The dwarven race was widely renowned for its prowess in mining, building and fighting, but also for its food and drink. In fact, many dwarves called drinking or eating their greatest skill. While dwarvenkind's most famous culinary habit was drinking strong alcohol, there were also many other dietary traditions worthy of having a look at.

Sources of Food

Dwarves distinguished two categories of foodstuff: “that from above” and “that from below”. “That from above” included everything grown above ground or outside of the mountain or hill that the dwarves called home. This category included most grazing animals and any fruit, vegetable and grain cultures. “That from below,” meanwhile, encompassed all treats cultivated below the earth’s surface, namely, in the Caverealm. These included hardier root vegetables, certain lichens and moss, many types of fungus, and a variety of subterranean creatures that some dwarven clans kept, such as spiders or lizards.

That from Above

While dwarves were often seen as stalwart denizens of the mountain who never left their underground fortresses, numerous upper Caverealm clans had a fair bit of activity aboveground as well. Mountain enclaves usually had secluded vales that could only be reached by tunnels, in which they grew high-yield crops or kept cattle. Flatland clans had to deal more with neighbors, defending their area from intruders and making sure none of their cattle walked off.

Mooders, goats, and sheep were the most common grazing animals. Some clans with larger plains territories also kept badeep, while pigs and fowl also appeared. Clans with access to closed-off valleys let their cattle roam freely, because there was nowhere they could go to. Alpine mountainside clans however took more care, often letting their animals out during the day but then bringing them back into a large cave shelter close to the ground at night. Very surface-reliant clans took a more traditional humanoid approach, with fenced-off grazing pastures and surface barns. Some clans, primarily those with little pasture, raised pen animals on feed underground.

Even more important than raising animals was agriculture. Dwarves grew vegetables and grains on their surface fields. Roots often played a major role in dwarven diets due to their nutritional density, because many clans didn't have much available land and space in general. Topnambs, carrots, and turnips were a mainstay in most dwarven clans. Another popular starch was the goldsponge, a large fruit that grew on long spindly vines on rock faces. It was easy to grow because of the abundance of rock around most clans' fields, and had a deep yellow color and very tender flesh. Cabbage could also be found in many Dwarven recipes, valued for its hardiness which allowed deep underground storage. As for grain, dwarves grew grainplant and its relatives, as well as barley. Many Dwarven clans that lived near other races traded with them to supplement their grain production and in general their surface diet. Some clans even completely relied on outside sources for surface food.

That from Below

The Caverealm was a bountiful place for those who knew their way around it.

Mushroom picking was a traditional art in many clans, with an apprentice requiring sometimes many decades of tutelage before they were trusted. Mushroom foraging masters could distinguish mushrooms that might seem completely identical to an outsider. Their main triage category was how alive they'd be after adding one to their soup. While most shrooms only grew wild, some species could be domesticated. Many clans cultivated stock fungus, managing large scale cave mushroom farms that rivalled the massive wheat fields of humans. Lichen and moss were also a good source of nutrients that was grown in such farms.

Fungus could grow without light; however, this happened only very slowly, and therefore didn't work in farms. Dwarven fungal cultures were lit in one of two ways. Most relied on luminous fungus on the ceiling, which however only grew in certain areas because they relied on specific parts of the Weave to survive. More advanced clans instead used connected gems, taking light from the surface and releasing it in the cave. This required much work, because straight chimneys had to be dug between the two gems so the connection worked well enough. Some more worldly clans instead used complex refractory chimneys in which cheap crystals reflected sunlight directly from the surface to the cave; this wasn't very practical, however.

Massive irrigation projects were often a necessity for fungal farms. These routed run-off from mountain snow or other sources into large aquifers near the farms, which were then gradually emptied to run through canals.

Some surface crops could also grow in this setup, notably carrots, topnambs and turnips. This often didn't make much sense, however, because growth was slower than on the surface and these crops weren't adapted to the Caverealm; growing these underground was only a last recourse if surface fields were somehow unusable.

³ A rothé.

