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Author Topic: Real food, or plump helmets  (Read 16002 times)

Kagus

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #15 on: March 19, 2008, 11:28:00 pm »

SPAM:  Special Purpose Army Meat.  What that "special purpose" is, we don't know.  It certainly isn't for eating.

There are a few mushrooms have very little flavor, but there are also some that pack a punch as far as flavor is concerned.  Take the matsutake mushroom, for intance.  It smells like cinnamon and old shoe, and the flavor of the mushroom itself can sometimes be a little too powerful, for those not inclined to mushroom-y flavors.  Shiitakes have a nice flavor, and you can most certainly notice it.  Let's also not forget truffles, those highly sought-after lumps of fungal growth.

Mushrooms have no flavor?  Ridiculous.  There are indeed some that are used primarily for soaking up the flavor of various spices and whatever else they may be prepared with, but there can be no doubting the Epicurean delights some mushrooms can provide.

Pickerel

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #16 on: March 20, 2008, 01:21:00 am »

You who say that mushrooms are bland have probably only had White Button mushrooms, or possibly Oysters (I don't like them either).  Most mushrooms are quite distinct in flavor and texture.  Flamulina taste like meat (and powerfully so), morels... are distinct, and so are truffles.  Ganoderma has it's distinct taste (though it is made into tea).  Shitake is a very good one in my opinion, with a powerful flavor.  There are LOTS of extremely tasty mushrooms to try.  And, in fact, it can be good to have a mushroom without flavor: as someone mentioned above, many things are made to take up what they are cooked with.  One such is Calvatia gigantea, the Giant Puffball.  It's flesh has the texture of Tofu, and somewhat similar taste: that is to say, it takes up the taste of whatever you cook it with.  This is it's benefit.

In the US, all they usually have is Agaricus bisporus.  This is the pizza mushroom, the white buttons in the store, even Portobella (which is just a marketting name made to sound italian, nothimg more) is still Agaricus bisporus (It's a different strain, better but still not very good).  A. bisporus is a low nutrition mushroom with little flavor.  Only in the US is it popular to a large extent: the rest of the world has very little interest in this tasteless, nutrition lacking mushroom, when they could so easily have so many other mushrooms...

Also, as to the guy who says the dwarves should be able to find mushrooms in the woods: being an RL mycologist, I have added many mushrooms into my game, and I have them all found in the appropriate habitats.  They can be grown underground too (as per their habitat tag) but they are also found in their appropriate habitats.  Furthermore, any mushroom that has a tag other then [BIOME:SUBTERRANEAN_WATER] or whatever it is cannot have it's spawn brought on start, so there's no problems with it being too available... so other then trading, one only gets it by herbalism.

[ March 20, 2008: Message edited by: Pickerel ]

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Kagus

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #17 on: March 20, 2008, 01:27:00 am »

Well, even though several mushrooms have very high nutritional content, our bodies can't process the fungus properly so most of that nutrition ends up as waste.  Even with the most nutritious and healthy mushroom, you'll still only scrape off a tiny amount of it before it reaches "the light at the end of the tunnel".


I figure dwarves just have digestive processes that are more efficient at converting fungii.

Pickerel

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #18 on: March 20, 2008, 01:38:00 am »

Not necessarily true: it is true that we cannot propperly digest chitin, making it so that we don't always get maximum nutrients out, but we have the same problem with cellulose when eating plants (Hence one's dung can easily have corn nibblets if one hasn't chewed propperly).  While plant cells are large and break easily, fungi are small and fibrous hyphae, but when broken they more easily leak their contents out because of the lack of distinct cells... if they are an ascomycete.  If one cooks them well, much of this problem is subverted because the warronin bodies are degraded.  Inevitably they are a good source of fiber because of the indigestible chitin, and are physically broken enough to extract most of the nutrients in the digestive system.  But cell walls differ vastly between the different edible fungi, so it really depends how brittle they are.
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Kogan Loloklam

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #19 on: March 20, 2008, 01:46:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by Kagus:
<STRONG>Well, even though several mushrooms have very high nutritional content, our bodies can't process the fungus properly so most of that nutrition ends up as waste.  Even with the most nutritious and healthy mushroom, you'll still only scrape off a tiny amount of it before it reaches "the light at the end of the tunnel".


