Tell us about Veei cuisine.
One note: 'Veei'=one person native to Elori. Singular and Plural. 'Veeus'=something belonging to the culture of the Veei.
Veeus cuisine has a particular focus on texture and aromatics- most dramatically the latter, as they season many foods with synthesized concentrates of pungent 'herbs' to the point that there is so much benzine in many of the simplest foods that it is rendered inedible to anyone or thing from our planet.
Most of what they eat is protein which generally falls into three categories:
Insectoid'Fungal'and Sea-basedThe insectoid category is a holdover from their historical diet, as Veei rarely eat highly motile prey, especially of that size-what they do is often farmed.
'Fungal' food is the reference we use, though to be accurate much the 'fungal' life that is so rapaciously spread over Elori is actually various forms of multicellular colonies, so somewhat like a soft land coral. These organisms comprise a good 87% of what appears to be 'flora' on Elori, and they are eaten as often as they are cultivated in purely aesthetic gardens. Many species of Elorian sessile fauna react to sound in much the way some earth plants respond to touch or light, and are kept and grown for their entertainment value.
Gastronomically Veei prefer to eat those that grow the densest and largest per piece, such as the 'Pink Toe' which grows in long pink bulbs with a texture like an oyster mushroom, or the 'Southern Bleeder', a rock-like species that turns gelatinous and almost non-newtonian when cut. Keep in mind that these names are likely poorly translated, as Veei have a long-phrase song language of such size that direct translations of colloquialisms is difficult.
Sea-Based life generally refers to the net-like schools of microorganisms that are often farmed in undulating aquatic sheets that are pulled from the water, great mucosal membranes that they are, dried, pulverized and served as a paste or powder. Larger creatures in the sea are highly expensive and eaten as a rare delicacy both for their price and because their tissues have such a high benzine-derivative content that the Veei themselves can only tolerate so much. It must be said that the pH of the seas on Elori is about 2.5 in most places, and anything that lives in the sea is generally some manner of trivalve (which only the Ahazzonne have a taste for) or a very mucousy creature. Veei enjoy the protective mucous itself as it is seen to contrast the taste of the meat, and they consume mucous as a beverage or beverage base in some cases.
Much food is prepared by acid-bathing, air-drying, or solar baking- not by fire.
Aside from the proteins listed, you will find that many more of the foods Veei enjoy are actually consumed as powders or pastes, and fluids. Veei enjoy a wide range of soups and there is a very nebulous line, really, between a soup and a beverage, if there is one at all.
Veeus cuisine also employs many chemical reactions- goos that turn into dumplings when plopped into broth, solids that dissolve into tiny hollow bubbles when the last seasoning is sprinkled on their dish. Aside from their dietary requirements, Veei seem very enamored with visual and glottal stimulation with their food, which truly reflects their culture.
There's so much more to say but then we'd have to go into the creation of meals and the existence of eateries. And then there's the matter of cocktails...
