Food -- Bacon on PERN?

[Angry Plecostomus]

Was just discussing with a friend... "If you could go there, would you?"

I said only if there is bacon.

Good thing I've just started the entire series again... Because now I'm curious... I think they brought pigs with them when they settled, did any survive the first fall/crossing?

Say my reality-trans-location device took me to the time-period depicted at the beginning of the Harper Hall series... Would there be bacon or would I have to reintroduce Sus scrofa domesticus?

This is important... because I am not living without it, and if if I have to bring it I need to figure out how many animal-units to bring with me and scale my relocation-device accordingly. :P

[Almaron]

I seem to recall the DLG stating they did...or at least, it said they were adapted for survival on Pern - ending up looking like wild boars - and didn't say anything about them dying out, like some of the other animals.

[Lily]

I don't recall that smoking meat is discussed anywhere. But I bet they did. And it doesnt have to be pig does it? I bet slices of smoked wherry would taste pretty good.

ARe hens mentioned? I bet they got eggs to eat from something too.

[mawra]

They smoked fish

[Kat]

Page 18 of the DLG;

"The pigs were useful as disposal systems,transforming slops into protein-rich meat.Since not as many pigs were bred as other herd animals,pork came to be regarded as a special treat."

Page 155;

"The beastcrafters are involved mainly with the study of the animals that once came from Earth:runnerbeasts,bovines,llamas,porcines,caprine s,ovines,and canines.
They also look after avians,domestic wherries,andthe rare chickens and geese,improving egg yield and size of roasting fowl."

So the answer would be ,yes they have pigs so yes they BACON,BACON,BACON!!!

[Angry Plecostomus]

Oh thank goodness.

I only read through the DLG and Atlas once, long ago. It belonged to Macedon Public Library and I don't think it survived the fire. (I think it was Macedon... )

[D. M. Domini]

Speaking of eggs--I seem to remember chickens didn't survive, but ducks did.

And I was pondering...ducks aren't great egg-layers, not like chickens. So if I'm not remembering wrong...and eggs are not readily available from animals and thus not eaten...

...do you think it's feasible that the Pernese could consider eggs a "taboo" food?

Consider: Their oaths revolve around dragon's eggs. Firelizards, while not dragons, are at least beloved as cats and we don't eat cats or kittens. I would be very surprised if watch wher eggs were eaten...think of how enraged the queen watch wher would become at the thought! And it probably makes more sense to let a wherry mature than to eat its egg. They probably only lay 1 or 2 a season, and ranchers have to support the Weyrs and a huge dragon needs a lot of adult-sized wherries...

With this setup, I could very much see the Pernese having a taboo against eggs being eaten...

Or am I totally forgetting some scene where the Pernese did explicitly eat eggs?

[Angry Plecostomus]

That's an interesting take on things... Then again things like bread and cakes need eggs as part of the process/recipe... Maybe there are other substances/naturally occurring substitutes?

So long as I get my bacon, that's all that matters.

[Kath]

I love that theory about eggs, but I think chicken eggs at least are far too useful as binding agents.

People still eat dogs and horses, no matter how much people like them as companions. Personally, I think the Pernese would discriminate between avian layers and draconic, and still eat chicken eggs.

[Brenda]

It's not like they could possibly mistake one for the other and eat fire lizard eggs thinking they were chicken eggs!

[Dannette]

Originally Posted by D. M. Domini

Speaking of eggs--I seem to remember chickens didn't survive, but ducks did.

I don't immediately have my copy of "Dragonsdawn" or the DLG on me. However, I do recall from "Drsagonsdawn" that turkeys did not survive, (I think the eggs just didn't hatch) but I don't recall chickens being mentioned as not making it.

Dannette

[Kat]

Originally Posted by Angry Plecostomus

Oh thank goodness.

I only read through the DLG and Atlas once, long ago. It belonged to Macedon Public Library and I don't think it survived the fire. (I think it was Macedon... )

Macedon, New York??