I figure dwarves just have digestive processes that are more efficient at converting fungii.</STRONG>


You know, I find it fascinating what people assume when it comes to nutrition. As a Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian for all but some 6 or so years of my life, I've heard quite a bit of comments on my nutrition. Some people insist that I should be dead since I don't take a single vitamin or other supplement (besides the crap they put in food. I'm sure I'm a walking insecticide  ;)). These people tell me I'm weak, and that they could beat me up since I don't eat meat(Those comments usually end when they discover I spent 4 years in the US Marines lugging around a machine gun and they compare that to their gut gained from sitting behind their computer.)
It is really funny when you think about the threats you get from some people, especially online (Right jurassiced?)
Actually I should call myself a Lacto-Vegetarian, since I don't like eggs, though I am not opposed to the practice of eating eggs. I just don't like the taste  ;) Of course Vegetarian usually implies eating vegetables, but I really hate lettuce. So when you boil it down, I'm a carrot, Tomato, Cheese, mushroom, and fruit eating milk drinker.
I love mushrooms. I'd say they consist in some part or another of 30% of my diet. By far the largest part.

And to answer the original question, Not with plump helmets, but I did find myself building more wells when I was thirsty... But it was like 5 AM and I should have been in bed hours ago by then.

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... if someone dies TOUGH LUCK. YOU SHOULD HAVE PAYED ATTENTION DURING ALL THE DAMNED DODGING DEMONSTRATIONS!

Kagus

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #20 on: March 20, 2008, 03:35:00 am »

I've been a vegetarian who makes exceptions for non-mammalian seafood for every year I've spent in my life.  I don't drink cow's milk, as I used to be allergic to it, and I've sorta gotten into the habit of not taking it.  Mind you, I've also stayed away from it because it really isn't that healthy for humans to drink.  Soy milks and ice creams (surprisingly good.  We've managed to talk a few people into trying some, and now they prefer it over the standard ice creams) have been sort of a staple part of our diet, since there are times when goat cheese just doesn't really fit into whatever recipe you've got going.  And no, they don't all taste like chalk, those are just the really junky products.

I've gotten similar responses to when I state my dietary preferences.  Recently, I was chatting (internet) with a buddy of mine when the subject came up.  Once I was finished, he stated that I must be such a pathetically fragile stick of a person that his cat could break every bone in my body by walking over me.


Now, I'm not exactly buff, but 6'1" 166+ pounds isn't puny for seventeen.  I told him that he must have a pretty big cat.  


He still insists that I should drink cow's milk every time I talk with him, though.

Othob Rithol

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #21 on: March 20, 2008, 03:53:00 am »

I think you can get a decent diet out of just about anything,as long as the base is diverse enough. My veggan ex-gf was one of those pasty weak types, but only because she ate only tofu and chickpeas.

You guys might hate me because I am 90% carnivore. Crohn's Disease will do that to you. Protein digests easily (read: painlessly, not efficiently), and serves as a great source of material for regeneration.

All dairy is like the forbidden fruit : what would I do for a Klondike bar? Don't ask.

And Kogan, cut jurassiced a break. She was clearly a foreign , poorly educated kid and was being ganged up on by a crowd. Yeah, she went to far, but that was from immaturity. There's nothing to prove here marine.

numerobis

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #22 on: March 20, 2008, 09:46:00 am »

So, except for the carnivore and a couple germans, most of us are vegetarians from Wisconsin?

(I'm not really from Wisconsin, but I play there on the weekend)

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gimli

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #23 on: March 20, 2008, 09:53:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by benoit.hudson:
<STRONG>So, except for the carnivore and a couple germans, most of us are vegetarians from Wisconsin?

