# Traditional Desert Town Foods



## BluntAshwater (Mar 10, 2013)

I'm currently writing a short story involving dwindling food supplies in a desert town. At the moment I'm thinking that goat meat and cactus fruits will be the traditional diet of the desert folk - once the supplies begin to vanish they will be reduced to eating the odd lizard and insects caught at the oasis. Can anybody suggest some more/different foods that the townsfolk could be eating pre-disaster?

P.S the disaster will not be nuclear, environmental, etc - it will just involve the food being stolen by other parties.


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## Outiboros (Mar 10, 2013)

Morocco's Berber nomads make some pretty delicious tea and bread.

I'm not sure goat meat and cactus fruit are dependable staple foods. The desert yields a lot more than sand and cacti - mesquite, grains, all kinds of nuts. Cactus fruit is nice and moist, but it's not really a main dish. There's also camels and donkeys, of course.
Besides, in the true desert, where there's only sand, you won't find many people.


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## Lewdog (Mar 10, 2013)

Beans and rice are always popular ingredients.  They are high in calories, easy to store, long shelf life, quick and easy to make.  Cowboy beans are a simple mix of beans with a tomato base, spices, and a small amount of some kind of meat mostly for flavor.


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## Outiboros (Mar 10, 2013)

Lewdog said:


> Beans and rice are always popular ingredients.  They are high in calories, easy to store, long shelf life, quick and easy to make.  Cowboy beans are a simple mix of beans with a tomato base, spices, and a small amount of some kind of meat mostly for flavor.


Doesn't rice need a whole lot of water to grow?


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## Lewdog (Mar 10, 2013)

Outiboros said:


> Doesn't rice need a whole lot of water to grow?




He didn't say to grow...he said to eat and make food with.  There isn't a whole lot of water in Mexico but they eat a lot of rice.


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## Kevin (Mar 10, 2013)

BluntAshwater said:


> I'm currently writing a short story involving dwindling food supplies in a desert town. Can anybody suggest some more/different foods that the townsfolk could be eating pre-disaster?


 Imports.


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## Ariel (Mar 10, 2013)

A lot of middle-eastern foods include flatbreads, goat meat, and vegetables.  A lot of it is grown through irrigation.

And if food is being stolen then it is feasible that it is being taken off the plants themselves before they're picked by the townspeople--a neighbor has a problem with her garden every year where neighborhood kids will jump the fence and steal her tomatos and other food.


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## Lewdog (Mar 10, 2013)

Yeah if they are growing anything, it would have to be Indian corn that has been genetically altered over time to grow in a very thin layer of ground with very little water needed through rain and irrigation.  Then with corn you can make breads, feed animals, and all kinds of other items.


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## BluntAshwater (Mar 10, 2013)

Thanks for all of your answers, very helpful! Yeah, amsawtell hit the nail on the head there: the idea so far is that a rogue group of soldiers living near to the town are stealing the animals and foraging plants/crops before the townsfolk can get to them. I think I have enough to go on now. Thanks again


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## Angelwing (Mar 10, 2013)

Well some of the desert towns I've been in have some yummy cafe foods...

BUT...flatbread and tea is pretty popular in the Middle East.


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## Lewdog (Mar 10, 2013)

BluntAshwater said:


> Thanks for all of your answers, very helpful! Yeah, amsawtell hit the nail on the head there: the idea so far is that a rogue group of soldiers living near to the town are stealing the animals and foraging plants/crops before the townsfolk can get to them. I think I have enough to go on now. Thanks again



If they are doing that, there is a thing they can use called a grave robbers gun.  It's basically like a trap.

Got grave-robber problems? Get a cemetery gun! - Guns.com

It can be easily sat up using an ordinary shot gun.  I saw it on Auction Hunters one time.  Lol  I guess there is some educational use after all.  After one or two times of marauders coming to steal and getting holes blown in them...I bet that problem ends pretty quickly.


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## egpenny (Mar 12, 2013)

What desert local are you talking about? There are a lot of deserts around the world, and they all have local, natural foods.


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## BluntAshwater (Mar 12, 2013)

I'm not basing the story in any real desert, as it will take place in a fantasy world. So far it has an Arabic vibe to it, Camels were definitely a helpful suggestion  Anything else you can suggest would be great.


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## Angelwing (Mar 12, 2013)

BluntAshwater said:


> I'm not basing the story in any real desert, as it will take place in a fantasy world. So far it has an Arabic vibe to it, Camels were definitely a helpful suggestion  Anything else you can suggest would be great.



Well, then there you go-you should probably use foods from the middle east and/or northern Africa  

Maybe you already said this and I missed it (sorry if this is the case), but how desert-y is it? Is it pretty barren, like one would picture Arrakis from "Dune?" or is it more hospitable, like *some parts of* the Kalahari Desert in South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana? Almost a Dune-like fact about the Kalahari is that there is a huge underground lake/water reserve called Dragon's Breath Cave. Not sure if this gives you any ideas, but it could potentially be a sacred place for your desert-dwellers.


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## alanmt (Mar 12, 2013)

Dates.

edit:  also olives, milk and butter from cattle and goats.


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## Lewdog (Mar 12, 2013)

alanmt said:


> Dates.




Wait are you saying cannibalism?     "Now seating Donner party of four!"


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