Cuisine
As an ethnic mixture of SE Asian, Chinese, Korean, Swiss, Tibetan, and Nepalese, Daistallian cuisine is extraordinarily varied. Agriculture is a major industry in Daistallia 2104. In the south, rice and wheat are staples. In the north, the staple grains are barley, wheat, and oats. Beef based agriculture is a major industry, including Lish, Lam, sheep, and goats. (Lish is a local animal resembling a mix of yak, water buffalo, rhino, and cattle. Lam is a local llama variant.) Trout farming is also important.
In the West, the cuisine reflects the SE Asian, Chinese, and Korean roots. The food is usually quite spicy. Common spices include garlic, chili peppers, mint, cilantro, cardomen, cumin, nutmeg, black pepper, saffron, sage, cloves, cinnamon, and lemon grass. Common sauces and condoments include soy sauce, Gharae (curry, generally made at home), and Kin Nam.
Of particular note is the Daistallian Naga. This is the hottest chili pepper recorded, and measures 1.02 million SHUs.
Kin Nam is a fish based sauce. It is very pungent and spicy, being made from chille peppers, fermented fish broth, . Fresh fruits, vegetables, and seafood are major ingredients. Pork and chicken are also important. Tea, rice, sweet wines, and beer are common beverages.
In the central and eastern regions, the cuisine is more reflective of the Swiss, Neapalese, and Tibetan cusines. The food usuallly contains large quantities of dairy and beef products. Trout is a major food stuff. It is usually served smoked or in a delectable cheese sauce. Bread, potatoes, and pastas are very common. Bread is often of a flat nan or tortilla style. Beef or pork sausages and pates are common. Mutton, Lish, Lam, and goat are also eaten, especially barbequed. Lish blood pudding is a unique local specialty. Tea, schnapps (especially the chilli schnapps), barley/potato vodka, are common beverages, as is beer. However, there are numerous fine wines to be had. The smokey full bodied red wines of the Central and Eastern Uplands are particularly recomended.
Regular everyday Daistallian food is very healthy, nourishing , practical and very tasty. Generally, breakfast is generally eaten between 6:00 and 8:00 am. The main meal is lunch, eaten around noon or 1:00. Dinner is eaten around 7:00 or 8:00 in the evening.
Most westernerners use chopsticks, spoons, or their hands, depending on the food. One should never touch food with the left (dirty) hand. Most easterners eat with knife, fork, and spoon, or their hands. The left hand is also taboo.
The first meal of the day in the west consist of a breakfast of rice, lentil soup, vegetables, and a small amount of pickled vegetables or kin nam. Lunch is usually rice, pickled vegetables, and a small bit of meat or fish. The evening meal usually consists of numerous small dishes and rice.
In the east, musli, oatmeal, or barley porridge are common breakfast foods. These are often served with cream, cheese, or yogurt. Lunch is often a light sandwich or pasta dish. The evening meal is often heavy, with lots of meat.
The national dish of Daistallia 2104 is Kae Map. Kae Map is a very spicy curry-like dish of tofu and shredded meat in a very, very spicy sauce.
Desserts are often sweet and sugary. Chocolate and ice cream are very popular.
The national alcoholic drink is Chili Pepper xanapz (schnapps). For non-alcoholic drinks, most Daistallians prefer a local form of tea, usually served with butter and salt.
Pastimes and Sports
A number of games are popular. Daistallian Mahjong, Go , and chess are the most popular board games.
There are many, many popular computer games. Popular sports including various martial arts, boxing, wrestling, horse racing, dog racing, and ice hockey.
The most popular martial arts are Mu Dai Kick boxing and Dai Chin "soft" boxing.
Festivals
Faesalan
Faesalan (meaning fruitfulness) is the Daistallian Swiss and Cajun Catholic's Carnival celebration. It begins a week before the beginning of Lent. In urban centers, there are street parades featuring drum, pipe, and accordian bands accompanied the display of weaponry, martial arts displays, dancing and fancy-dress revelry. Many people take part under the auspices of thr several hundred kaewhs (organizational groups and musical bands).
On Sunday night before Ash Wednesday, celebrants begin the celebrations with a spectacular bonfire, which lasts until after midnight. The bonfire is followed by a parade of illuminated lanterns through the city centre.Around noon the following day, masked parades are held throught the city with much music, dancing and jollity, followed in the evening by more localized performances by smaller local Kaerwhs.
Most participants take their costumes very seriously and many people spend weeks in advance making huge, cartoonish papier-mâché heads and sewing lavish jester-like costumes. Comericial masks, half-masks, and face paint are considered taboo.
In rural areas, revelers go from house to house begging to obtain the ingredients for a communal meal. This is known as the The Faesalan Run. The riders wear costumes conceal ing their identity, which often parody authority figures, while consumeing large amounts of alcohol in their festive quest. As they ride from one household to the next, the riders engage in rowdy celebration. By mid to late afternoon, the riders return to their base town and parade down the main street on the way to the location where the evening meal will be prepared.
Many people recite satirical poems directed at local bigwigs, in the city’s taverns and restaurants during the evenings. There are also comical oompah concerts, played on old and dented brass instruments by local bands.
Traditional sweets are often served, including: Faesalankuki, a light, thin round cake covered in icing sugar, and Faesalanfae, a kind of caraway-seed pretzel, and Faemaro a cake made from the flour of new rice steamed with melted sugar.
Okchtoe
This event takes place during the two weeks prior to the first Sunday in October. A special darker and stronger, in both taste and alcohol, beer is brewed for the occasion,. It is served in a large tankards. Local breweries are serve this special seasonal beer in large beer tents along with large quantities of food, most of it traditional hearty fare such as sausage, barbequed chicken, barbequed lish, and the like.
Daezhaen
Daezhaen is celebrated during late December. It is the largest Buddhist festival in Daistallia. During this festival, family members who live apart from their families often come home to celebrate the festival. On the first day of the festival people sow seeds in a tiny vessel filled with clay and water. On the second day of the festival, youngsters take "blessings" in the form of sweets and other food items and clothes from their family elders. Government offices, schools and other offices are usually closed during the festival.
Balha Ghalae
Balha Ghalae is the second most important Buddhist festival. It falls in the month of December. Families having lost their members or relatives during the previous year spend all night meditating or praying at their local Buddhist temple. At sunrise, they have a ritual bath, then walk through the graveyard, scattering grain along the path. Families clean and decorate the gravestones during the morning. In the afternoon there is a large festive picnic. And, as evening comes, there is much drinking and dancing.
