Culinary Ethnography

Dwarves

Many races use food as a way to celebrate the good times, and what race more so than the Dwarves. Anyone who has been in a busy tavern in a cosmopolitan city has probably seen some Dwarven revelers drinking friend and foe alike under the table. However, a penchant for alcohol is not all that this folk has. Let us look at their diet as a whole. 

Cultivation

Dwarven foodstuff is primarily separated into two groups: “that from above” and “that from below”. “That from above” includes everything that is grown above ground or outside of the mountain or hill that the Dwarves call home. These include most grazing animals and any of the fruits, vegetables, or grains that the Dwarves might cultivate. “That from below” is all items that are cultivated below the earth’s surface. These include some more hardy root vegetables, certain lichens and moss, many types of fungus, many subterranean creatures that some Dwarven clans cultivate, such as spiders or lizards. We will begin with an in depth look at the above before moving onto the below. 

That from above: 

While many adventurers’ depictions of Dwarves have them as stalwart denizens of the mountain, never leaving the crags and spires that they call home, many Dwarven clans spend a fair amount of time in the sunlight. This time is often spent allowing livestock to graze among whatever greenery is available on the hills and mountain sides. Cattle, goats, and sheep are very commonly seen as grazing animals.. However unlike other races that rely on grazing animals, these animals never venture too far from home. Most are let out in the mornings and corralled back inside by night fall. Instead of solely relying on grazing, some clans also have animals in pens that are raised on feed. This includes the aforementioned cattle, goats, and sheep, along with pigs and fowl. 

Dwarves also use the land outside of their strongholds for agriculture, primarily including vegetables and grains. Root vegetables play a large role in many Dwarven diets due to their nutritional density and ability to survive in some of the less hospitable growing conditions near Dwarven strongholds. Potatoes, carrots, and turnips are a mainstay in most Dwarven clans, and can easily evoke a nostalgic feeling for Dwarves eating at a tavern far from home. Another popular starch is the goldsponge, a large fruit that grows on long spindly vines and has a deep yellow color and very tender flesh. Cabbage can also be found in many Dwarven recipes for its hardiness and ability to be stored deep underground. When it comes to grains, wheat, barley, and rye are by far the most common. These grains are cultivated and harvested close to the stronghold and then kept in underground quarries. Many Dwarven clans that live near other races will trade with them to supplement their grain production, if not completely rely on them for it. 

That from below:

Dwarves glean many treasures from the earth, and this is not only speaking of the gems and ores. Many Dwarven clans are well versed in the types of fungus that can be found in their hills and mountains. Dwarven mushroom picking is an old art in some clans, with an apprentice requiring at least a century of tutelage before they are trusted. Old mushroom foraging masters can tell apart mushrooms that might seem completely identical to an outside. The difference between the two being how alive you’ll be after choosing one to add to your soup. Some clans have even been known to cultivate types of fungus, managing large scale cave mushroom farms that can rival the massive wheat fields of humans. For those clans that do more foraging, lichen and moss are also a good source of nutrients in the caves. 

Traditional agriculture doesn’t just occur above the surface. Many Dwarven holds have complex diamante-lined tunnels which filter light from the surface into large growing chambers. This is far from the benefits of a field in the full summer sun, but many vegetables, such as tubers can still grow well with this amount of light. Potatoes, carrots, and turnips are a constant among most Dwarven clans after all. The aforementioned goldensponge also thrives in these farming caverns. Large arches are often constructed above the growing fields for the cultivation of lichen and mosses.

One of the most dazzling growing caverns I’ve ever seen was when I dined with the Tollkur Dwarves in Mount Kal-der. Kal-Der is a long dormant volcano, and the Tollkur Dwarves have created large step terraces in the volcanic soil, going up hundreds of feet. The walls of the cavern are all lined with crystals to refract the light that comes through tunnels from the surface. At day, the cavern is blindingly bright, and at night, when there is a moon in the sky, the cavern twinkles gently, allowing the Dwarves to work the terraces. The Dwarves also undertook a massive irrigation project, routing run-off from the mountain snow into large aquifers in the mountain, which are then gradually emptied to run through canals in the terrace farm. It is truly a spectacle to behold, and an architectural marvel that could only be pulled off by Dwarves.

