Jannadael Foods

One of the things I love about being Jannadael is how all these people from all these different backgrounds came together and decided that Janikk was home. We have a such a respect for diversity here, and nowhere is it more prevalent than our absolute love of good food. We saw this planet, teeming with all varieties of dangerous and self-sufficient wildlife, and we decided to find out just how many ways we could find to eat them.

— Lance, chef of Yukkan Nikkeer

Popular Foods

Foods of Janikk are as varied as the wildlife that calls the planet home, and are heavily influenced by the diversity of former cultures of the Jannadael.

Alchemical Bread

Made with alchemical yeast to improve Imperium production, alchemical bread covers a large variety of breads. While fluffier breads baked at lower temperatures remain the most efficient at restoring magic levels, drier breads last longer, and are easier to store. The driest, least effective options are nonetheless the simplest choice for travel, ensuring all alchemical breads remain useful in their own manner.

Bone Marrow Ice Cream

Originally the Grand Navarch's secret family recipe from when he was a child, bone marrow ice cream mixes savory marrow with sweet cream for a velvety ice cream base. Additional ingredients are then added to provide the ice cream's chosen flavor, ranging from traditional fruits to unique flavors such as salted bacon and even seafood. The use of marrow allows even katanoji to enjoy this sweet dessert, although fae will find the meat byproducts uneasy on their stomachs.

Cheese

The Jannadael have been working since they first settled Janikk to develop a wide array of dairy options from the native Plants and Animals of Janikk, also resulting in an assortment of cheese options for the discerning palate. Flavors and textures depend upon the production methods, as well as the original milk used in that process. While rokk milk is still the most readily available option, a growing variety has risen in recent years. Most notable is the daakka, which provides a much smoother, creamier taste, for both milk and cheese.

Daakka (Meadow Deer)

The nervous daakka has become a common meal in Jannadael households since the animal's growing popularity in large, free-range farming operations on Janikk. Daakka meat is often seasoned with herbs, and frequently marinated prior to cooking, especially when wild-caught. The meat of farm-raised daakka is fattier and less gamey than wild-caught daakka, although the meat is not as dark. Daakka is especially popular as a lunchtime burger sandwich, but can also be served as steaks, lunchmeat, and even seasoned bologna. It's also a popular meat for hearty soups and stews.

Drazikk Lizard

One of the most plentiful farmed meats on Janikk, drazikk lizards are often raised directly within Jannadael orchards. Their meat is considered white meat, as with most birds and lizards, with a mild and inoffensive flavor. It can be served on the bone, shredded into chunks, or even deboned. It pairs very well with fruit glazes, for those seeking a stronger flavor, and is often served this way as an appetizing snack in restaurants as the table waits for their main course.

Fruit Pastries

A classic, somewhat-healthy dessert often used as a side dish or breakfast option, the fruit pastries of Janikk contain an assortment of jammed fruits, rolled into a layered pastry dough and baked. The resultant treat features a light, flaky crust with a gooey center. While most recipes revolve around sweet fruits to appeal to fae, human, and dracoling taste buds, savory, salty, and even bitter options are available for katanoj. Canids seem to enjoy most recipes equally.

Gornit Roe (Frogfish Eggs)

The salty eggs of the gornit, also known as the frogfish, are considered a delicacy by many Jannadael. Slimy to the touch - and the tongue - when raw, the roe takes on a creamier texture when cooked, although it loses some of its more notable flavors and nutrients to the heat. Most therefore prefer to consume the roe raw, often accompanied by crackers, tackbread, or other thin, crunchy food items.

Fruit

A large part of most Jannadael diets, the fruits of Janikk come in a wide variety of shapes, colors, flavors, and textures. With the exception of the carnivorous katanoj, there is a fruit for any test in the many forests, orchards, fields, and farms of Janikk. Some fruits even forego the usual sweet fruit flavors to instead provide a unique experience in sour or bitter, with many recipes relying upon these quirks to bring out other flavors in the dish.

