Worldbuilding Food: More than meets the eye
So, you want to world build food but maybe you don't know where to start, have hit a roadblock, or are just looking for some interesting places to addon to. I've got your back.
Vegetables, Fruits, Grain, Nuts, & Fungi
One of the first things I think of when it comes to food is fruits and vegetables, and the line between them is surprisingly small.
Like tomatoes are vegetables? Pumpkins are fruits but other gourds are not? When does a herb become a vegetable? Although important to classify, don't let it be your main focus.
What it looks like throughout different stages of its life
How most people consume the produce
How the product is harvested
What about the produce that makes its growable environment habitable
How it spreads/reproduces
There's many different unique ways fruits and vegetables grow in just our real world, but that doesn't mean you can stop there.
Cranberries grow on vines that actually float on the surface of soggy ground and water in wetlands. Cashews actually grow on the bottom of cashew apple, which is it's own edible product. There's lots of different ways plants can grow, and what they even need to do so.
Some produce even have their own defense mechanisms (which often which becomes a form of flavor to us). Don't think these defense mechanisms stop at protection from predators. Strawberries are an aggressive plant, fighting, killing, and taking over any nearby plant neighbors. Some plants have thistles and thorns, and others are the hard shell or peel we end up effortlessly cutting through.
Try to think of some environmental things in the world your working with that the produce would have adapted to.
I think my favor example of this IRL is sunflowers. They change directions to face the sun, and when they can't find the sun they face each other. Eventually their seeds weigh them down, and which they'll always face east.
Don't forget fungi is edible too, and has it's very own unique properties.
(Don't forget yeast -> bread, you can make up whatever food you want)
Meats & Agricultural Animals
I myself am not a meat-eater, but I understand the importance of animal products to a society. If you world doesn't have it, don't fret. This sector won't just be about meat products, but it will contain a lot of it.
Food and what animals are considered for consumption changes from culture to culture. The same can be said for treatment leading up to their role in society as the food on people's plates. Often times a culture cannot imagining eating an animal they see as part of the family, such as dogs or cats IRL, but other times it's seen part of a religious practice such as cows.
There's a lot of cultural stuff that goes into our agricultural animals, both for work, dairy, textiles, and food.
Here's some ideas to start with
What parts of them are edible and used for food
Do they produce any dairy or egg products
How old do they have to be before becoming a produce animal
Are the animals used for other resources too i.e. bones, fur, skins, skulls, blood, etc.
How much food does one animal make
Typically how are they are killed, if they are
What conditions are these animals kept in and are they viewed humane
What environments allow these animals to thrive alongside the people of your world
Now... Let's into some culture and religion
Religion and culture has a major impact on what we eat. Take for instance Kosher, Halal, and more. Historical shortages in food even to this day affect what foods we eat. Culture also affects our tastes. The corn line of the United States is drowning in corn, and yet corn is seen as a sweet treat over seas in many nations.
How the harvesting goes changes a lot about a society, big and small. Think about how terrible a year would go in medieval times if harvest came up incredibly poor, or how wealthy our modern day world would look to those people due to mass production.
Here's some things to think about
What time of year are the biggest and most important harvest(s)
How common are agricultural workers
What would the average person see if they watched people work
What technology/tools are used
What happens if the harvest goes wrong
Do farmers/harvesters get special rights for their role in society
In older societies harvesting and how that went completely shaped how the next year would look. In some cultures the harvesters have been revered, while in other if crossed to far would be expected to tear the country to pieces. Think about the role harvesting plays in your society. What would happen if they striked? Or if a disaster swept the land?
The environment itself will change a lot about what harvesting look likes. Why does this environment work? What are the environmental risk to both the crop and workers?
Are we farming in the water, in the middle of the arctic, underground, high up in the trees?
Exotic Food & Immigration
While establish what the everyday food in the area is, don't forget to pay mine to the opposites. Immigration and trade play a major role in what foods end up on our plate. As cultures combine and mingle so do their food.
Take one look at the United States, infamous for it's large potions, fatty foods, and immigrant culture cuisine. A lot of foods in the United States are the results of cultures meeting to improve and add onto one another's foods, that includes American styles of pizza, tacos, and more.
Even major cities around the world have styles of foods unique to them.
What locally seen foods count as exotic
What foods are nearly impossible to get
Is there access to foreign brands/produce
How expensive is most exotic foods
What styles of cooking are being brought in by foreigners
How do people get exotic foods
What foods would the locals not be able to eat due to not being used to it
Try to think about what makes this food exotic in the local area. Maybe it cannot grow in the local environment. Maybe the quality of the food is simply better overseas. Maybe the animal or plant is far too aggressively invasive for locals.
Food is both a very important export and import, especially in time of devastation.
Don't forget about exports too, what is your society giving out to the world, and getting back. Not all trade has to be capital based. Perhaps your world simply trades on good or service for another.
Here's some things to think about
What's being exported and imported
Are whole animals imported/exported
How is the trade being done i.e. trains, boats, aircraft, teleportation, etc.
Are there any obstacles to trade
What places are all involved in trading
How is the trade brought to where it needs to be inland
In what ways do these trades improve the lives of locals
Transportation is also super important to where food ends up, and more so in what volumes. How do people get all these produce or animals relocated? What kinds of storage are we seeing to keep things fresh (if health standards are even up to code in your worldbuilding)?
What poses a threat to things in storage? i.e. mold, foxes, animal thieves, disease, etc.
With supply and demand, comes outages, taxes, and restrictions. Unfortunately not everything in the food world goes right. There's natural disasters to come and destroy crops, hostile settlements to block trade, and especially that person who is really bad at cooking but they love doing it so you don't have the heart to say no....
Anyway let's talk restrictions and where they can come from
Wartime can cause a lot of original farmers and workers to become soldiers. It also can lead to the large scale destruction of precious farm land, crops, animals, and overall places to cook.
Perhaps there's a particularly poisonous food, and way too many suspiciously poisoned people. That's when law comes in. There's many reasons for food and drink to become outlawed. Religious reasons, danger, regulations, inebriation, etc.
Knock knock! It's the United States here to embargo your random country. Outside factions can always become an obstacle, leading to loss of traveling cargo or straight up missing farmers too. Nothing comes in, and sometimes nothing comes out.
Perhaps a common plant or favored animal is running low on populous. Now locals are more so focused on reanimating a dwindling population, more so on eating it.
Whether it be hoards of invasive bugs, prion disease caused by cannibalistic animal feed, or sudden inexplicable field of dead corn sickness happens. Maybe something has swept over the land, and no one ever bothered to try to plant said crop again.
Natural disasters can not only cause the elimination of entire villages, but accidentally bring in lots of invasive creatures too. Catfish is off the menu for as long as carp is intown.
Sometimes a fruit appears once a year, or a tasty creature is a dangerous one to take on in order to eat. It can be difficult getting the right ingredient sometimes. Other times it's new to the market. So much can happen when food is involved.
Finally all the food in the world is available, but what are we going to do with it.
I personally find preparation to be the best part of worldbuilding. Now I get to imagine my fictional little people stewing their pots, and kindling their fires. Reflect off of real world recipes, and maybe even write down exact fantasy recipes of your own.
Don't forget about herbs and spices (I see you British people).
You have five basic taste receptors in your mouth: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and savory. They make great descriptors and fun places to explore when looking into what your foods taste like. Smell can play an important role too.
Does it smell awful and taste great, smell sweet and taste bitter, perhaps it doesn't have anything at all going on.
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