“When you got an eternity to live though, it’s a damn shame if you don’t even enjoy it, you know?” - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden.

“They sure make them different here, simpler,” commented Áine as she munched on the food at her plate. The group had to wait for a few days for the paperwork to be finished anyway, so they naturally took the time to sample the local specialties. Aideen and Celia had the chance to do so when they passed by the port town before, but none of the rest had that opportunity yet. “It’s good in its own way, though. Brings out the natural flavors more this way.”

At the moment, the group was enjoying the tentacle – singular, as the young kraken it was sourced from was large enough that its tentacle was easily as thick as an adult human’s arm at the base – of a kraken freshly caught just hours ago. The limb had been chopped off the freshly butchered creature, parboiled quickly in some boiling salt water, then was grilled until it cooked, seasoned simply, only with salt and a sprinkling of herbs that reminded Aideen of some cross between parsley and mint.

The resultant slices of grilled kraken were still rather chewy, but Aideen chalked it up to local preferences, as after most races – other than the merfolk – had stronger jaws and teeth than humans do, and generally didn’t favor having their food too tender. Of course, out of the group only she and Celia even found the meat chewy, as for the others it was just right.

Despite the simple way of cooking, the kraken flesh had a pleasant brininess to it yet without even the slightest hint of fishiness. The outer surface of the tentacle was nicely charred from the grill which imparted a pleasant smoky flavor to that region, while the simple seasoning and a squeeze of fresh citrus juice really brought out the natural flavor of the flesh as they chewed on it.

Since the group were from the Lichdom, they were quite used to having octopus – or young krakens, as larger specimens were often called – for food. The creatures were rather commonly caught by the fishermen on the southern shores of the Lichdom, so when they visited the south they had relatively often. The way the creatures were cooked differed quite a bit between the two continents, though.

Most cuisine in the Lichdom tended to involve strong flavors and various spices as was the local preference, and the most common way to have an octopus there would be to cook it together with local vegetables as well as other kinds of seafood in a flavorful stew that was flavored with a mixture of myriad spices, often strong in flavor and served over rice or with flatbreads.

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In such a dish, the flavors of the various ingredients tended to blend together into a harmonious whole, which was definitely satisfying to have, but might cause the individual flavors to be a bit lost. By contrast, the northern way of cooking emphasized the natural flavor more, with far fewer spices in use. Even those that were used tended to be ones that helped draw out the natural flavors of the ingredient more.

At least when it came to seafood anyway, and naturally even in the northern continent the various regions had their own methods and preferences when it came to food and cooking.

In fact, many of the differences were due to rather practical reasons. After all, other than Posuin in the west – which was rather isolated from its neighbors due to the geographical barriers between them – and some other areas, most of the spices the Lichdom used liberally did not grow in Alcidea. Many of them were endemic to the southern continent, and efforts to grow them elsewhere had only met with mixed success.

Because of that the northerners had no habit of using spices liberally in their cooking. They either completely adopted a cuisine that focused on the natural flavor of the ingredients itself – like in Knallzog as a whole – or reserved what spices they managed to get their hands on via imports or other methods for the rich and powerful, like in the Clangeddin Empire, for example.

If not for the fact that the southern continent of Ur-Teros was by no means weaker than Alcidea – on top of having a hazard nobody wanted to accidentally provoke like the Bone Lord – Aideen could well have imagined some of the northern lords attempting to colonize and rule over parts of the south to profit from the spice trade, which brought great profits to the merchants that dabbled in them as it was.

Some things remained the same everywhere, though, like the local fishermen teasingly presenting some particularly unpleasant looking sea creatures they caught to people that looked like tourists. Their dejected looks when Aideen’s group had not so much as reacted to such a prank was rather amusing to watch, doubly so when Celia asked Aideen in common – on purpose, no doubt – on the best ways to cook said creatures.

As it turned out, some things proved to be very common indeed amongst people that shared the same sort of livelihoods, even if they were continents or even eras apart from each other. Some practical jokes or pranks just came naturally due to the nature of one’s way of life, and so were expectations and other outlooks on life as a result.

It was the sort of thing that always made Aideen feel that people were not so different after all, no matter the differences in their race, skin color, age, birthplace, and whatnot. It was something that she always found pleasing and amusing, that people could be so different yet remained the same in other ways at the same time.

Perhaps at the core people would be able to come to an understanding with each other, no matter where they came from, if only they could put aside the sorts of preconceived notions they developed – or grew up with – over their lives. It was something that Aideen often pondered when she had nothing to do.