I’ll just knock out food altogether in one post:
In America, we say we’re “so hungry we could eat a horse”, but we would never eat a horse because we don’t consider it to be food (unless you’re one of those people who will eat anything). We generally don’t consider rodents or dogs to be food either, but in other places of the world you will find people eating these animals.
Decide what your cultures accept as food and what they don’t accept as food. Then decide why. Is an animal considered sacred? Maybe a certain animal had a disease a few centuries ago that killed off a bunch of people, leading to a cultural shift in which that animal is no longer considered food despite the current population not knowing why. Or maybe certain animals are seen as dirty. Or maybe they just didn’t know how to eat a certain animal.
Trade: A locally grown food might not be available to the population if they depend on exporting it to make a living. Traditional dishes that once used those ingredients will need substitutes or will become a rare treat if these ingredients occasionally become available.
Seasonal foods: Depending on technology and location, foods are mostly seasonal. Get familiar with the climate you’re writing about and learn about when foods grow and where animals go when there is no food. This is important because if you have certain recipes that are only made on certain holidays, the food will need to be available during that time.
Cost of food: The cost of food will determine what your characters have available based on their economic class. For example, if you’re writing wealthy characters they will probably have access to anything they want. The cuisine of the wealthy can get pretty intricate. If you’re writing poor characters, they’re going to have a smaller variety of foods.
Rarity: If certain foods are only available on rare occasion, that dish will probably become important within a population if it is well liked, especially if it was once readily available but became rare due to circumstance (endangerment, natural disaster, export, etc.).
Natural disasters, poor economy, poor wealth distribution: All of these can lead to food shortage or difficulties in finding/buying food. Simple recipes pop up in these situations. For some examples, look up Great Depression recipes.
To make recipes: Make a list of the food that is available to your characters. Look up real recipes (these websites can help) and then tweak them to match your fictional cultures. You can also make up your own fruit/vegetable/meat/etc. and substitute it for real ingredients in a recipe.
When & How Many: When do your characters eat their meals and how many meals do they eat per day? Alternatively, do they snack throughout the day instead of having full meals? Do they have one big meal and snacks the rest of the day? Is it considered rude to eat too much or too little? Are there different courses within a meal?
Etiquette: What is the dining etiquette? What utensils are used? Do they sit at a table? On the ground? Elsewhere? Is there a certain order people sit in regarding the family hierarchy? What is considered to be rude behavior? Does everyone have their own plate or do people share? Do people eat together or alone?
Cooking: Is cooking a role assigned to a certain person? Is it something done by many people? Is there any cultural significance to cooking or is it just a necessity? Is it used to strengthen familial bonds?
Presentation: What is the food expected to look like? Are there garnishes? Are certain recipes arranged a certain way? Does this arrangement have any meaning? Do people refuse to eat a meal if it is not presented well? Are certain foods not supposed to touch each other?
Preferences: If you have characters from different cultures and places interacting with one another, they’re going to have preferences for food and they’re going to want to eat a certain way and at certain times. Some characters may have a higher tolerance for certain foods than others either due to exposure throughout their life or due to a certain population evolving in a certain way that allows for that tolerance (e.g., Europeans and Native Americans are far less likely to be lactose intolerant that other populations).
Holidays, Religions, and More
Holidays: Certain food is often associated with certain holidays. Sometimes this food is seasonal. Other times it’s so often associated with a certain day/time that it’s not eaten on any other day/time of the year. Sometimes foods are “themed” to match the holiday. For example, Western societies often make sugar cookies in different shapes and with different decorations to match the holiday.
Religion: Some foods are used in a religious setting, but they don’t have to be limited to that religious setting. Other times certain foods must be “blessed” or made in a certain way due to a religion. An example of a religious food is the wine and communion bread/crackers in Christianity. They represent the blood and body of Jesus and are blessed by a priest, which makes them religious foods. Other foods may be banned by a religion. Sometimes they may only be banned on certain days or during certain times of the year.
Cultures: “Traditional food” is often important among immigrants and diasporas, but the particular ingredients in these recipes often changes based on what is available. For example, many Irish-Americans still eat corned beef and cabbage, but it’s not made in Ireland and the original recipe (from 19th + 20th centuries) called for pork and potatoes. It changed to beef because pork was expensive in America while beef was not, but I’m not sure how the potatoes got switched out. If you have populations of people who have been “displaced” or who immigrated in mass numbers, you’ll probably have stuff like this. It can help add history to your world.
Name: Name your food! It’s much easier to name snacks, drinks, candies, and desserts than other things, but cool names stick in the reader’s mind. Make sure the names fit your world. If you made up a fictional language, consider using that. Alliterations also work.
Description: You don’t have to name the ingredients of these foods, especially if it’s candy or dessert. We hear about a lot of stuff from Harry Potter without knowing what it’s actually made of, but the names and the description of these foods (taste, smell, color, texture, size, etc.) help make them seem real.
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