Refreshments of Olde Worlde

[Finnblood]

This might seem silly, but I am sincerely interested; what refreshments and such are known in the old world and how common they are?

Tobacco: they have it, but is it only for the wealthy or for everybody? Is it expensive? Do they smoke it in pipes only or also in cigarettes?
Coffee: never heard they had it in the old world but it was consumed in the Mediterrenean in the 16th century already (or so I think) so do they have in Tilea maybe?
Tea: I always thought they had tea, but in Fell Cargo, Cpt. Silvaro wonders what the hell is "tee".
Ice cream: invented in the 17th century. They have Steam Tanks, so why not?
Chocolate: Spanish conquistadors drank hot chocolate as an energy drink. Maybe the exploring nations know it? I'd like to think elves had small chocolate shops. Would fit them, wouldn't it?
Potatoes: In G&F books there's potatoes, but there are also caribou in Kislev, which is as stupid as giraffes in Bretonnia. So, are spuds introduced yet?
Tomatoes: they were thought poisonous in the Medieval time. Do Old Worlders consume them?

Speculation? Real knowledge?

[jansenm]

I dont think they had tabbacco in a ciggerette maybe in a pipe or a blunt

coffee and chocolate maybe in araby or a African equilivant state

Tea defiently out there (somewhere)

Icecream, steam or no steam I wouldnt think so

in the gotrek and felix books, I dont think they had potatoes
i know they had potato vodka but did they import it or made it themselves?

Tomatoes are in there... I read fluff about a province similar to the Italians But I forgot the name

[Dspankdo]

i don't imagine they would have chocolate as cacao beans came from south america and i can't quite imagine slann sipping a steaming beaker of choclatey goodness.

I read somewhere about some brettonians smoking cigars but definitely not ciggarettes.pipe tobbaco is probably a staple in the empire.

I know that elves eat delecasies like those consumed in the late roman era.

[Finnblood]

I know that elves eat delecasies like those consumed in the late roman era.

Ambrosa and nectar? Rooster testies in glazed honey? Sounds elven enough.

I remember the cigarettes from WHRP1 or might have been cigars...

And it wasn't the Slann who found cocoa, it was teh pygmies! Or amazons. Think about it - when you have been butchering lizards and explorers all day, you just want to take a hot bath and curl up with a good book and a cup of hot chocolate.

in the gotrek and felix books, I dont think they had potatoes
i know they had potato vodka but did they import it or made it themselves?

Vodka is made in Kislev, so the potatoes (not the vodka) were either imported or grown locally. I think that the most likely explanation is that Bill didn't do proper research unlike some other authors (like Dan Abnett, amazingly accurate his knowledge of weapons and ships - not just Bill King's "he had a sword. Oh yeah and it had a dragon on the... ummm... I dunno, handle? Pommel? Whatta heck is a pommel? I said handle and handle it is!"). Kislevites are too "barbaric" to order foreign ingredients for their vodka. I believe their vodka's made from barley or swedes. Or spuds, should they have them (which I doubt. Bill should've never put caribous in kislev. Now I can't enjoy G&F anymore...).

[RobC]

The Warhammer world contains a number of anachronous items, but most follow a similar path to our own world.

Tobacco seems to be native to the Old World. It seems to be one of the specialist halfling crops, though dwarfs seem to partake as well. Tolkien's smoky shadow hangs long over Warhammer...

According to the Kim Newman novels, coffee houses exist in Altdorf, and therefore most likely the other major Empire cities too. I would imagine it was introduced by Araby merchants to Marienburg and the other cityports of the Old World, and slowly spread along the trade routes.

Tea: I don't recall any references to this in the background, but I imagine that it's certainly drunk in the Indhyan (sp?) quarter in Marienburg and the other cityports. Perhaps one day it will spread to the rest of the Old World.

New World produce: probably still a rarity, unless you buy into the idea that Lustria was discovered a thousand years ago. You also have to wonder how the Old Worlders discovered the various uses of the crops, given that the only native people of Lustria so far discovered are either too alien, hostile, or both. Perhaps the high elves utilise New World crops in their diet?

[Finnblood]

Ah, alright, good, coffee in the Empire - quite an expensive treat I believe?
Tobacco grows in the Old World? Ah, okay, I always thought it came across the seas. Then it must be a quite common vice, don't you think?

