Ogygian Cuisine

Staples

Ogygian cuisine is founded on three major pillars: cereals, olives, and grapes. With these three main components, Ogygians can make oatmeal and breads, olive oil for flavoring or frying, and wine for the benefits of fruit and to produce wine yeast for leavening. While diets can be frugal if kept to these pillars, the bounty of Ogygia's resources makes it possible for even a peasant living in the lowest squalor to have a decent meal for the day.

The primary cereals in Ogygia are wheat and barley: wheat is harder to grow than barley, but its grains are easy to produce into flour for light white bread, usually favored by the rich; barley, while easier to grow, is harder to work into bread, and while the bread is nourishing it is also much heavier. Emmer, the easiest and cheapest cereal to cultivate, creates a black bread that is almost exclusively for the lowest-class.

Olives are eaten either on their own or marinated with oils and spices, but their most important role comes in the form of olive oil, which is used in nearly all Ogygian cooking as either a flavor enhancement, frying method, or both. Grapes are largely used to make wines, ranging from reds to whites and table wines to fine vintages, though the leaves are also used as edible wrappings that compliment many Ogygian flavors.

While not as notable as cereals, legumes are another common sighting in Ogygian meals in the form of lentils, chickpeas, or broad beans. Fruits and vegetables are common, though the lower-class must often accept them dried rather than fresh. Of particular note are figs, artichokes, onions, apples, raisins, pomegranates, tomatoes, lemons, oranges, and eggplants. These flowering trees also make honey a readily-available resource for sweetening.

Fresh fish and seafood (including squid, octopus, and shellfish) are very common, especially closer to the coast, and salted or pickled fish make their appearance in both upper and lower-class meals. Sardines, anchovies, and squid - particularly salted - are regular fare, while tuna, mackerel, catfish, and shellfish are more middle-ground, and conger-eels, sturgeons, xiphiae, and bluefin tuna are high-end delicacies. Of particular note is garos, a fermented fish sauce that is frequently used as a condiment.

Most meat comes from domesticated sheep, goats, and pigs; cows are rarely eaten and are instead used for farm labor, and deer or boar are usually only affordable by the upper-class. The milk of sheep and goats is almost never drunk, but is used to make a variety of salty cheeses or yogurts. Aside from these and fish, the majority of meat for Ogygians comes from fowl: quails, moorhens, ducks, pheasants, and geese are all domesticated for meat and eggs (cooked soft- or hard-boiled, sometimes as dessert), while thrush, starlings, grebes, jays, and cranes are hunted or trapped.

Food

A cereal base of some kind is common in Ogygian meals, whether as a gruel, loaf, flatbread, or even cakes. Most simple meals, particularly breakfasts, will consist of bread with olive oil or wine for dipping, and compliments of olives or figs.

Baklava

An extremely high-end dessert made from layers of thin filo pastry with olive oil between them, interspersed with one or two layers of walnuts. A syrup of honey and rosewater is poured over after baking and allowed to soak through, and the resulting pastry is cut into small squares or triangles.

Dakos

An appetizer made from a disc of hard barley bread soaked in olive oil, then topped with sliced tomatoes, crumbled cheese, olives, and herbs. As the ingredients are fairly low-cost, this is a popular appetizer even among the lower-class.

Fasolada

A vegetable and legume soup that can be customized for those with the means to do so. Dry white beans, olive oil, onions, and bay leaf are the basic ingredients, though higher-end recipes may add full meats, fish, or extra vegetables for an even heartier meal.

Galaktoboureko

This dessert is a pie made from a custard wrapped with and cooked at the same time as a layered filo pastry. The custard is often flavored with lemon, orange, or rose, and the entire pie is topped with a clear, sweet syrup. Galaktoboureko can either be made as a large pie cut into squares for serving, or rolled into individual servings.

Oinouta

Also known as must jelly, oinouta is made from grape must (the juice from pressed grapes before fermentation) that is mixed with flour and boiled until thick. Ingredients like semolina, sesame, vanilla, almonds, and walnuts are added after boiling, and it can either be served as a jelly or further baked into cookies.

Souvlaki

Sometimes, the simplest meals are best. Souvlaki is more of a cooking style than a particular meal, consisting of sticking something on a skewer (usually lamb, pork, pheasant, xiphias, or shrimp), coating it in olive oil, lemon, and oragano, and grilling it. The meat can then be enjoyed straight from the skewer or complimented with bread or vegetables.

Tagenites

These fried pancakes are incredibly thin, made from flour, olive oil, honey, and curdled milk. These are fairly popular for those who have the time, as they are a versatile base for either breakfast or dessert: they can be sweet or savory, supplemented with cheese, nuts, fruits, or vegetables, and garnished with herbs.

Tzatziki

Alternately used as a dip, side, or sauce, tzatziki is made from salted yogurt mixed with cucumbers, garlic, olive oil, and dill. Some higher-end versions include lemon juice and mint for additional flavor. Tzatziki is most often used alongside meat for its relatively neutral yet flavorful compliments.