(I'm not really from Wisconsin, but I play there on the weekend)</STRONG>


I am not sure that what is the point in being vegetarian. You wont live any longer, just because you dont eat meat. Idiotism I would say.   :roll:

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Pickerel

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #24 on: March 20, 2008, 10:07:00 am »

/me senses animosity ^.^

I am not technically a vegetarian in that I am okay with meat and such.  I just agree to eat human someday if very well prepared (VERY well done, almost burned.  I would be quite paranoid of parasite passage, which is hypothetically one of the main reasons so many creatures rarely engage in canabalism.  And I would need to make sure that the victim is healthy, lacking any prion diseases...).  But I don't actually eat meat... The reason: too expensive, and, to me, tastes bad.  I have only ever liked ground meats because I hate the general texture most meats have.  I also tend to dislike beef, hate pork, and only like the white part of chicken, which is expensive.  So as of right now, the only meat I have had in the last 8 months is pepperoni on pizza... I like fish, but I haven't been fishing in years (It's a workaholic thing), and buying it at the store is far too expensive for me (even tilapia... which are delicious ^.^).  So reasons for not eating meat: economic, and preference.  I also know that animal products require more energy to produce, because the animals themselves use much of the energy fed to them during their lifetime for the many physiological functions animals have (Chicken has a pretty good food-to-meat conversion, though, on par with fungi).  They call it 'eating low on the food chain' to eat less herbivores or, worse, carnivores, and more primary producers like plants, as a source of energy.  So reason for not eating meat: Ecologic.  But as the person with chron's mentioned, protein-based things are particularly easy to digest, and as said above, humans to have trouble with cell walls, which animals like cows subvert with a host of rumen symbionts, thus getting more energy out of what they eat...  I recommend looking into Tempeh, which is soybeans partially digested by rhizopus.  You get added protein because of processing by the fungus, and it makes more stuff 'bioavailable' to humans.  Predigested for your convenience!  Not to the person with chron's though.  I just recommend this to everyone else ^.^  I don't know enough about chron's to give any advice, sorry ^.^

Yet I maintain myself in quite a healthy state, it seems.  I am known for being agile and, though excessively skinny (a perpetual thing: I lived with a hungarian grandmother and never broke 120lbs.  Living with a hungarian G-ma is 3 large meals daily plus snacks ^.^), quite capable physically and never ill.  I use whole milk and small amounts of cheese for calcium, fats, and other such things.  I end up needing to explain when people complain about fat and cholesterol that I am not going to get that fat anywhere else in my diet anyway, so it is still, quite frankly, in moderation.  I buy huge bulk bags of frozen peas and other similars, because they are cheap, and add them to everything, and peas I have always found easy to digest so I am relatively sure I get a good amount of the nutrients out.  And I supplement with the occasional fungal snack ^.^  All of this goes into the unhealthy component of cheap mac and cheese, which provides starch and the essential yellow teeth ^.^  Otherwise, I just eat cereal (with said whole milk), because Malt-o-meal comes in bags and costs much less mass-per-price then other brands...  And I happen to love those flakes full of mineral nutrients.  I do, however, supplement with vitamin tablets, fish oil thingies, and calcium tablets, but admittedly I get those from my family as xmas presents so I don't have to worry about the price.  And I eat bananas, apples, and such like they were candy.  Bananas are relatively cheap, and the apples I get extra cheap because I buy apple scab apples from some of the local growers: apple scab is completely superficial on the apple, infecting only the outer cortical layer of the apple, and has no known toxins whatsoever, but people consider it to be unsightly, so... more for me, and at a better price ^.^  And the final thing, the gist of all this, is that I eat mushrooms, knowing it to be a cholesterol-less (they use Ergosterol in their membranes) protein source with fiber.  I can't stand button mushrooms though, so I grow my own ^.^  Flamulina being one of my favorites.

And I eat in moderation: 1-2 meals per day, interspersed with small snacks to avoid hunger, such as a handful of pretzels, a handful of cereal, and the aforementioned fruits.