Fruit Bread

Fruit is a common addition to many Jannadael bread recipes, either folded into the dough itself or layered and rolled within. Depending upon the recipe, these may be fresh fruits, dried fruits, or even jams, jellies, and other fruit-based spreads. The resultant breads are sweet and frequently moist, although some are intentionally drier with the express intent to dip them in soups, gravies, and other sauces.

Fruit Custard

Fruit custard is a dairy-based vegetarian dessert. The custard is made by mixing a small amount of room-temperature dairy milk with sugar, plus a powdered thickening vegetable, and the chef's choice of custard flavoring. Once the mixture is smooth, it is slowly whisked into warmed, non-boiling milk, which is then covered and chilled. When ready to serve, fresh cut fruits are added, sometimes with nuts, to achieve the desired flavors and consistency.

Fruit Pie

A popular dessert for any festive or everyday occasion, fruit-filled pies are found readily available in bakeries and kitchens across all of Janikk. Sometimes these recipes also include nuts, vegetables, or syrups. Pie consistencies may be smooth or chunky, gooey or dry, and the inclusion of a top crust is often optional. Some pies are more often associated with holidays, while others are considered an everyday treat.

Fruit Soup

The famed fruit-based soups of Janikk are crafted with seasoned juices, and often thickened with pureed vegetables such as otato. herbs and spices are added for additional flavors, or to bring out the natural flavors of the selected fruits, while fruit chunks, berries, and even nuts or seeds are frequently added to provide additional textures. While the soups are cooked over heat, they are always chilled and served cold, often at lunch as a refreshing and filling treat on a hot day.

Hikknit (Stinkfish)

Despite its unappealing name, the hikknit is actually a rich, almost creamy fish with a faint sweet odor, provided proper care is taken to remove their myotoxin glands without spilling the rather odious venom. The fish can be cooked as fillets with minimal season, but is often breaded into fish cakes, which can be baked or fried.

Honeyed Dipping Sauce

Originally consumed only among the fae, honeyed dipping sauces have since expanded for use among the majority of Janikk, first solely as a flavorful preservative, then later as a dipping sauce served alongside a meal. The first honeyed sauces relied upon the honey's own natural flavors, using nectar for any additional adjustments, owing to the fae's usual flavor preferences. Today's sauces come in a variety of flavors, from flowers to fruits and even meat or spices.

Meat Bread

Originally created to appeal to katanoji, meat bread has found a place in the majority of homes across Janikk. Most recipes call for the use of alchemical dough, making this side a useful source of increased Imperium production, as well. Stewed, shredded meats are rolled into the dough prior to baking, then sliced and served warm, often with additional gravy. Travel versions use drier meats and higher baking temperatures, forming a crunchy variation that is tougher on the teeth but travels well.

Meat Kabobs

Meat kabobs include skewered meats, accompanied by fruits, vegetables, or both. Often the meats or the whole skewers are marinated to infuse additional flavors prior to grilling. Due to the variety of available fruits and vegetables, kabobs are often a colorful meal, although these colors are somewhat muted after the cooking process. Still, some chefs have been known to color coordinate their ingredients to highlight various holidays and events.

Meatloaf

While any loaf-shaped presentation of ground meat is technically considered a meatload, Jannadael meatloaf most often refers to ground and flavored red meats held together with bird eggs and additionally flavored with breadcrumbs and seasonings. The exact source of meat or eggs depends upon the chef and the recipe, as does the specific selections of spices and herbs used to provide additional flavor. Cheeses, fresh or dried fruits, preserved meat chunks, and nuts are sometimes used to provide further embellishments. Some variants are also served with vegetable-based sauces.