Often more important than the fungal fields, however, were underground cattle. Perhaps the most important of these were the deep rothé, mammals somewhat larger and squatter than badeep. Bithe, meanwhile, were large lizard-like creatures with a mammal-like snout. They were often called the "Caverealm's mooders". Both were used essentially in the same way, but most clans had either one or the other. They ate a variety of small fungi, including many which were poisonous to other creatures, making them easy to feed. Traditionally, rothe were kept in herds and led around an enclave's outskirts, eating slowly regenerating wild fungus stocks. However, many stride miners and foragers liked to bring along a rothé. They could serve as pack animals, helping to haul equipment and ore. While the dwarves mined, the rothe foraged along the mineshaft, and could help warn the miners of danger.

Dwarves consumed smaller creatures as well. Lizards, spiders, and beetles were commonly eaten, and some clans went so far as to selectively breed them as livestock. While far from domesticated, many of these creatures were reliable sources of protein and nutrients that were easy to manage, especially in the dangerous Caverealm.

There were other, more differing sources of food. Some clans had underground springs and lakes offering beasts like fish and eels. Others, closer to the surface, had large stocks of giant bats and rats. Nourishment was completely determined by what lived in the mountain. Another example of a lucky find in the caverns was the cave fisher. In addition to its strong, succulent meat, its blood was used for the creation of certain dwarven spirits. Some rambunctious dwarves even drank the blood straight for a more psychedelic effect. Cave fisher eggs were also used for their psychedelic effect, which some clerics used in rituals for visions or fortune-telling. These drugs, however, could be damaging and even fatal for other, less hardy humanoid races.

Cooking

Meat Preparation

While meat played a pivotal role in dwarven diets, the actual preparation methods were very simple. The vast majority of meat was either roasted or braised. This happened in either on a spit or in a stock pot. Most clans had communal kitchens located near the surface which prepared food for everyone. Roasted meat was strongly seasoned, being sometimes coated in salt before being turned slowly over a fire until perfectly cooked through. Thicker, muscular cuts were broken down into braises and soups.

Sausages were prepared in a relatively unique fashion. The ground offal was matched almost evenly with vegetable content, often chopped mushrooms, before being stuffed in casings. Little spices were added, making the sausages somewhat bland to other people. Often, the casing didn't consist of animal intestines but instead of mycelium webs which could be removed before cooking. Sausages were poached in water before being roasted on a grate over a fire.

The method of "coal burying" was used to cook the meat of creatures with exoskeletons, namely giant spider legs and cave fisher bodies. These were buried in hot coals to cook.

Vegetable Preparation

Vegetables covered most of the dwarven diet. Their most common form were thick, hearty stews. Root vegetables made up the backbone of almost any dwarven stew, being cooked down for hours, sometimes with the offal and bones harvested from other meat dishes. Most dwarven stews were based on some sort of grain flour mixed with fat for thickening and as a flavor base. These stews were an important part of the meal plan, providing dense nutrients and calories while being an incredibly versatile vehicle for leftovers.

Some vegetables were instead roasted over a coal pit, either on spits for larger bits or on grates. Roots with high sugar content, such as carrots, onions and garlic, were often roasted until they caramelized.

The coal-burying method was also applied to certain roots with thick skins, such as topnambs and turnips. After being cooked, the skin could be removed relatively easily, revealing a unique flesh. Vegetables cooked in this way were one of the hallmarks of dwarven cuisine to outsiders.

Breads

Breads came in many forms. Baking wasn't a widely explored profession among dwarves, who were happy to settle with plain loafs. Some clans explored the possibility of basic pies and other pastries, but nothing came close to the popularity of crusty loaves of bread in dwarven strongholds.

These breads varied instead because of the myriad different flours employed by different clans. They could be made of grainplant, barley, rye, or even more exotic sources. Dwarves relying more on subterranean food sources used large amounts of moss and lichen. These plants and fungi were dried out and ground into flours. Breads varied in color, from deep greens to alabaster whites, interestingly not taking on color through the baking process. They were very light in flavor, being almost always used as receptacles for sopping up stew and meat drippings.

Drinks

Dwarves were known far and wide both for their mastery, and their love, of hard drinks.