Granted, there's flaws.  In fact, if any of you see glaring errors in the diet, please tell me, because while I try to eat both cheaply and healthily at the same time, I have no actual experience and far too little knowledge in human nutrition ^.^  But as I said, I remain quite healthy: I almost never get sick, or if I do, I kick week-long flues in 2-3 days and with less severe symptoms then those that gave it to me and those that get it from me ^.^ (Hypothetically also attributable to the fact that I am dirty, so get exposed to a lot of stuff, thus imparting an amount of immunity to various things), and I am the only person on my dad's side of the family to have my blood pressure under control (I used to have high blood pressure, like the rest of them, when I lived with them, but under my current living conditions I am only slightly above normal BP).

My current foray into the realm of health is to prepare for myself Rhodotorula yeast for, but I need to get my PCR to work so I can make absolutely sure I have R. gracilis, the yeast known to be without toxins and non-infectuous (one is more likely to get an S. cereviscea infection).  Rhodotorula produces very large amounts of carotenoids, which I feel may be lacking in my diet.  Good for antioxidants, and B-carotene, which they produce, is the precursor to the retinols.

[ March 20, 2008: Message edited by: Pickerel ]

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gimli

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #25 on: March 20, 2008, 10:17:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by Pickerel:
<STRONG>/me senses animosity ^.^

I am not technically a vegetarian in that I am okay with meat and such.  I just agree to eat human someday if very well prepared (VERY well done, almost burned.  I would be quite paranoid of parasite passage, which is hypothetically one of the main reasons so many creatures rarely engage in canabalism.  And I would need to make sure that the victim is healthy, lacking any prion diseases...).  But I don't actually eat meat... The reason: too expensive, and, to me, tastes bad.  I have only ever liked ground meats because I hate the general texture most meats have.  I also tend to dislike beef, hate pork, and only like the white part of chicken, which is expensive.  So as of right now, the only meat I have had in the last 8 months is pepperoni on pizza... I like fish, but I haven't been fishing in years (It's a workaholic thing), and buying it at the store is far too expensive for me (even tilapia... which are delicious ^.^).

Yet I maintain myself in quite a healthy state, it seems.  I am known for being agile and, though excessively skinny (a perpetual thing: I lived with a hungarian grandmother and never broke 120lbs.  Living with a hungarian G-ma is 3 large meals daily plus snacks ^.^), quite capable physically and never ill.  I use whole milk and small amounts of cheese for calcium, fats, and other such things.  I end up needing to explain when people complain about fat and cholesterol that I am not going to get that fat anywhere else in my diet anyway, so it is still, quite frankly, in moderation.  I buy huge bulk bags of frozen peas and other similars, because they are cheap, and add them to everything, and peas I have always found easy to digest so I am relatively sure I get a good amount of the nutrients out.  And I supplement with the occasional fungal snack ^.^  All of this goes into the unhealthy component of cheap mac and cheese, which provides starch and the essential yellow teeth ^.^  Otherwise, I just eat cereal (with said whole milk), because Malt-o-meal comes in bags and costs much less mass-per-price then other brands...  And I happen to love those flakes full of mineral nutrients.  I do, however, supplement with vitamin tablets, fish oil thingies, and calcium tablets, but admittedly I get those from my family as xmas presents so I don't have to worry about the price.  And I eat bananas, apples, and such like they were candy.  Bananas are relatively cheap, and the apples I get extra cheap because I buy apple scab apples from some of the local growers: apple scab is completely superficial on the apple, infecting only the outer cortical layer of the apple, and has no known toxins whatsoever, but people consider it to be unsightly, so... more for me, and at a better price ^.^  And the final thing, the gist of all this, is that I eat mushrooms, knowing it to be a cholesterol-less (they use Ergosterol in their membranes) protein source with fiber.  I can't stand button mushrooms though, so I grow my own ^.^  Flamulina being one of my favorites.

And I eat in moderation: 1-2 meals per day, interspersed with small snacks to avoid hunger, such as a handful of pretzels, a handful of cereal, and the aforementioned fruits.

Granted, there's flaws.  In fact, if any of you see glaring errors in the diet, please tell me, because while I try to eat both cheaply and healthily at the same time, I have no actual experience and far too little knowledge in human nutrition ^.^  But as I said, I remain quite healthy: I almost never get sick, or if I do, I kick week-long flues in 2-3 days and with less severe symptoms then those that gave it to me and those that get it from me ^.^ (Hypothetically also attributable to the fact that I am dirty, so get exposed to a lot of stuff, thus imparting an amount of immunity to various things), and I am the only person on my dad's side of the family to have my blood pressure under control (I used to have high blood pressure, like the rest of them, when I lived with them, but under my current living conditions I am only slightly above normal BP).