Meat Pie

Meat pies are essentially vegetable meat soups wrapped in pie crust. Some include additional thickening agents such as mashed otato, to craft a heavy and hearty dinner, while others overload on meats and vegetables and are best served in a bowl or baked in a single serving size. More festive options rely upon heavy seasoning to add flavors reminiscent of the holiday, but everyday options prefer to focus the natural flavors of the ingredients.

Navarch's Breakfast

A popular menu item at the Fresh Start Cafe, the Navarch's breakfast is named for Navarch Jake Lawrence and based upon his favorite breakfast choices. The meal centers on a rich seafood bisque, accompanied by nectar-soaked sweet rolls and a vegetable, fruit, and herb omelet which pairs well with the day's seafood. Jake likes to make egg sandwiches with the rolls and omelet and dip them in the bisque.

Noodle Nut Soup

The Jannadael noodle nut soup revolves around a vegetable milk broth, with the addition of other herbs, spices, vegetables, noodles, and a small hint of citrus juice for additional flavors. They are often vegetarian or even vegan, although some do include white reptile or bird meats, particularly the drazikk lizard. Many are spicy, although this is not a requirement. The nuts are added immediately prior to serving, to maintain the soup's characteristic crunch.

Nuts

Nuts have proven a popular snack among the larger sophonts, and Janikk has many delicious varieties to choose from. Most are roasted prior to consumption, often with additional spices to add sweet or salty flavors. They're popular travel food when mixed with other nut varieties, and even dried fruits. Certain toasted seeds have also proven a complementary accompaniment.

Otatos

Otatos are starchy tubers which can be prepared a variety of methods including baked, broiled, mashed, or fried, sliced both thick and thin. Most varieties carry a mild flavor on their own, relying on seasoning or paired ingredients to add flavor, although some take on a mildly sweet flavoring of their own when cured at the proper humidity and temperature. Fried or flash dehydrated, they make delicious crisps, although most varieties require additional seasonings such as salt. They are also added to other dishes, particularly stews and meat pies, as a thickening agent.

Pasta

The Jannadael have learned to craft noodles and pasta from a variety of materials, including the standard wheat options plus an impressive assortment of vegetables. Their sauces and garnishes, as well, lean heavily into the food sources readily available on the planet, further diversifying available options for textures, flavors, and consistency. As a result a large variety of pasta dishes are available across Janikk, in all manner of flavors. They are especially popular as a dinner option, either as the main course or a side.

Seafood Biscuits

The seafood biscuits of Janikk combine the best of biscuits and seafood cakes into a breaded treat with a gooey center. In most cases a fish or shellfish cake is formed, then cushioned inside an outer layer of biscuit dough and baked, resulting in a biscuit with a gooey pocket inside. Recipes range from simple to elaborate, particularly when it comes to the types and seasonings of the seafood within. Cheese are often added to the seafood or the biscuit - or sometimes both - to add an additional layer of flavor. Some less-popular variants use other meats and even occasionally thick stews for the center, although many consider them a variant on meat bread rather than the more traditionally-seafood biscuit.

Seafood Soups

Janikk's seafood-based soups are as varied as the rest of their diet, including all manner of stews, chowders, bisques, and broths. Fruits, vegetables, noodles, grains, and nuts often find their way into recipes, while some have even experimented with various milks and even additional meats. For every culture who has joined the Mordena, there's at least one Jannadael variation of their traditional foods, and seafood soup is no exception.

Turikk Crisps

A healthier version to their fried counterparts, turikk crisps are made with thin sliced fruits flash dehydrated with Hydromancy. Fancier variants may include other vegetables, particularly the otato, or add additional herbs, spices, or seasonings to either compliment or overshadow the crisps themselves, depending on the taste of the consumer. The resultant snacks provide a colorful variety of flavor, and have proven popular among children and adults alike.

Vegetable Soup

Vegetable soups are a standard among the Jannadael, with many options including dark or red meats for additional flavor. These soups follow similar recipes to those found throughout the rest of the universe, with only mild alterations to utilize ingredients native to Janikk. Typically these recipes do not contain pastas, relying entirely on the meats, vegetables, and herbs for the entirety of their flavor and consistency. Thinner broths are called soups, while thicker broths are referred to as stew, although their flavors tend to remain similar otherwise.

