Chult – a huge island at the very end of the Chultian Peninsula. Famous for its tropical jungle ruled by dinosaurs. It is a region with a unique fauna and flora – which quite often takes very aggressive forms. An ideal location on the map of Faerun for seekers of crazy adventures and extraordinary experiences. Here, in a dense jungle you can find abandoned temples and Yuan-Ti hideouts. Each plant can be deadly, each insect can endanger the player’s life. It’s a place where players may become hunters as often as prey.

Tropical weather, vegetation and unusual animals from the island have a very unique influence on the amazing Chultian cuisine. This is what the following article will be about.

So grab your spoons of adventurers, because you will surely use them – whether for eating a meal or for improvised defense against a snake that crept up to the fire in the night.

Local Cuisine

What you can eat on Chult depends very much on where you are. The small coastal villages have access to excellent seafood. In larger cities, you will get delicacies from all over the island, and they are prepared masterfully. In the depths of the jungle you will eat what you will hunt, and since the Chult jungles are not the most hospitable places in the world, it can be both raptor meat and giant ants roasted over the fire.

The abundance of flora and tropical weather results in island having a lot of herbs and spices, which are relatively easy to find. Therefore, many traditional Chultic dishes are seasoned perfectly, and some food preparation techniques are only practiced there because of the availability of ingredients. And many also use the abundance of tropical fruits and leaves from tropical trees.

Chultic tribes have long ago learned that getting food in the jungle is a problem, which is why Chultian cuisine uses every possible source of food. Eating worms or poisoned meat is neither surprising nor disgusting, especially since in many cases the preparation of such dishes requires great skill.

Therefore, for many travelers a certain bravado is required to enjoy the unique Chult cuisine. However, this does not mean that all the dishes here are basically strange and dangerous. Many dishes – especially those served in poorer taverns – are very simple, filling and tasty.

It should also be remembered that the terrible hot weather in Chult is not conducive to food preservation, so in taverns it is very easy to spot stale food. And often thirsty adventurers can forget the well-deserved cold beer that they could get straight from the cellars under the taverns of Waterdeep or Baldur’s Gate.

Street Food Chult

There aren’t many towns or settlements in Chult. The island, covered with jungle, is by nature not suitable for dense settlement. Also, if the heroes want to get to a larger trade center, they can only choose from Nyanzaru Port and Mezro (depending on what years the game takes place). The port of Nyanzar is the largest marine port on the island.

Of course, as in any other region of Faerun, the tradition of the city’s ready-made food stalls is also very popular. We find many of them in the Nyanzaru Port, from poor stalls covered with palm leaves to larger street shops serving hundreds of people a day.

Of course, most stalls appear during the traditional Chultian Holidays, sumptuously celebrated at the Nyanzaru Port. And the biggest of these holidays is “Dinosaur Day”, the calendar festival of the spring solstice. The dinosaurs on Chult are seen by many as sacred animals – messengers of the god Ubtao, the main deity of the Chultians, patron of wild nature.

It is said that when the Chultic tribes began waging war with each other, the balance was disturbed and the god Ubtao left Chult in anger. But the dinosaurs remained, and to this day many tribes see their deity in them. Why is it hardly surprising, because in tropical animals they are the most dangerous predators in the jungle and they cause admiration whether they like it or not. Therefore, according to tradition, for this day, the indigenous people of Chult make unusual costumes that make them look like dinosaurs and celebrate by eating and drinking.

Many travelers from the continent, shamans – here called “Spirit Lords”, comes to Nyanzaru Port for open celebrations, along with the local tribes. From sunrise to sunset, people sing songs in honor of Ubtao, dance ancient ritual dances, stuff themselves with sweets and drink excessively.

On this extraordinary day, you can get the following delicacies on the streets of Nyanzaru Port:

• Sweet potato crisps
  Thick slices of sweet potatoes, fried in deep oil, dipped in a salty spice blend known only to the locals
  
• Refreshing coconut milk
  
• Corn on the cob
  Baked in a spicy batter seasoned with turmeric
  
• Kita
  Unleavened Chultian bread with turmeric, coriander and parsley, prepared in a steel pan on a palm leaf quilt
  
• Mitube
  A unique Chultian delicacy. Wild pigeons wrapped, with feathers, in interwoven layers of leaves, spices and clay. Roasted in red-hot coals. After splitting the clay coating, they reveal the delicate, aromatic meat, while feathers come off with the clay.
  
• Tej
  Amber coloured alcohol made from fermented honey, exceptionally mild and aromatic.
  
