Street Food of the Blessed Isle
The wide boulevards of the Imperial City are not empty expanses of marble. Leave the false-divinity of the Dynastic districts, and you will quickly encounter a variety of streetside vendors hawking various foods. Their kitchens, usually simply carts covered by canvas within which sit charcoal braziers and cooking utensils, are pushed or pulled by their owners into position before dawn, and hauled back into the alleys after dusk.
Customers stop by one of these stands, and for a few yien order food which is them made in front of them. They then either take their food away or sit on stools under the canvas awning.
Yakisoba: Fried noodles, mixed with a scarce sprinkle of vegetables and coated in a thick, sweet and tangy brown sauce.
Takoyaki: 'Octopus Balls'. Chunks of boiled octopus and cabbage, wrapped in a batter of egg and wheat flour, before being fried in a pitted iron griddle and served on wooden kebabs.
Okonomiyaki: A thick 'omelette' or 'pancake' of wheat flour and egg, into which can be mixed the buyer's choice of onions, root vegetables, seaweed, and beans, before it is fried. Afterwards, it is topped with a sweet-tangy brown sauce, or with a thick sauce of pulverized, pickled eggs.
Mochi: A thick, gooey sphere of cooked, sweetened rice paste, wrapped in seaweed or leaves (oak is preferred) depending on the season and the seller.
Roasted chestnuts: In the colder seasons, roasted nuts are a common sight being sold by vendors, with chestnuts being the most popular.
Kettle Nanny Tea: 'Kettle nanny' is a Low Realm slang term for the many women (and men) who hobble about the streets hunched over under the weight of wood back harnesses supporting large iron kettles and attached charcoal burners. These 'nannies' stop at street corners and sell watery green tea to passersby.
Bubur Sumsum: A few 'kettle nannies' do not carry tea in their kettles. Instead, they carry a rice 'porridge' made of milk (from cattle, goats, sheep, or coconuts), sweetener (in the form of honey or sugar cane), and rice flour This unusual dish is said to have its origins in the jungles of the Southern Threshold, and is popular amongst children of all classes... several Dynastic parents have suffered the scandal of a child slipping away to join a crowd of urchins in line for a bowl of sumsum.
Grog Nannies: Common in many port towns, and spreading inland over the past century, ‘grog nannies’ are kettle nannies who carry heavily watered rum or wine, sweetened with beet sugar and spiced with cloves, citrus rinds, and cinnamon in small quantities. Warm alcoholic beverages are popular amongst citydwellers as they head to work through cold morning air, or soldiers and sailors heading to barracks after evening duties.
