white peachlike fruit,
about the size of a plum. It has a fairly hard-fleshed fruit and a bitter taste. It is commonly
eaten sliced with honey, used in syrups, or its juices used as a flavoring. It usually has an
odd number of seeds except for the rare, long-stemmed variety. Seamen eat it to prevent against
disease and is thus sometimes called seamen's larma. Ta grapes may have originated on the
island of Cos though they are now grown in many areas. They may be the size of a tiny plum
and are often peeled by slaves before eaten.
Apricots
Apricots are apricots
Berries
Berries are berries
Celane melon
Believed to be similar to a cantelope.
Cherries
Cherries are cherries. Tyros is known to be a large producer of cherries.
Dates
Grown in the Tahari, a primary export of the Oasis of Two Scimitars. Also grown
in the City of Tor.
Ka la na
Similar to an earth plum. This fruit is grown on the kalana tree from the Plains
of Ka-la-na; used for wines and garnishes. The wood of the trees is used in some weapons (bows.)
Larma
In the books, it shows that there are two types of larma, one has a hard, brittle
shell with segmented, succulent fruit within, the other is a single seeded fruit rather like
an apple; the fruit is sometimes served sliced and fried, with a browned-honey sauce; offering
a larma, real or imagined, by a slavegirl to her Master is a silent plea for the girl to be
raped.
Olives
Commonly from the City of Tor (referred to as Torian Olives) Red Olives are from
the groves of Tyros.
Peaches
Peaches are peaches
Plums
Plums are plums.
Raisins
Raisins are raisins
Ram berries
Reddish fruit, plumlike, but with edible seeds. Maybe could be thought of as a
hybrid of a plum and raspberry; either made into pies or jams, or eaten plain.
Redfruit
Similar in flesh and taste to apples of Earth origins.
Ta grapes
Similar to earth grapes. Grown on the Isle of Cos. They may be eaten as is, or
made into a wine (Ta Wine.)
Tospit
A bitter, juicy citrus fruit; small yellow peach-like the size of a plum; juice of
the tospit is mixed with other fruit juices for a citrus drink; used as a garnish in the drink
kal-da; may be candied or cut up and dipped in honey. It is often described in the books as
being the source of wagers, based on the number of seeds odd or even, or the number of odd
seeds, since most tospits have an odd number of seeds.
Dairy
Butter
Churned from the milk of the bosk or the verr.
Cheese
Pressed from the milk of the bosk; sharp in taste. Resists molds in their hard
rinds Verr cheese is soft and mixed with herbs, chopped vegetables, or sweeteners.
Clotted creams
Similar to a whipped cream. Used in blackwine and chocolate drinks.
Sa-Tarna (Breads)
This is a yellow grain and the staple crop of much of Gor. There is a brown variety
grown near and in the Tahari that has been specifically developed to withstand the hotter
temperatures of that area. Most Sa-Tarna is now ground in mills. It is used to make the popular
Sa-Tarna bread. This bread is baked in ovens and commonly made in round flat loaves. Larger
loaves are commonly cut into eight pieces and small loaves into four pieces. The bread may be
served with honey, melted cheese, melted butter or unmelted butter. Many are under the
misconception that the bread is cut into six pieces. This is based on two references in the
early books. Multiple references in the latter books though correct this error and even give
a reason for commonality of the eight-slice cut. As there are eight tarsk bits in a copper
tarsk, bread is also similarly cut. There are other grains available on Gor. One type makes
black bread which is most common with the Low Castes. It is cheaper and of poorer quality than
Sa-Tarna bread.
Black bread
Baked soft and flavored from Gorean grains; heavy and dark. Served with clotted
bosk cream or honey on a platter.
Sa-tarna bread
A round, flat 8 sectioned golden loaf made from the wheat-like sa-tarna grain.
It is served on a platter, sliced or in chunks.
Desserts
: Desserts are very popular on Gor especially with kajirae. Chocolate, pudding,
pastries with creams and custards, molasses, honey, hard candy, mint sticks, flavored, minced
ices and nuts are all common. Sweetmeats are candied or crystalized fruits. There are at
least four varieties of different sugars including white and yellow. Not all of the types of
sugar are listed though so various other colored-sugars may exist. Red sugar is a real
possibility. Tastas, also known as stick candies, are soft, rounded, succulent candies,
usually covered with a coating of syrup or fudge, and mounted on a stick like a candy apple.
Sweets are a common reward for kajirae whose diet is commonly rather bland.
Cakes
Cakes are cakes
Custards
Custards are custards
Mint sticks
Gorean candy
Pastries
Pastries are pastries
Tarts
Tarts are tarts
Tastas
Gorean candy
Sugar and Spices
There are many spices including nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, spikenard, various salts
including red and yellow salt, and hot peppers. The Tahari is known for very spicy foods.
Garlic
Garlic is garlic
Honey
Honey is honey
Nutmeg
Nutmeg is nutmeg
Salt
Two varieties, red or white. Most salt is mined in Klima, the ferrous soil giving
the salt a reddish tint. The Torvoldlanders
get their salt from sea water or seaweed.
Sugar
Two varieties are commonly used, the White and the Yellow. There is no red sugar
in the City of Turia.