Popular Drinks

Drink options on Janikk take into account the heavy reliance of its populace on the plants found natively on Janikk, although additional animal-based options, particularly dairy milks, are available now as the Jannadaelox improve and increase the scale of their animal husbandry operations.

Darrekknael (The Therapist)

The humorously named Therapist is a carefully crafted drink flavored almost entirely by the nirkk plant, using both fresh cuttings and dried powders. The distillation process not only brings out the many often-overlooked flavors of nirkk, but also strengthens its potency. Typically available in bottle form only, consumption of the entire bottle by a single person would result in more than a week of sleep - provided their adrenaline levels remain low. This drink has been declared illegal by multiple planets in The Freeholds, despite the Mordena's own encouragement of its use within their ranks.

Daekkonael (The Necessary Action)

A simple but popular drink, Daekkonael is a fancy name for sparkling water, lightly flavored with fruit. Fancier restaurants will sometimes add whole fruits as a decorative garnish, but most simply add a hint of squeezed juice to provide a delicate hint of flavor. The drink is available in a wide array of flavors, and is usually made fresh upon request, although bottled forms are available.

Fermented Drinks

While the Mordena are not permitted to consume fermented drinks while on duty, instead limiting themselves to nirkk-based drinks if seeking a similar buzz to an alcoholic beverage, almost any drink on Janikk is also available with a fermented variant. Janikk even boasts several planetary organizations dedicated to the creation of new drinks, or to help hobbyists refine and improve their own processes.

Fruit Juice

A common drink on Janikk, fruit juice is defined as any liquid obtained solely from the juices naturally contained within a fruit. Juice may be squeezed, or even pureed. Thicker juices are often thinned with the addition of other, thinner juices; the addition of water classifies the resultant drink as flavored water instead. Some fruit juices include pureed vegetables, which is a surprisingly controversial practice, as many Jannadael believe this means the drink is no longer purely fruit juice.

Huroj Hoomit (Gentle Violence)

The Gentle Violence is a thick, chunky drink of creamed daakka milk, blended with frozen fruit and complimentary herbs and spices. Another creation of Ekkil Turikk, the Huroj Hoomit has proven itself a popular and filling dessert beverage.

Jinnebaelox Maasit (New Beginnings)

A savory wine-like fermented beverage, triple distilled, with a gimlakk cactus base, augmented with herbs and vegetables. The juice of the gimlakk makes the drink a powerful alchemical painkiller. During the third distillation, raw meat – drazikk lizard is the most popular – is hung above the barrel to cook from the heat of the chemical reactions, adding its fat and juices to the drink. The drink is brewed by Senior Captain Eve Sassen's former crew, and is popular especially among katanojo.

Milk

Milk on Janikk refers to both plant and animal sources, although only animal-based milks are considered dairy. Plant-based milks include those sourced from fruits, vegetables, and nuts. Dairy milks are those fatty protein-rich fluids secreted by female mammals to feed their young. The most common dairy milk on Janikk is rokk milk, although daakka milk has been gaining in popularity due to its creamier taste and higher fat content.

Munokkael (The Hunter / Hunted)

Popular among katanoji, the Munokkael uses fat-infused juices, garnished with thin strips of roasted rokk meat, to provide a savory drink experience for those with the true taste of a carnivore. The drink was invented by a bartender at the Ekkil Turikk but has since found its way into drink menus across Janikk. Additional herbs, including nirkk, are sometimes added to provide additional alchemical experiences upon consumption.

Nueckitnee (You Must Concentrate)

A traditional and soothing tea, Nueckitnee utilizes Alchemy to form a Cleansing infusion to help clear the mind. Most variants are tart with a mildly sweet undertone, although some add additional herbs solely for flavor.