Also, wherefrom the Black lotus comes from? Cathay, Ind, Araby? Is it a venom as in Mordheim or a deleriant as in WHRP1?

[Viskrit]

There is also The Black Snuff, which is basically warpstone snuff. It is sought after by artists and rich men in the empire. However, it is often fatal to them, as the weak humans cannot stand the effect of Warpstone.

As for the tomatoes, I figure the Estalians eat them frequently! Mama Mia!

[Gorbad Ironclaw]

Tea: I always thought they had tea, but in Fell Cargo, Cpt. Silvaro wonders what the hell is "tee".

I seem to remember them drinking tea in Wolves of Ulric. Although that is with an Alchemist from Araby.

[Lord-Warlock]

I can't really imagine anyone in the Old World smoking a cigarette. The pipe it is, it seems.

Alcoholic drinks are well-covered; ale, beer, brandy, etc. It's worth mentioning rotgut (spirits you drink to get drunk, and fast), gragrint (the Dwarfen version of wine - spirits made from the leftovers in wine making....) and of course vodka.

Bretonnia has truffles (and famously aggressive truffle hounds). They also enjoy snails, frogs and the eyeballs of sheep and cattle (I kid you not...).

The Halflings sell pies. And reputedly, anything goes into them. The same, according to an Estalian playwright, is true for Imperial sausages.

- LoW

[Finnblood]

The Halflings sell pies. And reputedly, anything goes into them. The same, according to an Estalian playwright, is true for Imperial sausages.

Dibbler-style?

[EarthScorpion]

Also, wherefrom the Black lotus comes from? Cathay, Ind, Araby? Is it a venom as in Mordheim or a deleriant as in WHRP1?

Ah, Black Lotus. A good supply of it grows in Naggaroth; after all you can equip Druchii Assasains with it. I never really considered its use as a drug, after all, one nick on someone in the DE book led to a long, nasty and protracted death. I suppose it might be possible to be used in the Old World, although this would be very illegal; the only use I know of it is an ingrediant in Hagbrew, of the Witch Elves.

[Rathgar]

Dibbler-style?

Indeed, the most (im)famous of pies being sold by the Rumster clan.

[Jedi152]

Coffee is mentioned in Deaths City as a new drink brought back from the new world - Rudi gets quite addicted to it even though his workmates insist it's a vile drink, and he should get some proper ale down him.

I'd say it's more for the upper classes/people with money as a novelty drink, but i don't see why vendors in large cities shouldn't be selling cups of the stuff.

[RobC]

New world? Sounds like someone didn't do their research...

[Finnblood]

Yes, it seems. IRL coffee originates from Ethiopia. So that would be Southlands in 'Hammer.

[Jedi152]

Really, i always thought it was from South America.

Oh well, Warhammer doesn't always have to adhere to real life you know!

[Finnblood]

In Arnold's Donuts there's small leaflets that tell the history of coffee. Being an espresso addict, I have read that leaflet through coupla times.

Coffee was noticed when a goat had eaten the beans and it stopped sleeping. First they actually ate the beans before they started to make the drink. Arabs introduced it to Europians.

Wikipedia agrees:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee#...gy_and_history

Coffee (with sugar, bananas and other non-native stuff) is grown in Brazil and other South America these days so that's why you might have mistaken.

[Lab Monkey]

People seem to forget that ye Olde Worlde is not the same as Ye Reale Worlde.

Why can't there be caribou's on the Kislevian plains? Seems fine to me.

[wolf99]

Also, wherefrom the Black lotus comes from? Cathay, Ind, Araby? Is it a venom as in Mordheim or a deleriant as in WHRP1?

Robert Howard, I thought

[RobC]

People seem to forget that ye Olde Worlde is not the same as Ye Reale Worlde. Why can't there be caribou's on the Kislevian plains? Seems fine to me.

I'm reminded of the giant pangolin roaming the Yetzin Valley in Doomstones.

The coffee thing would be fine, were there not conflicting sources. It just results in inconsistency - not that anybody but us notices such things.

(I confess that I, too, thought that coffee was a product of the Americas until I read about how the Ottoman armies supposedly introduced it to Vienna. The Viennese must have been ecstatic - siege broken, and piles of coffee, sherbet and lokum on the doorstep!)