Nobles feasting in Orzammar's Royal Palace
The diet of the dwarven race is unique to all other races in Thedas, owing to the majority of dwarves living their entire lives underground.
After the fall of the dwarven empire, many thaigs which were responsible for producing food were lost to the darkspawn.[1] This has left them with few choices when it comes to food production.[2] As such, the diet of the dwarves of Orzammar is heavily supplemented by food imported from the surface.[3] However, they are still heavily involved in breeding animals and growing food, or finding it in the Deep Roads and other underground locations around the thaigs. In dwarven culture underground, their definition of edible may be at odds with those who live on the surface, but their concept of "food" is easily defined; if something is edible and can be scavenged, it will be consumed.[4]
Harvested and gathered ingredients[]
Dwarves make use of all edible items that can be scavenged, some of which are hazardous due to their proximity to lyrium, and the darkspawn taint which is quite common. Mushrooms are farmed for food in Orzammar.[5][6]
- Deep mushroom - while they naturally grow in close proximity to the darkspawn taint and lyrium veins[7], these mushrooms are considered delicacies and are prized for their unique flavor and intoxicating scent. Some dwarves believe that the closer a deep mushroom is to lyrium and darkspawn the better the flavor.[5] Dwarven merchants often hire casteless for very little money to enter the Deep Roads and collect mushrooms, a dangerous task due to the everlasting presence of darkspawn. A common recipe for deep mushrooms is in cream sauces accompanying nugs.[8]
- Dirt - added to Orzammar ale.[9]
- Fungus - possibly used to brew liquor.
- Lichen - can be made into ale[10] and bread,[11] if well-dried beforehand. One known variety used is black lichen. Black lichen is toxic, but the cooking process renders it harmless.[12]
- Moss - used in the production of dubious liquor.[13]
Food animals[]
A roasted nug, considered a delicacy
Dwarves both catch and breed animals as food sources.
- Bronto - originally bred by the Shaperate as a food source, beast of burden, and mount.[14] They are roughly equivalent to surface oxen and cows.[15]
- Cave beetle - dwarves are known to roast and eat these beetles in the shell.[16][17]
- Deepstalker - served as a stew[18] or roasted on a spit.[19]
- Giant spider - domesticated by underground dwarves. They are served roasted[19] or fried.[20]
- Nug - a small animal that looks like a cross between a pig and a rabbit. It is a primary part of dwarven cuisine.[21] Nug-wranglers catch nugs to sell,[22] and may also practice some form of nug farming to breed the animals. The flavor has been described as an "unholy union of pork and hare"[8] and like "a cross between pork and rabbit".[21] It is favored as a food source by poor[14] and wealthy alike. It is considered to be tender, particularly when roasted[23], but should be boiled beforehand.[22] A popular sport among the lower castes is nug racing. After nugs can no longer race, they are consumed as food.[24]
Known dwarven liquor[]
A sign in Tapster's Tavern
Dwarves have a long-standing love for, and uncanny ability to tolerate, liquor. They both import liquor and produce much on their own.
- Brakien Brew - a beer with a heavy head and a deep, rich taste.[25]
- Coconut Draft[26]
- Dwarven ale - not actually an ale, but a black liquid with a reputation of being almost undrinkable for anyone who is not a dwarf. It is reputedly made from fungus.[27] As noted by Oghren, Orzammar ale tastes like dirt in comparison to Fereldan ale, as dwarves put dirt in it.[28]
- Hirol's Lava Burst - a gift for Oghren in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, produced in Kal'Hirol. It is said to taste "like burning".
- Lichen ale – a toxic ale of choice among Dust Town dwarves.[29][30] It must be enjoyed in moderation due to its toxicity, as it can overpower those who are not dwarves and even the sturdiest of dwarves.[31]
- Mosswine - an astringent, toxic wine brewed from moss.