Rakkena Mejjitt (Beautiful Nectar / The Glittering Bribe)

Popular among fae, Rakkena Mejjitt uses a drop of concentrated fruit juice to further enhance the flavor of in-season nectar, elevating the drink to a genuine treat for the taste buds. At least, among fae. This sticky concoction is entirely vegan, in line with the more delicate digestive systems of the fae.

Skeeturikk (The Fruit of Labor)

The Skeeturikk is a frothy, cold drink made with carefully strained epparaj juice, shaken and frothed with egg whites before strained through ice. It's considered a sweet drink with bitter undertones, and is a popular refreshment among katanoji and canids.

Tsij Ikkeemit (The Humble Braggart)

A highly nutritious juice, the Tsij Ikkeemit focuses on enhancing the flavor of the tsij burst fruit. The drink is delicately garnished with wolthen, which keeps the drink cold long after it is consumed. Smoothie versions have also proven popular.

Tergerael (The Repentant One)

The Tergerael is a deeply bitter concoction with a delicately sweet aftertaste, centered on the deikklaf fruit. It has become a popular drink among those in mourning or working through personal regrets.

Turikkael (The Generous One / Skilled Diplomat)

A special at Ekkil Turikk, the Turikkael is actually several beverages under one name. The order includes an assortment of multicolored juices with a heavy dose of nirkk each, and is intended to be shared. Traditionally used to smooth over misunderstandings, forge friendships, and even denote an extended family's acceptance of a marriage, recent trends have seen the Turikkael also used as a sign of forgiveness after a particularly fierce argument.

Vegetable Juice

Vegetable juices are made through the puree of cooked or raw vegetables, depending upon the specific vegetable and the desired flavor. Water and small amounts of fruit juice may also be added to thin the mixture to something easier to drink, while herbs, spices, and plant-based milks add additional flavors.

Zurikkael (Chosen Family)

A thick, pulpy purple juice with a sweet, layered flavor, the Zurikkael mixed drink prominently features the jingis "singing fruit" and the elba, a large, sweet berry which has proven favorite of the Grand Navarch.

Primary Related Location

Janikk

Important Locations

• Ekkil Turikk
• Fresh Start Cafe
• Yelb Yekkarit
• Yelb Yekkarit JS
• Yukkan Nikkeer

Related Organizations

• Mordena

Related Ethnicities

• Jannadael

Factual Tidbits

Self-Sufficiency

One of the many challenges of life on Janikk, a need for self-sufficiency drives planetary decisions on every level and facet of life. While Mordena Public Relations does maintain trade channels with many of the planets and organizations across Vazdimet, most notably the members of the Freehold Coalition and the Ferrik Clan of the Vardan, the Mordena's contracts to defend other planets from attack by the larger Factions necessitate these trades be limited to military requirements whenever possible.
Jannadael foods therefore rely on locally-sourced native crops and species whenever possible, a fact made easier by the advanced Zokinesis of the planet's ancient prior inhabitants, and the diverse innovation of those who call Janikk home.

The Ecknaab

While the Tenecknaab links all life on the planet to each other, the Ecknaab, or "Way of the Balance," keeps them in harmony. The ancient Jannadaelox believed that life and death were two sides of the same existence, and that each nurtures the other in turn, provided the balance is kept. Life in accordance with this believe was a requirement passed down from Janikk herself to Shane Lawrence when she agreed to permit the Turncoat Armada to settled on the planet, a promise he has ensured his people maintain.
The Jannadael have therefore ensured their hunting, farming, and technological practices on Janikk remain sustainable, nurturing both their cities and the planet's original wildlife. Death is an acceptable and necessary part of life, but only when maintaining the Balance.
For this reason, expansion into animal husbandry has been slow but steady, assisted by Janikk's personal memories of her people, plus the information Shane has remembered or discovered about Yarva's original, more modern yet equally careful practices.

Further Reading