[kevia]

IIRC, chickens are mentioned in Chronicles of Pern, in the "The Second Weyr." Someone brings some into the new weyr on the first day that they are working on it.

[Brenda]

Good catch, Kevia! I remembered in Dragonsdawn that the fire lizards successfully defend the chickens against a wherry raid, but yours shows that they were thriving after the colonists moved north.

[Angry Plecostomus]

Originally Posted by Kat

Macedon, New York??

Yes.

I worked in the big factory that changes names daily on Rt 31, used to commute from home in Town of Ontario, then later Palmyra.

[D. M. Domini]

I'll need to hit up DLG again, although I may be remembering turkeys. I seem to have lost my copy

I may add "egg taboo" as a part of my non-canon AU stuff. Sort of like wicker.

My theory is that stone just sucks as an everyday furniture material since it's so permanent, and wood is expensive, but reeds would grow fast around the shores and banks, and the bits under water would survive thread and just stick up new sprouts and grow rapidly, so wicker would be much more practical as a furniture-making material than just about anything else. It's light, easily portable, and you can bring it inside during threadfall then put it back outside on a porch afterwards. Of course, AMC never mentions wicker so it's AU...

[Kat]

Originally Posted by Angry Plecostomus

Yes.

I worked in the big factory that changes names daily on Rt 31, used to commute from home in Town of Ontario, then later Palmyra.

WOW!!

Small world. I lived in Ontario up until 3 1/2 years ago when I moved down here (GA now we're in SC) to marry my husband.

I worked at Webster Plastics... which wasn't in Webster but Fairport(well the address was).

[Angry Plecostomus]

I know all about Webster Plastics. I got my start in the plastics industry there, when they were actually IN Webster, before I move to Harbec (in Ontario) then to Pactiv/Sunbelt/Huntsman/Pliant/Mobil/Berry.

Now I'm out in Buffalo on layoff status hoping to either find a job or get recalled.

[Kat]

Good luck!!

Yup all those names are familiar. My husband works for Kroger (a grocery store chain that's similar but not as good as Wegman's) and he made twice as much money (he's been with the company 31years) and no snow.

The choice of who was moving where wasn't too hard!

[Angry Plecostomus]

I'm tapped out savings-wise otherwise I'd head south as well. Things suck up here employment-wise.

[Kat]

Originally Posted by Angry Plecostomus

I'm tapped out savings-wise otherwise I'd head south as well. Things suck up here employment-wise.

They aren't super wonderful here either. Though it sounds like you''ve more marketable skills than I did/do.

Had I known what the unemployment situation was I'd have started looking while I was still in NY.

[GinnyStar]

Yes, they do have eggs, for eggs are needed for paint in Dragonseye/Red Star Rising, one of the small holder in the White Dragon had a wherries sp flock and wanted a fire lizard to help protect his eggs during hatching.

Pigs are in the short story Second Weyr, 'as Longwood curring bacon this early?'

Reeds are found along the River in White Dragon, chairs are made in Southern Boll in Dragonseye/Red Star Rising. They are also used in Nerilka's Story for holding of medication.

[Angry Plecostomus]

Well that is fantastic news.

Now all I have to do is cart 70,000 bottles of Rooster Sauce with me when I go.

[Lady Maelin]

I'm happy to admit this was one of the more original and light hearted [nice] thread questions, I've read about in here, in a long time...

Pleco...Glad to hear that you get to have your Bacon, and some eggs as well, when you get to Pern!!!

Hope you find a job real soon...sending tons of possitie thoughts your way.

[skywaterblue]

Pork is probably a staple food on Pern, for all the reasons it's a staple food in most of Western Europe and China: it's resource cheap (pigs eat refuse and are omnivores), fast to grow and heavy yield. And due to high fat content, it preserves well in cold climate. We never hear of dragons eating porcine, so it's likely the sole domain of humans. Perhaps Kitty Ping never got around to enhancing Pernese porcine to absorb boron and thus dragons CANNOT eat it.

