NIJAKOKOUSHI CUISINE Isolated from the mainland realms by miles of ocean, the Nijakokoushi Island Empire is an archipelago of humble rice farmers, privileged swordsmen and hardy sailors. The nation is ruled by a strict caste system based on hierarchal reincarnation – with a semi-divine emperor at the top and lowly serfs at the bottom – where a mortal soul may by accumulating good karma be reborn into a higher caste in the next life, and only the emperor may escape the cycle of rebirth and enter the gods’ kingdom upon his death. This hierarchy, as well as the environment, shapes the food the people eat and even how they prepare it. Seafood and rice dominate the menu, many times flavored with soy sauce or pungent horseradish, with bean curd often used as a substitute for the much more expensive meat and dairy products. RICE This cereal is the most staple food in the island empire; eaten daily by all castes of the Nijako people three times a day. Rice is not only a food but is also
BAMZHU CUISINE Hidden within the deep lush Jade forest lies the mysterious and secluded nation known as the Jade Realm or the Bamboo Empire – although the ruler is often described as an emperor the term is quite an embellishment as the realm is closer to a principality than an actual empire. The Jade Realm is not inhabited by humans or elves but by the bamzhu people; furred bipedal pandas with great love for food and ale. Within their forest home they cultivate crops, raise livestock, mine and shape beautiful jade, weave clothes either from bamboo fiber or silk and paint their furs in various colors and patterns for religious ceremonies where they worship various nature spirits. Bamzhu are corpulent by nature with wide stocky bodies, similar to dwarves only taller, just slightly shorter than the average human. And these humanoid pandas are gourmands by nature; eating is more than just the intake of nourishment to the bamzhu, it is also a social ritual that tie families together and
When the moon is full and the nights grow dark When harvest ends and frost leaves its mark Take the road and avoid the field Least you find your fate be sealed You’ll find yourself frozen with horrid frights When you catch the glare of two red lights Eyes of fire and hair like knives The glare sow come to take your lives Hooves a gallop and her snout a steaming Your blood will freeze from the sow's a screaming Cross your legs and watch her mane Otherwise the hog will cleave you in twain So beware the field when the earth lay bare Else you’ll be caught in her fiery glare When harvest ends and summer breaks Only time will tell whom the glare sow takes