Meat

Dwarves are far from herbivores however, and just as meat can be found above, so can it below. The Rothe is a quadrupedal creature, similar to an Auroch or Bison. While there are species of Rothe that live above the surface, there are also Deep Rothe which are adapted to life below. They subsist off a diet of myconid strands, little fungal patches that look like spiderwebs. This is supplemented with insects and other small creatures that are found while foraging for fungus. In some clans it is common for Dwarven miners to bring along a Rothe with them while they work. The Rothe can serve as a pack animal, helping to haul the Dwarf’s equipment and whatever ore they collect. While the Dwarf mines, the Rothe forages along the mineshaft, and can warn of any danger that the Dwarf could otherwise be ambushed by.  

Dwarves consume some less cooperative creatures as well. Lizards, spiders, and beetles all are commonly eaten, and some clans go so far as to selectively breed them just as other races have done with cattle and other livestock. While far from domesticated, many of these creatures have become reliable sources of protein and nutrients that can be completely managed without leaving the mountain. Lizard meat from the Dwarves in Mount Korkrum is a particular treat, as rich and fatty as good quality beef, but with an aged and not unpleasantly dank flavor, like that of exotic mushrooms. Their spider legs are also incredibly meaty, cracking open almost like those of a crab. 

Some creatures aren’t managed by the Dwarves, but are rarely came across while they work in the mines. When it comes to the creatures of the caverns, this is where diet differs most clan by clan. Some clans have underground springs and lakes offering beasts like fish and eels. Some rely on more terranean creatures such as giant bats and rats. It is completely determined by what lives in the mountain. The prime example of a great find in the caverns is the Cave Fisher. I speak more about this true gem of the underground in my other work “Fantastic Beasts and How to Cook Them”, but I will mention the large boon that a Cave Fisher can be to Dwarves when it is found in the wild and captured. In addition to the strongly flavored meat, the blood is used for the creation of certain highly sought after Dwarven spirits. No other race has truly learned how to ferment Cave Fisher alcohol like the Dwarves, though plenty others have tried. Some rambunctious Dwarves even drink the blood straight, giving a more psychedelic effect. The eggs also were used for their psychedelic effect, which some Dwarven Clerics used in rituals to have visions or tell fortunes. These psychedelics could be damaging and even fatal for races with less hardy constitutions. 

While meat plays a large role in Dwarven diets, the actual culinary methods of preparation are very simple. The vast majority of all meat consumed is either roasted or braised. When going into a Dwarven kitchen before dinner time you will see meat in one of two places, on a spit or in a stock pot. Roasted meat is very lightly seasoned, usually just coated in salt and maybe some spices before being turned slowly over a fire until perfectly cooked through. Thicker, more muscled cuts are commonly broken down in braises and soups. Shoulder meat can be seen simmering away in a pot with a dark stout and aromatics, or in a hearty stew. 

These methods hold true for a large majority of Dwarven consumption, but there are some notable exceptions. The first of which is the important place of sausages. Many races have types of sausages, but where most other peoples add large amounts of spices or seasonings to the ground offal, Dwarven sausages are characterized by proportionally large amounts of non-meat. The offal is instead matched almost evenly by chopped up mushrooms before being stuffed in casings. Some deep dwarves don’t even use animal intestines for casings, instead relying on webs of thick mycelium which are then removed before cooking. Sausages are usually poached in water before roasting on a spit over a fire. Another worthwhile exception is the place of “coal burying” when it comes to the meat of creatures with exoskeletons. Legs of giant spider and cave fisher alike are commonly buried in hot coals to cook through. They are then retrieved, and the thick carapace is cracked to reveal incredibly juicy and tender meat. 

Vegetables

Vegetables do much of the heavy lifting in Dwarven diets, and play plenty of roles on a Dwarven dinner table. The first and foremost is in thick hearty stews. Root vegetables make up the backbone of almost any Dwarven stew, being cooked down for hours with the offal and bones that are harvested from other meat dishes. Most Dwarven stews are roux based, relying on some sort of grain flour being mixed with fat for thickening and a flavor base. These stews are an important part of the meal plan for providing dense nutrients and calories, and for being an incredibly versatile vehicle for utilizing leftovers. Did you have cave fisher the night before? Place the bones in some water that morning to cook out, by noon you will have a nice broth. Some of this broth will be used in lunch, and the rest combined with a thick roux and some vegetables to cook off until dinner time, yielding a hearty soup or stew. 

