Ordrish cuisine

Ordrish cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, recipes, and culinary traditions associated with the Ordrish culture. It is a subset of the East Alutran and Sedic culinary traditions as a result of local, regional, and continental influences from over the centuries, as well as minor influences from the period of the Ordrish colonial empire, including !TBD and Huenarnoan culinary practices.

Ordrey's endemic larder of vegetables, fruits, oats, fish and other seafood, dairy products and game meats are the principal features of traditional Ordrish cooking. It is often thought of as the most unaltered cuisines from its pre-imperial era in comparison to other historical powers, as simplicity and subtlety are generally prioritized, with native herbs and flavors prioritized over historically more expensive and rare spices from outside of East Alutra.

History
Thanks to its temperate climate and wide range of indigenous game species, Ordrey has provided its residents with a wide range of foods. The earliest Sedic communities were largely reliant on and other forms of seafood, primarily, for their primary staple protein. With the transition of continental Sedic culture to one based on a more pastoral lifestyle, the inland palate was built around wild game (primarily and ) and later, goat and sheep. and would become the established staple grain in the Ordrish diet with the widespread adoption of agriculture.

As meat was an expensive commodity throughout much of Ordrish history, animals themselves would only rarely be consumed, with dairy being a far more commonly-used food among most for nourishment. Especially during the era of, most Ordrons' meals were composed of a form of or a light  composed of herbs and roots (occasionally enriched by some form of animal protien, generally seafood or a stock for flavoring), with bread and/or eggs, cheese, and some other vegetable, or  in coastal regions. The usage of wild game in cuisine, especially boar, came to be a symbol of status among the nobility of Ordrey and Salia alike during the Concordat Era, while domestic meats, while still prohibitively expensive for much of the population, were seen as the domain of the emergent merchant classes up through to the 18th Century. ,, and were commonplace, while imported spices like , , and  were luxuries typically only seen among the nobility.

A primary feature of Ordrish cooking for much of antiquity and middle ages was a high degree of thrift in meal preparation - excavations of across Ordrey and Lathadu reveal very little wastage; only the toughest bone was consistently found, suggesting that all parts of animals consumed were used in Ordrish cooking. With the independence of the Kingdom of the Ordreys in 1650, the ruling classes in Ordrey sought to differentiate the national palate from Salian cuisine. Generally, this saw the decline in popularity of wheat-based carbohydrates in favor of the recently-introduced potato, as well as a rise in the use of root vegetables, as well as a general turn away from ocean-caught seafood in favor of those which can be harvested from riparian sources, such as the and. became a renowned feature of Ordrish cuisine from this turn, to the point where control of sturgeon hatcheries in the Aarnieu Delta became one of the greatest economic disputes between Ordrey and Lathadu following its departure from the Kingdom in 1751, leading to aquaculture being the main source for roe in the proceeding centuries. The 19th Century would see the emergence of a new phenomenon of conflict around food sources: the "Oyster Wars". These took place in the Sedic Sea between Lathadun and Ordrish fishermen, with shots perioically being exchanged over use of oyster beds up until the 1930s.

The 19th Century saw land enclosure greatly affect the development of Ordrish cuisine, with dedicated hunting estates forming a new industry among the upper classes of Alutra at large, especially following the development of the Ordrish railroad system, which greatly expanded the market for Ordrish game, leading, and  to become a delicacy in neighboring countries. The Sedic Boar population would come under considerable strain by the early 20th Century, leading to some of the first sweeping conservation legislation in the world.

20th and 21st Centuries
Developments in Ordrish cuisine during the 20th Century was largely defined by the nation grappling with industrial agriculture at home, imported culinary traditions from abroad in its sphere of influence, and resource shortages that resulted from periods of rationing during the World Wars and periodic economic downturns which often book-ended conflicts in East Alutra. Huenarnoans and !TBD were the most important immigrant groups which contributed to Ordrish culinary development, with the former bringing a revived standard of the usage of fresh produce, and the latter bringing a number of spices and unique cooking techniques (including the use of earthen ovens and insect proteins) that continue to develop Ordrish cooking.

Post-Revolutionary culinary developments
The economic instability of the early 1970s and the subsequent Ordrish Revolution had a profound effect on all aspects of society in Ordrey, including cuisine. Supply shortages from embargoes placed on the country during the Revolution and prior to its reentry into the World Forum and the struggles adjusting to the new cooperative agricultural system under SGAO administration saw a revival in culinary thrift, with practices which required minimal preparation and use of gas and oil for fuel becoming vital to maintaining the nutrition of Ordrish citizens while devoting maximum resources to the revolutionary forces. Grilling and usage of wood fire in cooking became more commonplace among rural communities, and meat portions typically became smaller and shared by multiple households, with the preparation of barbecued and smoked meat becoming a common feature of community meals that would be held regularly throughout the Revolution and hence. Diets among most shifted back towards primarily vegetarian ones, and continues to be favored among Ordrons today.