My current foray into the realm of health is to prepare for myself Rhodotorula yeast for, but I need to get my PCR to work so I can make absolutely sure I have R. gracilis, the yeast known to be without toxins and non-infectuous (one is more likely to get an S. cereviscea infection).  Rhodotorula produces very large amounts of carotenoids, which I feel may be lacking in my diet.  Good for antioxidants, and B-carotene, which they produce, is the precursor to the retinols.

[ March 20, 2008: Message edited by: Pickerel ]</STRONG>


Haha, I am a Hungarian myself, so I know whatcha mean.
 :D

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Awayfarer

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #26 on: March 20, 2008, 10:19:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by gimli:
<STRONG>

I am not sure that what is the point in being vegetarian. You wont live any longer, just because you dont eat meat. Idiotism I would say.    :roll:</STRONG>


My mother and a number of other folks I know have given it up because in order to get meat something that feels pain has to die. It is probably very rare that folks stop eating meat for longevity's sake.

I stopped eating beef after I read a description of what Kreutzfeldt Yakob's (Mad Cow) disese does to your brain. I understand that the risk for that disese is pretty minimal. I remember a point in wrestler Mick Foley's autobiography. where he mentions that he can't eat reuben sandwhiches now because he puked one onto a fans shoes. Just pointing out that some folks stop eating things due to unpleasant associations.

Just so as not to derail this thread further, I had a funny thought regarding plump helmets. I imagine the stem being flat and nearly wooden and the cap as basically a skin with a thick, porridge-like stuff inside. When a dwarf eats a plump helmet they remove the stem to use as a spoon. Removing it makes a hole in the cap through which they can eat the mush. Once they've emptied the mush-room they eat the cap, sort of like a bread bowl. :-)
The spoon is left over...that's the seed.

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Inquisitor Saturn

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #27 on: March 20, 2008, 10:22:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by Kagus:
<STRONG>SPAM:  Special Purpose Army Meat.</STRONG>

Incorrect. It's a portmanteau of "shoulder pork and ham." It's the tougher types of pig meat, ground up and salted. There's nothing alien in there- it's actually high-quality meat product. It's quite good when pan-fried with oregano.

It came into being when a butcher had a problem with what to do with all the excess shoulder meat that nobody would buy, because it's too tough. His solution was to ground it up and cook it in a can. He held a drinking contest with his friends to come up with a name, and "Spam" was the winner.

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Awayfarer

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #28 on: March 20, 2008, 10:28:00 am »

quote:
Originally posted by Inquisitor Saturn:
[QB]

Incorrect. It's a portmanteau of "shoulder pork and ham." It's the tougher types of pig meat, ground up and salted. There's nothing alien in there- it's actually high-quality meat product. It's quite good when pan-fried with oregano.[QB]



Oregano eh? I'll have to give that a shot at some point. I rarely eat spam but I've been doing so a little more now that they come in single packs. My significant other doesn't like it and I can't really justify buying a whole can if I'm the only one eating it.

I've found that a little wasabi on spam is nice. I tend to do this at breakfast after mixing a little soy sauce into my scrambled eggs. Sort of wierd how well (IMO) sushi condiments go with eggs and spam.

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--There: Indicates location or state of being.
"The ale barrel is over there. There is a dwarf in it."
--Their: Indicates possession.
"Their beer has a dwarf in it. It must taste terrible.
--They're: A contraction of the words "they are".
"They're going to pull the dwarf out of the barrel."

Kagus

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Re: Real food, or plump helmets
« Reply #29 on: March 20, 2008, 11:16:00 am »

"We've got sausage eggs bacon and spam, eggs bacon spam and sausage, spam spam sausage eggs spam bacon spam spam spam, spam spam spam spam spam...-


"SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM,
SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM..."

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