The Miner's Lunch

"You are more precious than what you dig from the earth. Return to me, my love."

— A note recovered from the Gargelya Mine collapse

Around Erisdaire, there are countless people doing hard physical labor. While this is called the "miner's lunch", it has seen more broad use when any job is physically demanding. The meal itself varies from region to region, but it is somewhat predictable in contents. There is some form of bread, preserved meats and fruits, and something else which is salty if the meat is not salted or sweet if the fruit lacks sweetness. During winter times, what is provided changes to make it less prone to freezing. Generally the meal is provided in a container which will keep the food within safe, within the contexts of the job being performed. And the most important part of the miner's lunch is always carefully tucked away, and it is something small. This is most often a message or a trinket intentionally chosen for the person having the lunch, often meant to be returned after they reach home.

The origins of this tradition have become unclear, as folklore tends to become, but inevitably it comes back to a story about miners who would work between sunrise and sunset in the tunnels. The northern regions of the Rhyliss Empire insist they started it while mining with dwarves, because they wanted to prove they could also have deep connections to family. Loggers in the Broken Spine region say they noticed the talismans kept by elven workers and inquired about it, adopting the practice in their own fashion. Dockworkers along the southern coast of the Empire claimed it was because provided food was "barely enough to keep us alive, let alone healthy". In almost every case, those questioned responded to requests for a source with "but everyone knows it's true".

The tradition of the miner's lunch has become a part of Erisdaire, such that there are food vendors in large cities who specialize in simple fares being sold for lunches. Many times these are a sort of hand pie, containing meats and vegetables and allowed to cool enough to eat as soon as money exchanges hands. In colder places and times, there are similar vendors making stews and serving them with a bit of stale bread to soak in the gravy. These are sometimes called simply "the worker's lunch" instead, and the tradition has been to sell them cheaply.