- Valenta's Red - called the "Paragon of Ales" and is considered the best that money can buy.[25]
Surface foods[]
Trade with the surface is essential to the wealth of the city of Orzammar, and food products are a part of that. Indeed, without the lifeline of trade, including food, into the city, survival in Orzammar would be very difficult.[32] Surface food products are necessarily in high demand in Orzammar due to the few choices of food produced by the city itself and the exotic novelty of surface foods. Due to their great expense, typically only noble, the wealthy or the very influential are able to purchase these goods.[33] Notable surface delicacies are jams[34], with a particularly high interest in plum jam,[35] caviar,[36] coconut,[26] and hot sauce.[37] Other surface goods in Orzammar include apples, carrots, grapes, marrow squash, oranges,[38] and plums.[39] The Tapster's Tavern also imports and serves liquor, such as honey mead, traded from a surface family who ships it every month.[25]
The dwarves trade arms and armor in exchange for various goods such as goat milk and free passage rights for their traders from the Avvar.[40]
Known cuisine[]
Dwarven cuisine commonly uses some type of alcohol among its ingredients.[20]
- Braised nug with elfroot[41]
- Brandy soaked cherries[42]
- Deepmushroom flavored cream sauce[43]
- Deepstalker stew[18]
- Dwarven plum jam - a very sweet preserve made in Orzammar from ingredients imported individually from the surface.[39]
- Fried mush[44]
- Fried young giant spiders - the legs are fried and served with an alcohol-based sauce that varies with every Orzammar eating establishment.[45]
- Lichen bread[11]
- Black lichen bread[46]
- Mushrooms cooked in ale - a sauce that comes recommended being served over roasted nug.[47]
- Nug pancakes – a savory pancake made with nug. It is a favorite among dwarven children and featured in a dwarven folk song.[48][49][50]
- Nug steak[18]
- Nug-gets - a favored food of children.[8][51]
- Nug-loaf[52]
- Old cheese and shredded dried meat - used as a spread.[53]
- Pickled nug[54]
- Roasted cave beetles[55]
- Roasted nug[47]
- Seared nug - seared on a hot metal plate and finished in the oven, then dressed in a cream sauce flavored with deep mushrooms. It is a favorite dish of King Ansgar Aeducan.[43]
- Slow-roasted nug-let[56]
- Spit-roasted nug with hot sauce[37]
Trivia[]
- Varen, a former Legionnaire, discovered the edibility of nug while lost in the Deep Roads. He was made a Paragon for his discovery.[8]
- Tapster's Tavern serves 52 types of ale, 17 meads and 12 imported wines, a testament to the dwarves' long-standing love of hard drink.
- Oghren's gift, the Beard Flask from Feastday Gifts and Pranks, is fashioned from a nug stomach to facilitate hands-free drinking.
- Alistair and Leliana will comment upon drinking dwarven ale in location-specific dialog in Dragon Age: Origins. Wynne also professes interest in it in party banter with Oghren, and even develops a taste for it by the time period of Dragon Age: Asunder. King Maric Theirin also drinks it in Dragon Age: The Calling, having developed a taste for the brew himself.
- The sauces used in Orzammar are highly guarded secrets due to the fierce competition for "Orzammar's Best Sauce". The coveted title has led to some forming plots to steal these secret recipes, in hopes of winning.[45]
- A dwarf in Orzammar is a jam maker. They hope that if they make the jam themselves, they can sell their products at more reasonable prices.[39]
- Another common good seen and mentioned in Orzammar is cheese, however it is unclear if they make their own or strictly import it.
- In the Dragon Age (tabletop RPG) adventure The Autumn Falls, it mentions that some noble houses will serve drinks in hand-carved crystal goblets with runes to keep their contents chilled.[57]
See also[]
Codex entry: Bronto Codex entry: Nug Codex entry: Traditional Dwarven Folk Songs
Codex entry: Deep Mushroom
Deep Roads Expeditions: Recovering Barreled Treasure Mugs in the Deep Roads
References[]
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