• Uba sticks
  Roasted juicy sugar cane fibers mixed with corn cake with honey and nuts. It is an incredibly sweet and light delicacy.
  
• Okuta
  Small marinadet and grilled octopus, stuffed on small sticks
  
• Spicy Tico
  Little lizards (in size of a woman’s hand), skinned and dipped in spices and grilled over a fire.

Fat Fish Tavern

A small, poor tavern at the end of the merchant district, near the slums that extend to the Old Town. The prices in the tavern are relatively low, which is reflected in the quality of the meals served there. The customers of the tavern are definitely people of poorer classes, poor merchants and travelers who cannot afford better accommodation.

Upon entering the tavern, you can see a great square room with an old jagged bar. The floor is covered with straw and coconut wood stave, the furniture is old and shabby. The room consists of a dozen or so, round tables with stools and a bamboo bar with an improvised canopy made of palm leaves – probably for decoration. Unlucky people who visit this place can forget about cold beer.

Breakfast examples:

• Milk soup
  Goat’s milk soup with overcooked corn kernels, sweetened with a little sugar
• Tippato
  Flatbread baked with red onion, spices and pigeon meat (or other type of meat, depending on what sat on the roof of the tavern …)
• Merchant’s Plate
  Two hard-boiled eggs, a thick slice of bread, and dried strips of meat of unknown origin.

Dinner examples:

• Baked Flounder
  Flounder caught yesterday, stored for 24 hours in banana leaves and baked over a fire
• Kita with Meat
  Unleavened Chultian bread baked with spices in a pan. Served with strips of dried meat and a small bowl of salty hot water to heat up the meat
• Curry a’la Chult
  Curry consisting of carrots, coconut milk, unknown meat, spices and pieces of pineapple with rice.

Examples of drinks *:

• Tej – a local drink made of honey, very mediocre production
• Weak diluted banana wine
• Weak diluted beer.

*All drinks are served hot due to the hot weather.

The Singing Shrimp Inn

The inn is located in the heart of the Nyanzar Port merchant district. It is quite a decent place famous for its excellent cuisine, using fresh seafood.

Unlike Fat Fish, the inn is mostly clean. Large number of servants keeps it in order. The rooms are much more pleasant than the cheap burrows in Fat Fish. The beds have mattresses, and the rooms have a cupboard, a washbasin with a large tin bowl and a table with two chairs. It is modest furniture, but better than nothing. The inn has only one floor, so it is not so exposed to the sun and it is cooler inside.

After entering the inn, you’ll see a very large oval room with large shutters covered with bright colored materials. On both sides of the entrance there is a staircase leading to the upstairs rooms, and opposite the entrance is a semicircular counter, behind which there is a descent to the basement and a small kitchen covered with a curtain. The wonderful smells of food lure travelers to the Tavern from the very entrance.

Examples of breakfast (with each breakfast at the inn, customers receive a glass of water with lemon and orange slices):

• Breakfast Special
  The breakfast specialty consists of freshly caught seafood, depending on what the ‘fisherman brought’. For example: a few small grilled octopus, and a large piece of salmon baked in herbs. Served with hard-boiled egg, a piece of goat cheese and a freshly baked Kita bread
• Singing Shrimp’s Milk Soup
  Soup based on cow’s milk with corn kernels, boiled oats, honey and dried fruits. Served with a plate of fresh fruit (mangoes, grapes, pineapple, kiwi). Can be ordered ‘drunk’ with tej instead of honey
• Continental Breakfast
  Two freshly prepared soft-boiled eggs, fresh corn buns, butter, goat cheese, roasted roth sausage, and mango jam.

Examples of dinner (with each meal at the inn, customers receive a carafe of water with lemon and orange slices):

• Shrimp Curry
  A huge bowl of curry with sizable and freshly caught tiger prawns, lots of spices, bamboo and mango shoots. Served with kita bread or rice, in spicy or mild version
• Grilled Calamari
  Three large (35cm) squids, dipped in spices, grilled and served on a hot stone on banana leaves. The squids are served with a half of a lemon and a bowl of garlic-scented sauce made from goat yogurt
• Baked Salamander
  It is a meal for several people. A Chultian Salamander is served, gutted and baked whole, in a clay oven, on a banana wood fire. The salamander is about 1m long after baking and takes up the entire table. It is served with sweet potatoes and a local mushroom salad.

Examples of drinks :

• Tej – a good kind of honey liquor
• Excellent banana wine
• Delicate lemon ale
• Rice wine, called ‘T-rex’ by the locals because it tastes light but hits the head hard
• Red wine imported from Baldur’s Gate
• All kinds of juices.