Some vegetables avoid the pot altogether and are instead roasted to caramelized perfection. These are placed on the same spits that meat is turned on. This is common for high sugar content vegetables such as carrots and onions. Garlic is another popular roast vegetable on Dwarven tables, commonly eaten all on its own as a side to other dishes after being roasted to an almost jelly like consistency. One treat that is worth mentioning is coal buried sweet tubers. Certain root vegetables like potatoes, sweet potatoes, parsnips, and more, also receive the aforementioned coal-burying technique.. After retrieving the cooked vegetable a while later, the skin is removed, revealing an incredibly sweet and tender flesh that is an absolute joy to consume on a cold winter’s day. Some Dwarves who go to big cities decide to use this time honored tradition to make some coin, lobbing around wheelbarrows with smoldering coals and root veggies, selling them to those who are interested. 

Breads

Breads come in many forms in the various Dwarven kingdoms. Baking has never been a widely explored profession among Dwarves, instead happy to settle with a simple country loaf. Some clans have explored the possibility of basic pies and other pastries, but nothing has come close to the popularity of crusty loaves of bread in Dwarven strongholds. The matter of discussion is the myriad of different flours that are employed by different clans. Walking into dinner at a Dwarven hold will definitely include thick slabs of bread to soak up your stew, but that bread could be made of wheat, barley, rye, or even more exotic sources. Dwarves that rely on more subterranean food sources commonly cultivate large amounts of moss and lichen. These plants and fungi are then dried out and ground into flours. They function in a very similar manner to grain, and can be used for rouxs, thickening, and baking. These breads vary in color, from deep greens to alabaster whites, interestingly not taking on much color through the baking process. They are very light in flavor, being almost completely a receptacle for the stew and meat drippings that it is used to sop up. 

Preserves

Many Dwarves live in areas where harvest seasons are small, or unpredictable and inhospitable. This has developed an extensive food culture based around preservation, for most clans this includes a large portion of pickled goods. Each growing season, over half of the harvest is put through a week long communal jarring process. The vegetables are first cleaned thoroughly, they are then sliced into thin strips and salted. This salting removes excess liquid, an important step before the vegetables are rinsed off and drained. They are then stuffed into earthenware pots and filled with water. The pots are left out in the open for a week, before being buried in the ground. Each Dwarven family is entitled to a portion of the clan’s jars throughout the tough seasons. Once a family runs out of pickles, they simply go to the storage space and retrieve another jar. The jars open with a satisfying high pitched bubbling sound and yield perfectly sour and earth preserved vegetables that are then used to complement a large range of meals.

Water

Dwarves are known far and wide both for their mastery, and their love, of hard drinks. The image of a Dwarf in a tavern with a pint of ale in one hand and their other arm around a comrade is a sight seen in plenty of cities. However let’s take it back a bit and start at the source of all these drinks, water itself. Water is an extremely important part of Dwarven consumption. Each Dwarven hold has its own spring of water which it builds a society around. The spring is the lifeblood of the clan, in many Dwarven cultures, it is considered nothing less than holy. Tampering with the spring is tantamount to treason and is punished as such. The taste of the water of each spring is completely unique, influenced by the minerals in the rocks that it flows through. Dwarves are particularly attuned to these miniscule differences. Some Dwarves even claim that they can tell apart members of different clans, just based on the smell of the spring water on their breath. 

This water is an integral piece of the puzzle of fermentation and distillation. Many cities in other civilizations struggle from inconsistency between batches of spirits. Dwarven brewers however are extremely specific about the identical conditions necessary for each batch of booze, from the details of the water, to the same shape of distilling vessels. Some Dwarven brewer’s are so particular about these details, that when switching out distillation drums, they will hammer the new vessel to have the same dents and creases that the old one had developed. These traditions have been passed down for millennia in some of the older holds, and those clans have some of the best alcohol to show for it.

Alcohol

Let’s work our way up the potency of these drinks, starting with the drink most Dwarves start the night with, ale. Dwarven ales are rather light, and the primary difference in flavor between a Dwarven ale and an ale brewed elsewhere, is the aforementioned spring water. The flavor of the spring water cuts through the drink, and accentuates the hoppy flavor. Water and hops are the two major factors of the flavor of the ale, and both vary completely in each Dwarven hold. The same type of hops can be used by two different clans, but the mineral levels of the spring water still create two different drinks. Although Dwarven clans don’t often intersect, when they do, one of the most important parts of diplomacy is the act of partaking in each other's ale. While a Dwarf can appreciate the flavors and nuances of ale from another location, they will undoubtedly remark on the inferiority of the drink in comparison to that of their home. This isn’t rude, it's to be expected. In fact, few Dwarves would trust a Dwarf that admits to the superiority of another clan’s ale. If they’re lying about that, what else are they hiding?