Pern seemed to have a large number of Asian-descent in the colonist profile, so they probably have Rooster sauce. And since Muslim and Jewish colonists seem few and far between - and not just because they're supposedly beyond religion now - there's no particular reason to think pork is taboo.

Chickens are supposedly rare due to tunnelsnakes getting at the eggs, but it's clear they survive. Ducks and geese would be the staple birds at table, though we hear far more of domesticated wherry. For that reason, I assume most egg-based dishes are made with wherry egg yolk, assuming it's any kind of reasonable substitute. The only problem would be that domestic wherry seems to be a 'bird' roughly the size of an ostrich, so you'd have to be doing some fractional math for home cooking! Maybe a common Pernese breakfast is eggs-and-bacon scramble using last night's leftovers.

[skywaterblue]

Originally Posted by Kath

I love that theory about eggs, but I think chicken eggs at least are far too useful as binding agents.

People still eat dogs and horses, no matter how much people like them as companions. Personally, I think the Pernese would discriminate between avian layers and draconic, and still eat chicken eggs.

I'm with Kath. I also think assuming the domesticated wherry lays in one-or-two eggs is... very unlikely. Everything we know about higher Pernese vertebrates suggests Thread evolutionary selects for animals to need large clutches with juveniles being able to support themselves soon out of the nest. Wherries probably lay eggs in large clutches, just like their near relatives.

[Angry Plecostomus]

Bacon and hot-sauce are my two staple-foods. Everything else I can adapt to, in fact I would go to Pern simply for the meat-rolls. I bet they are great with rooster-sauce.

[Anareth]

Skywaterblue's right--pigs are adaptable, thrive anywhere, eat anything including other pigs, and produce lots of meat per pound of feed.

Isn't there mention of a cock crowing in "Weyr Search"? So as early as the first story, there are chickens.

[Lily]

I'm reading the story about the formation of Bendon Weyr. Yes, chickens are among the creatures they bring in to help form a source of supplies.

[Lady Maelin]

Pleco...lets hope when you get to Pern, and enjoy those tasty meat rolls with your HOT SAUCE...that someone there has invented *TUMS* for the Mother of upset stomach's that your probably going to have from eating all of that!!!

[Angry Plecostomus]

I'm sure the fine folks of PERN have various stomach remedies on hand

Basic chemistry.... Heart-burn is over-acidic condition in the stomach... so I'd neutralize it with a mild base.

That's why they suggest a change in diet if you have heartburn or reflux... to balance the PH in your stomach (among other reasons).

[Almaron]

Found something else while leafing through Red Star Rising; following the attack by felines (or lions, as they're strangely called at this point) on P'tero and M'leng, Leopol informs P'tero that their dragons were carried "piggy-back" by the others. It's a bit of a stretch - the term could have survived even if the animals went extinct - but it could potentially be a clue...

[GinnyStar]

Originally Posted by Almaron

Found something else while leafing through Red Star Rising; following the attack by felines (or lions, as they're strangely called at this point) on P'tero and M'leng, Leopol informs P'tero that their dragons were carried "piggy-back" by the others. It's a bit of a stretch - the term could have survived even if the animals went extinct - but it could potentially be a clue...

They had pig then, for the farmer and his wife, said they need the sow to make more piggy for the tited that Lord set, as told to K'vin, those who were found at the border crossing.

[Brenda]

When's the last time you said "piggyback" and meant to refer to something piglike? There's no reason to suppose they know what the first part of the first word means in another context.

I've also seen it as "pick-a-back", which might well be where "piggyback" came from.

[Multi-Facets]

Milk and bread are good neutralizers for acid reflux. Water isn't.

Wicker's on Pern, too, mostly in the deep southern holds.

I don't remember turkeys, but I do remember chickens and geese, although they're rare. I think Southern Boll is where some of the chickens are.