*All drinks are served refreshing because the inn has a fairly deep cellar

The Scent of Golden Lotus Inn

This luxurious inn is without a doubt the most magnificent place that Nyanzar Port has to offer. Even the richest Merchant Princes of the city do not despise its cuisine and entertainment. Of course, the prices for the tiniest drinks are as impressive as anything else the inn has to offer. In addition, the inn has its own security, which protects guests and makes sure that no one inappropriately dressed does not enter inside.

On the ground floor of the inn there is a large rectangular hall with a long rectangular bar that runs along the entire right wall (so that guests do not have to wait in line). A dozen or so tables of various sizes are spaced at equal intervals. Tables and chairs are very clean, made of expensive cedar wood of the best quality. And the backs of the chairs and the legs of the tables are carved with a great dose of artistry and represent a variety of chultic predators. There are also large pots in the room with beautiful tropical flowers and small citrus trees. The floor is made of fine sanded cedar boards, and from the ceiling hangs beautiful tin lamps and oriental canopies in all colors of the rainbow.

On the left side of the entrance there is a row of lodges for the richest customers. Thy have built-up seats, covered with the skins of predators – leopards and pumas with round tables and silver candlesticks. There are fresh flowers on each table. At the end of the row stands the most magnificent of the lodges, intended for the Merchant Princes. Both the seats and the table in this lodge are made of blackwood. The seats are covered with heavy carpets trimmed with gold. The lodge is separated by a thick red rope with golden fringes at the ends if neither of the Princes are in the hall.

There are a few apartments on the first floor. Each of them consists of a luxuriously furnished bedroom, a living room, a dressing room and a bathroom with a tin bathtub. To each apartment there is assigned a separate servant. All servants sleep in a small room upstairs and are summoned to their rooms by an ingenious bell system that guests can activate from their apartment by pulling the appropriate cord.

There is a lotus smoking room and a luxurious pleasure house under the inn, where you can experience all possible delights on large colorful pillows. However, even lower there is a cellar where the best drinks are kept cool. The inn employs adepts of magic to be able to serve the best wines and beers at the right temperature.

Examples of breakfast:

• The Golden Egg
  Big raptor egg (ostrich size), soft-boiled in water with spices. Served with crab cakes and a delicate salad of seaweed, cucumbers and cassava roots
• Prince Omelette
  Quail egg omelette, with truffles and saffron, served on a plate with the finest goat cheese and a selection of fruit and edible flowers
• Forbidden sweetness
  Pancakes made of wheat flour, with excellent cream, nuts, coconut and a local delicacy – Vipi Honey. This honey comes from a species of Vipi bees that live in the central part of Chult, and its price is extremely high. This is because Vipi bees like to live in poisonous marshes that are not habitable and it is deadly to venture into them. Be it predators or the fumes of a poisonous lotus. This honey has an unusual color – it is white with streaks of gold
• Breakfast Lagoon
  Quail egg and béchamel casserole with delicately spiced lobster tails. It is served on an unusual bluish sauce of algae, olive oil and edible flowers with caviar

Examples of dinner:

• Sea Soup
  Excellent soup made from shark fins, bluefin tuna and octopus with coconut milk and lots of spices. Served with baked sweet potatoes
• Land Snake
  A great river eel, known for its juicy and fatty flesh, surrounded in spices and wrapped in banana leaves. Served with cassava puree and corn pancakes – delicate as a cloud
• Spiked Delicacy
  Delicate sea urchin meat taken from its shell and then fried in butter and saffron. Served in a sea urchin shell with truffles and sprinkled with edible gold flakes
• Great Roasted Prey
  A dish that can easily feed several people. Big raptor sirloin, marinated for 6 hours in olive oil, Tej and spices, then wrapped in banana leaves and covered with clay. Then it is baked in the oven for 12 hours on a gently smoldering fire. When the clay is removed, a very delicate and fragrant meat is revealed. Served with browned scallops, a selection of vegetables, fruit, and salads

Examples of drinks :

• Tej – the noblest variety
• Intense pink hibiscus wine
• Uoje – moonshine distilled from sweet potatoes, seasoned with citrus and honey
• Citrus Pale Ale
• Beers and wines imported from the mainland
• Ice wine (which costs twice as much here)
• Juices and water served with ice.

*All drinks are served cold or cool because the inn employs young magicians who take care of the basement room that is adapted to store drinks. Some drinks even come with ice.