Next on the list is ciders and fruit wines. Fruit wines are much less ubiquitous than ales among Dwarven clans. These are more common among Hill dwarves, and those clans that have become more active in trade with other peoples. Fruits are not commonly a large part of the Dwarven diet. Many Dwarves also find fruits to be too sweet for their palate. However, after fermentation, these fruits become a much more appetizing drink. Few clans have become as adept at the brewing of ciders as they have of other drinks, and trying new ones is a piece of wonder for any Dwarf that finds themselves on an adventure to a far away land. Some of the most popular fruit wines are those of apples, grapes, and melons.

Mushroom wines on the other hand, are much more commonly seen in Dwarven holds. These drinks are a wonder to behold, with a light amber color that refracts the flicker of the flame at the dinner table. These wines utilize the leftover aged brewing yeast from ales and stouts to impart a deep complexity to the already exotic flavors of the mushrooms Dwarves cultivate. The taste is wonderfully nutty, with a distinct funkiness that is dependent on the type of mushrooms found in the Dwarven hold. One of the greatest joys of a Dwarven brewer is finding rare mushrooms deep in the caverns to ferment. Some of these rare mushroom wines are given as important gifts or tribute, and only consumed on important occasions such as the signing of treaties between different clans or diplomatic marriages. One such bottle of alabaster oyster mushroom wine was brewed by the Thorig Dwarves in Mount Korkrum 500 years ago as a gift to the nearby Halfling village of Filch as a token of peace and prosperity. As a true show of comradery, the bottle still sits in the councilman’s office today, a true feat of self control for Halflings. 

Next is stouts, the thick black ichor that dribbles out of Dwarven casks. Dwarven stouts are far stronger than those in other lands I’ve visited. Their flavor is deep, dark, and rich, with notes such as the coffee beans of the southern jungles, and a smell like recently tanned leather. The light fragrance of hops found in ales is all but absent. As mentioned, these are powerful, not just in flavor, but also in alcohol content. The first few sips can be a kick in the face and a shock to the palate, but once you have adjusted to the intensity, they can go down a little too quickly, a mistake too commonly made by first time drinkers from other lands.

Finally we have spirits. Dwarves are true masters of distillation. While good beers and wines can be found in many lands, the best spirits are consistently made by Dwarves and those who learn from Dwarves. Coincidentally, Dwarves rarely impart these trade secrets to other races, once again supporting my previous generalization. As mentioned before regarding spring water and its consistency, this is a vital factor in the creation of spirits. The long distillation and aging time requires as close to identical conditions as possible. Just as a captain of a ship veering off course by a single degree, the longer the trip, the further from his target he’ll be. This holds just as true for the creation of alcohol. The longer the process, the more a small difference can become apparent in the end product.

Dwarves are just as well known for their consumption of these spirits as they are for their creation of them. These spirits can range widely from fortified wines to grain spirits, however one name is synonymous with revelry and danger: firewater. In all technicality, firewater is simply an incredibly high strength spirit. Each Dwarven hold has its own firewater, which is simply the highest strength alcohol they are able to distill consistently. Opinions of what defines a firewater is a subject of intense debate among different clans. Some swear it must be derived from grain, others believe if it is not from mushrooms it is just a strong spirit. Technicalities of techniques, ingredients, and conditions are all dependent on the factors that work best for an individual hold. While a Dwarf will merely comment on the superiority of their clan’s ale, discussing firewater will quickly drive Dwarves to back up their words with action. This, however, may also be due to the fact that these discussions primarily occur when firewater is being drunk.

Conclusion

Dwarven culinary culture is as complex and varied as each individual clan. To truly understand and appreciate it, you really have to visit a clan and spend some time seeing how they live their lives. Common trends among these different clans do emerge, and all of them link to simple, hearty meals that are best shared with a table full of family and friends. To Dwarves, food is the capstone on a long productive day, a celebration of hard work, family, and good fortune. If you find yourself lucky enough to have a seat at that table, I highly advise you to take advantage of that chance.