Drinks

Water from wells is plentiful in Ogygia, though spring water is much more valuable due to its perceived healing qualities, particularly when blessed by a nereid. Wine is the next most common drink and comes with nearly any meal. Most are sweet and aromatic, though drier wines are produced in lower quantity. Color ranges from dark, inky black, to tawny, to nearly clear, in both red and white varieties. Ogygian wines also can come mixed with pine resin, honey, spices, or even saltwater. Some medicinal varieties also exist mixed with herbs, and Ogygian medics encourage the drinking of wine more generally as a cure for fevers, as an antiseptic, and as a painkiller and diuretic aid.

With barley and honey being so readily available, a range of meads and ales are also produced in Ogygia, though these are more commonly enjoyed by mercenaries, soldiers, and the lower-middle class due to their harsher flavors.

Kykeon

Similar to the real-world idea of a protein shake, kykeon is both a beverage and a meal, made from barley gruel mixed with water, herbs, and goat cheese. Additional ingredients like honey and mashed fruits or vegetables are also added to taste. Kykeon is very popular among athletes and soldiers as time-saving nourishment.

Retsina

While other nations make wine, retsina is unique to Ogygia. These white wines are flavored with the pine resin used to seal the vessels they're stored in, either mixed in with the wine during fermentation or taking on its flavor ambiently from the vessel.

Meal Tables

You may use the below tables to help decide what you or your party is eating for a local meal. Each column corresponds to the per-day meal expenses described in the Dungeon Master's Guide and gives a few options for what one might afford with that budget. Each row is considered a full meal and you only need to roll once, but you may roll multiple times and mix options as you wish.

Squalid (3cp)

1d10	Main Dish	Drink
1-2	Emmer flatbread with olives	Well water
3-4	Dried sardines, greens	Well water
5-6	Grilled squid with olive oil	Diluted wine
7-8	Barley gruel mixed with grilled offal	Well water
9-0	Scrambled goose eggs with feta cheese	Diluted wine

Poor (6 cp)

1d10	Main Dish	Drink
1-2	Tagenites with honey	Wine
3-4	Kykeon with figs
5-6	Emmer flatbread with olive oil, basil, and pickled anchovies	Diluted wine
7-8	Catfish souvlaki with barley gruel and onions	Wine
9-0	Basic fasolada with emmer flatbread	Well water

Modest (3 sp)

1d10	Side	Main Dish	Drink
1-2	Dakos	Fasolada with pheasant	Wine
3-4	Tzatziki	Mackerel souvlaki and boiled lentils	Well water
5-6		Tagenites with goat cheese, olives, and herbs	Well water
7-8	Hard-boiled goose eggs	Boiled barley and pheasant souvlaki	Mead
9-0		Kykeon with greens, cucumbers, and dried sardines

Comfortable (5 sp)

1d10	Side	Main Dish	Drink	Dessert
1-2	Grape leaves stuffed with barley and olive oil	Steamed mussels	Ale	Lemon galaktoboureko
3-4	Dakos	Boiled lentils with pickled tuna and tzatziki	Retsina	Oinouta cookies
5-6		Lamb souvlaki with chopped cucumbers, salted yogurt, and dried fruit, wrapped in wheat flatbread	Wine
7-8	Wheat flatbread with olive oil	Fasolada with eggplant and quail	Well water	Oinouta jelly with walnuts
9-0	Salted sardines	Tagenites with greens and goat cheese	Mead	Orange galaktoboureko

Wealthy (8 sp)

1d10	Side	Main Dish	Drink	Dessert
1-2	Dakos	Lamb sausage stuffed with herbs, grapes, and offal, with tzatziki with lemon juice	Retsina	Oinouta cookies with almonds
3-4	Wheat flatbread with olive oil, herbs, and dipping wine	Stew of boiled artichokes, eggplants, tomatoes, onions, beans, and herbs	Spring water	Fresh figs and apples
5-6	Steamed mussels; salad with feta cheese and walnuts	Xiphias and eggplant souvlaki; tzatziki with lemon and mint	Wine	Rose galaktoboureko
7-8	Soft-boiled duck eggs	Pickled anchovies	Retsina	Tagenites with figs, walnuts, goat cheese, and honey syrup
9-0	Steamed artichokes and salted yogurt with mint	Pickled and grilled sturgeon with lemon and herbs and boiled chickpeas	Mead	Oinouta cookies with sesame and honey

Aristocratic (2 gp)

1d10	Side	Main Dish	Drink	Dessert
1-2	Wheat bread with olive oil and herbs for dipping	Grilled xiphias steaks in lemon and herbs with pomegranate and fig chutney	Spring water	Oinouta cookies with sesame and honey
3-4	Dakos and wine-roasted quails stuffed with grapes	Roasted eggplant stuffed with eggs, green onions, tomatoes, lemon, and olive oil and topped with feta cheese; lentils boiled with artichoke and carrots	Retsina	Orange galaktoboureko
5-6	Lemon-roasted starlings and hard-boiled duck eggs	Lamb and goat mince pie with barley and a light tomato sauce, with dough kneaded in white wine	Wine	Baklava
7-8	Wheat flatbread with dipping wine and grilled squid	Steamed karkinos legs with cucumber relish and tzatziki with lemon and mint	Retsina	Baklava
9-0	Dakos and wheat flatbread with olive oil	Salted sturgeon, pork and grape sausages, orange chutney, and salad with feta cheese, walnuts, and lemon and mint dressing	Spring water	Rose galaktoboureko

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