The most important drink for a dwarf was water, the fundament of life - and of alcohols. Each dwarven hold had its own source of water which it was built around. The spring was the lifeblood of the clan. In many dwarven cultures, it was considered nothing less than holy. Tampering with a clan's spring was tantamount to treason. The taste of the water of each source was completely unique, influenced by the minerals in the rocks that it flowed through. Dwarves were particularly attuned to these miniscule differences; some even claimed that they could tell apart members of different clans, just based on the smell of the spring water on their breath.

Alcoholic Beverages

Dwarven brewers were extremely specific about the identical conditions necessary for each batch of booze, from the details of the water, to the shape of distilling vessels. Some brewers were so particular about these details, that when switching out distillation drums they would hammer the new vessel to have the same dents and creases that the old one developed. These traditions were been passed down for millennia in some older clans.

⁴ A dwarven ale, in all its glory.

Dwarven ales were rather light, and the primary difference in flavor between a dwarven ale and an ale brewed elsewhere was the spring water. The flavor of the spring water cut through the drink and accentuated the hoppy flavor. Water and hops were the two major factors of the ale’s flavor, and both varied much between each dwarven clan. The same species of hops could be used in two different clans, but the mineral levels of the spring water still created two different drinks. Additionally, most clans had their own very specific batch of hops which they passed through the generations.

Ale was a fundamental part of dwarven diplomay. Whenever two clans had to deal with each other, one of the best way to measure each other's worthiness was to drink their ale. The beverage was a badge of identity for a clan, and a dwarf always found their own to be the best. This wasn't seen as rude, but as normal and sensical.

Fruit wines and ciders were much less ubiquitous than ales among dwarven clans. These were more common among surface clans and others who traded with the outside world. Fruits were not a large part of the dwarven diet, notably because they were too sweet. However, after fermentation, these fruits became a much more appetizing drink. Few clans were as adept at the brewing of ciders as they were of other drinks, and trying new ones was always an odd experience for a dwarf. The most popular fruit wines were those of apples.

Mushroom wines on the other hand were much more common. They utilized the leftover aged brewing yeast from ales and stouts to impart a deep complexity to the already exotic flavors of the mushrooms. One of the greatest joys of a Dwarven brewer was finding rare mushrooms deep in the caverns to ferment. Some of these rare mushroom wines were given as important gifts or tribute, and only consumed on important occasions such as the signing of treaties between different clans or diplomatic marriages.

Stouts were the thick black ichor dripping out of dwarven casks. Dwarven stouts were far stronger than most others. Their flavor was deep, dark, and rich. They were powerful, not just in flavor, but also in alcohol content.

Finally, dwarves were true masters of distillation. While good beers and wines could be found in many lands, dwarves were seen as the best brewers of spirits. Coincidentally, dwarves rarely imparted these trade secrets to other races. The consistency of dwarven spring water was a vital factor in the creation of spirits. The long distillation and aging time required as close to identical conditions as possible.

These spirits could range widely from fortified wines to grain spirits, however one name was synonymous with revelry and danger: firewater. Each Dwarven hold had its own firewater, which was simply the highest strength alcohol they were able to distill consistently. Opinions of what defined a firewater was a subject of intense debate among different clans. While a dwarf would merely comment on the superiority of their clan’s ale, discussing firewater could quickly drive dwarves to back up their words with action.

Food Preservation

Many dwarves lived in areas where surface harvest seasons were either small or unpredictable, and their subterranean cultures were inhospitable. This developed an extensive food culture based around preservation; for most clans, this included a large portion of pickled goods. Over half of a harvest was put through a week-long communal jarring process. The vegetables were first cleaned thoroughly and then sliced into thin strips and salted. This salting removed excess liquid: an important step before the vegetables were rinsed and drained. They were then stuffed into earthenware pots and filled with water. The pots were left out in the open for a week before being stored in a secure cave. Each dwarven family was entitled to a portion of the clan’s jars throughout the tough seasons. Once a family ran out of pickles, they simply went to the storage caves and retrieved another jar. The jars opened with a high pitched bubbling sound and yielded perfectly sour and earth-preserved vegetables that were used to complement a large range of meals.