Household gardens were encouraged, and as lawns fell out of favor during the Reconstruction Era, many in rural communities began to maintain community vegetable and grazing plots, which had the effect of reviving regional palates that often corresponded to the "Old Duchies" which constituted the Five Ordreys of the Middle Ages, sans Lathadu. These developments would be reflected in the adoption of the Coran system, which established standard allotments of domestically-produced foodstuffs and key ingredients which are accessible to all Ordrish citizens, which include potato, oats, flour, eggs, salt, vegetable oil, milk, cheese, and a range of proteins, including beef, pork, chicken, herring, and salmon. While herbs, fresh produce, and other goods, usually those which cannot be produced at scale in Ordrey, can be purchased at grocery stores around the country, Bonwenat encourages contribution to the aforementioned common plots to supplement one's diet. The culinary achievements of the Revolutionary Period were compiled in a series of cookbooks titled Beyond Survival, first written by Velorenkyan travel writer and journalist Veranil Konti in 1979 as part of a series of articles written describing day-to-day life among SGAO-administered communities during the Revolution for Velorenkyan publication New Folk. In the time since, community kitchens and multi-household meals remain a fairly commonplace feature of many Ordrish communities, which in turn has promoted similar developments abroad.

Alcoholic
The brewing of alcohol has a rich and varied history in Ordrey, from simple ales to more complex beverages often tied to holidays and religious festivals. As with other Sedic brewing traditions, usage of wheat is generally eschewed in favor of rye and barley, later to be supplemented by rice-based beverages during the early modern period. Regionality plays a prominent role in Ordrish ale production, with Arclish and Fendish ales being largely composed of distilled spirits, while Céthitun and Lanamon ales are more often traditional beer varieties. Bueican ales are the most varied, with the bulk of the nation's mead and rice wine being produced there. Ordrish beers are uniquely categorized into "dithruchna" categories rooted in archaic duty taxes placed upon ale production during the 18th and 19th centuries. As such, ales marketed in Ordrey are typically not identified by alcohol by volume, but rather as part of these established categories, ranging in 10d intervals from 50d to 100d (called gondlánu, or "full crown" ales) which roughly correspond to increasing ABV levels, from under 3% to over 8%. While nearly all typical varieties of ale are produced in Ordrey in modern times, "essentially" Ordrish beers tend to lie between red, amber, and brown in color. , an archaic style of ale production that was popular during the Early Modern Period, has seen a modest revival in recent years.

The drink most closely tied to Ordrish culture is Fendish Whiskey, which owing to their unique single-source policies have allowed for a wide range of unique whiskeys. A spirit can only be considered Fendish if it is sourced from a single stream with ingredients sourced within 50 miles of the place of manufacture, and specifically must be made on the eastern side of the Aarnieu River. A similar type of spirit is made on the Western side of the river in Ecoralia, but is generally considered to be inferior due to less stringent production rules, as well as popular perceptions around whiskey that have been propagated over the centuries that have placed Fendish varieties among the pantheon of luxury spirits abroad.

Non-alcoholic
, while not as popular in Ordrey as with other nations, have a few locally-produced varieties which are culturally significant. Usually produced during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries by private companies, they often are a carbonated beverage with some form of root and herb-based flavoring. Ligebra is the most prominent of these beverages, a bittersweet carbonated drink with a blend of, , and. -based drinks are another fixture of Ordrish cuisine, including both hard and soft varieties.

Regional variations
As with many aspects of Ordrish culture, differentiations tend to line up along the "old duchies" of pre-Concordat medieval Ordrey. It is divided, counterclockwise from the Northwest, into Arclish, Céthitun, Bueican, and Lanamon culinary traditions. Fendish cuisine, unique to that culture, tends to be organized as part of the Céthitun tradition by geography.

Arclish cuisine from the Northwest of the country is often influenced by neighboring Edury and Gladomyr, characterized by stronger and more fragrant cheeses, smoked meats, and denser rye breads. Bacon in Arclish cooking tends to be sourced from as opposed to  meat, and typically stands in the place of sausage in meals. It is also one of the few parts of the country where seafood is not more commonly consumed as opposed to other forms of animal protein. Arclish are featured in many dishes around the country. Céthitun cuisine is heavily influenced by the Penguinnes, and is often considered "old" cuisine compared to other sources. Wild game is a seasonal fixture here, with the main protein being sourced from goat and sheep. Soups tend to be more dense and creamy here, with oat-based porridges being a common side dish, alongside savory puddings. Brawn (also called head cheese) and pickled vegetables are commonly eaten as light meals in southern portions of Céthitunac, especially in areas where cattle are more commonly raised. Fendish cuisine is a subset of the wider Céthitun tradition, and often features highly portable meals with easily-stored ingredients as part of their traditionally nomadic lifestyle, including salted meats, hard cheeses (called brawn in Ordrey), and root vegetables, spiced by wild herbs that can be found in the Fens and in the Ecoralian Steppe.

Bueican and Lanamon cuisine tends to be the most varied and diverse in origin, owing to the large immigrant communities in major cities and industrial towns which define this region, as well as the traditionally maritime nature of the local culture. Spices are more commonly employed, and has resulted in a number of mainstay dishes emerging from here in recent decades, including sandwiches and fried foods, often with some form of fish as the main protein. Sturgeon is considered the highest quality seafood in Bueica, and usage of roe as a spread is a unique delicacy to the Aarnieu Delta region, while shellfish are more commonly seen in dishes further north. Soups here tend to be more light in character, and use more vegetables, with potato as the primary carbohydrate.