sphaeracibu, food orbs

Spy-rah-see-boo

Scaraquans cannot make cooking fires under normal circumstances, so most of the food preparation done by Scarterrans is not possible for them.
That said, they do have some food preperation options and the most popular is making food orbs, commonly called Spaheracibu.
Normally some kind of protein is used as the base ingredient be it fish, shellfish, mullusks, or eggs. The bones, shells and the inedible or poor tasting parts are removed and the meat is broken into small pieces.
The meat is packed in starchy plants (akin to surface grains). Lastly, other edible plants (akin to surface fruits and vegetables) are added.
The whole combination of food ingredients is wrapped in an edible seaweed or paste. The wrapper is treated with spices that are palatable to Scaraquans but repel most wild aquatic beasts and vermin.
The process accomplishes three things. It allows food to be stored long-term, it provides palatable taste combinations of ingredients, and it condenses complete meals into portable "to-go" containers.

"There is no more pathetic way to get one's sustenance than to gather a random assortment of items and push it into a mushy ball. A true warrior chomps down and swallows his food one item at a time.
-Gazzok, barbarian karakhai

Storage

The main cause of spoilage for sphaeracibu being stored long-term is vermin sea life eating it. The main deterrent to pests is spices (which if done right can also improve the taste to their intended consumers).
Food orbs can rot over time. Food orbs generally last longer in cold waters than warm waters but cold waters have more aggressive scavengers. Certain spices will also slow down rot.
Food orbs created for short-term consumption are usually lightly spiced. Food orbs created for long-term storage are usually heavily spiced.
Different spices repel different types of sea creatures, so different regions favor different spices based on what vermin they have to deal with.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

"Some karakhai turn their noses up on sphaeracibu, but I don't mind them. It's the same food you would get otherwise if you ate the food separately, just in a ball.
If you work for non-shark employers, you have to be willing to eat whatever food they serve you and that food is often in the form of a smooshed ball encased in a wrapper.
I've fought and swam in many seas and I've had many varied orbs of food.
On the plus side, Astalakian-made tend to make the largest and most filling. Ojiongo tend to make the meatiest orbs, and merfolk tend to make the most well-thought combinations of spices and flavors.
On the downside, for all their supposed attention to detail while buidling tools and structures, astalakians aren't nearly thorough about removing all the bones and shell fragments from their food orbs, sometimes even bits of sand. Not a problem for those with mighty shark jaws, but mer people need to be careful when eating them, or they might break a tooth.
Ojiongo food orbs are a bit on the bitter side, a product of their tendency to favor catching fish from the darkest bleakest parts of the sea. Merfolk food orbs tend to be a little lacking on the meat because they love their sea plant horticulture so much.
More important than the race of the person making a food orb, is the means of the person making a food orb. Fertile locations with ample food available will make tastier sphaeracibu than desolate places barely scraping by."
-Zaroka, karakhai mercenary

History

"Ojiongo, merfolk, and astalakians all claim that one of their ancestors was the first to pioneer this method of food preparation.
Even among their own kind none of the Scaraquan races can agree on who or where the first food orbs were created. I believe the merfolk alone have four different stories for the first sphaeracibu.
The idea of smashing food into a ball with spices is not that complicated. It makes sense that multiple Scaraquans independently came up with the idea in distant seas.
I notice the karakhai never figured out the concept on their own though...heh.
There are hundreds of variations of food orbs based on what ingredients are available and what the taste preferences of the people involved.
In any event, innovations don't stay in one place and good ideas tend to flow to other groups. This especially applies to food. You can rest assured that if a merfolk sees an ojiongo try a new recipe, they are going to try it out themselves and visa versa.
Due to cross-flowing orb preparation lore, at this point, there aren't any astalakian recipes or ojiongo recipes or merfolk recipes. There are just recipes."
-Nurzuz, ojiongo historian

Significance

Making a sphaeracibu is fairly straightforward and simple. Selling and trading a sphaeracibu is like pulling a lamprey off your back in that place you just can't reach.
There are no standard sizes or makeups of food orbs. Some are small as imperial pearls and others are large as Merman's head with most being the size of a merchild's fist.
It would be easy enough to price them by weight or volume, but the value of a sphaeracibu depends more on the quality and type of ingredients than the bulk of the orb.
You cannot really test the quality of a sphaeracibu without cutting it in half or biting into it. Some food vendors keep small orbs on hand for free samples but there is no gurantee that the sample will match the product once bought in bulk.
Your best bet is to look for long-establish sphaeracibu vendors with reliable clientelle of repeat customers that demonstrate they provide good products at fair prices.
-Gizoya, Merman Trader

Nomenclature

Pretty much every culture is Scaraqua has some version of a food orb, but the Oshamni Empire relies on this staple more than any other culture and due to their cultural reach, the Oshamni term "Sphaercibu" is gradually becoming the universal world across all of Scarterra.
Astalakians outside the Oshamni Empire refer to these as "Sustenance Pearls", Merfolk outside the Empire refer to them as "Meal Bubbles" and ojiongo outside the empire sometimes call them "mega eggs".

Item type

Consumable, Food / Drink

Current Location

Scaraqua