I’m giving the page a second section because page 1 was starting to behave oddly.
As always, wait at least 30 days from issue of the book before starting to discuss. And give our overseas friends some extra leeway: the distribution system doesn’t reach everywhere as fast!
One thing I wondered about the Nisebi was how far south they were. Perhaps they learned to preserve meats because hot southern weather (tropical weather?) made food spoil quickly, making preservation the local “kabiu” concept. Sadly, I don’t think we hear mention of them again after Foreigner.
Re-read the last books and I wonder: How´s romance going between Bren and Jago? Still there? Nothing is said on that topic that I could find…
They’re acting like a long married couple, very discreetly of course.
Granted, in Peacemaker, everyone was very busy, and only a few days elapses over the book, so they probably just haven’t had the time. And Jago is probably respecting Bren’s headache, and letting him simply rest.
and then again, perhaps we know what they’re doing, and it’s no longer necessary to mention it……everyone, including staff, knows that Jago and Bren sleep together, it’s part of the household, and it’s not probably not even considered remarkable any longer.
People outside the household may wonder, in private, the same way people wonder about Ilisidi and Cenedi. No-one, however, would be so crass as to mention it.
We know it is proper for atevi to have long hair kept in a formal braid. From Peacemaker, I got the impression that there might be different braiding styles (otherwise, why need a hair dresser specifically?) We know that braids show the ribbons of rank/clan, and that it is considered improper to have your hair loose, as that is reserved for intimate settings only. We even know that they have hair gel (the goo that Cajeiri mentions using for his flyaway wisps.)
So do you think the long hair and hair braiding is a sort of social bonding thing, like group preening among primates?
Hey folks, I found something that Bren could really use: A bullet-proof laptop bag that unfolds into a personal shield!
http://www.gizmag.com/savior-mts-multi-threat-shield/36502/
Ahh, but will the Amazon Drones reach the palace?
CJ, do you still have the first sketches you did of Banichi and the mecheita, the ones you gave to Michael Whelan for reference? I’d be very interested to see them. 🙂
Just wondered – is there a brief paragraph anywhere outlining what Tracker will be about? Are we at last going to get away from the children and go back to the story of Bren and the adult Atevi (including his team)?
I think the children are very much a part of the story now, and that you will just have to get used to it. 🙂
I am not sure if they have updated the blurb on the books. It also seems that the excerpt is no longer available.
It’s a shame (for me, anyway). I much preferred the grittier earlier books, with those marvellous adult characters, and tense and well-developed plots and scenes. Perhaps they were more ‘world building’, and that’s my preference? I felt that the Caijeri theme was strung out far too long and he and his companions got rather annoying, so the last couple of books did little for me. I hope Tracker will restore my faith in the series.
I would add that this is entirely my opinion – different people have different preferences.
I am shrugging. But I think Cajeiri is here to stay, and personally, I find him great. It’s nice to have a view from the atevi side of things, even if it is a child. I get a little tired of the continued mystery of the adult characters. More tidbits on the atevi characters would be nice.
I think especially as it is a child who is learning both societies at once. Just my opinion, but I remember clearly what trying to figure out what the adults were on about. I am still trying to figure out what people are on about, to tell a truth. i just have some basis for comparison now of days.
I like reading about Cajeiri and his aishid, but I don’t think the series can stand another Boji escape. Hopefully, now that Madam Saidin has suggested a chain rather than a leather leash, and the kids have learned not to keep him outside the cage without a leash, we can put that particular plot device behind us.
I’m hoping we encounter the Mahedeni heretics out East. I doubt they’d be anything like what Bren was hoping for in Foreigner. 😉 I’m also very interested in knowing if anyone still lives on the southern continent. Maybe those legendary Nisebi who preserve meat? And weren’t there still some Gan out in the archipelago?
I would also expect Gregigi and other atevi astronomers/mathematicians to come up with some improvements in FTL travel/navigation soon.
The things you mention in your second and third paragraphs sound as if they could be interesting. I also wouldn’t mind further developments with Machigi, who I found to be a fascinating character.
Of course, I’d love to see what occurs on the space station and beyond, and how Bren and his Atevi deal with the potentially interesting things that might be happening out there.
What happens to the children – especially the human ones – interests me not at all.
Yeah, we can tell. 😉
I beg your pardon?
We can tell you don’t like the kids or the humans, as you so kindly manage to say every other post.
Please, all, be polite and practice felicitous language that shows repeat for our hostess and all of us, her guests, here.
… And I, I shall practice proof-reading even as my IPad practices the demonic rites of auto-correct. “Respect,” I say and mean, and shall not repeat it.
This morning Amazon sent me an email dedicated to C.J.
“Customers who have shown an interest in science fiction may enjoy these featured titles by C.J. Cherryh.” Then it showed clickable covers for Tracker, Faded Sun, Downbelow Station, Inheritor, Foreigner, and Precursor. It ended with a link to “Visit the C.J. Cherryh page”. I did that so I could pre-order Tracker and read the descriptions of the most recent books. I wanted to make sure I hadn’t missed any. I’m very glad of the reminder of the new book and the chance to look over some older titles!
CJ builds worlds, or rather societies. That is the case with the world of the Atevi and also the universe of the hani. The authorial viewpoint is also very up-close. She doesn’t stand back on high and explain things. (Which is why re-reading can be so rewarding –you pick up things you missed) The problem with that is that people in a society don’t think about many aspects of it, the old “does the fish worry about the water?” question. When Bren was a new, young paidhi he could find things out about Atevi society and therefore we, the audience, could also be enlightened. But after many years he is pretty much integrated and familiar with his milieu. A change of viewpoint is useful to expand the world view. What better way then than to follow other newbies such as children, both human and atevi, as they come to terms with their respective societies and the changing interface between them?
Bren was never preoccupied with Atevi growth, development and family life, and Atevi seem to keep their personal lives private and far removed from the governmental and economic circles which are Bren’s priority (except for servants’ gossip and the scuttlebut over after-dinner drinks) However WE are interested, and it gives a more rounded picture of the Atevi as a people to have other viewpoints. There are many aspects of Atevi society that have not yet been revealed to us (Atevi music? Atevi sports?) and I look forward to finding out about them.
I think it is precisely because Atevi are ‘mysterious’ – because they are unlike humans – that I find them interesting. I like the fact that humans (including Bren and us) can NEVER truly understand them, because they are wired differently. Perhaps for me Caijeri, alone among the Atevi, is rather too human?
:shrug: That’s part of what makes Cajeiri more accessable than adult atevi would be, and still maintains some of the mystique of atevi as aliens — Cajeiri, having been raised at least partially among humans, is trying to figure out atevi almost as much as Bren was. I think that’s part of the advantage of having the human kids back in the story, too. Cajeiri has learned to fit in (mostly) properly with his atevi aishid, now. His struggles to figure out how to reconnect with his human associates (and he even uses the forbidden word “friends”) are illuminating.
I particularly like the way adult atevi react to the human children, though, especially Tatiseigi and Damiri, both of whom seem to have taken a particular interest in Irene. Tatiseigi and Damiri, more than any of the other adult atevi regular characters, are firmly traditional atevi (at least at the moment), whereas most of the other atevi we know well (Ilisidi, Bren’s aishid, Tabini, Geigi) are fascinated by humans and have spent enough time with them to meet them part way in communicating if they choose to do so– this is one reason why Machigi is such an important new character. 🙂 I think it’s a shame Irene’s original skin tone was lost between books. I would have been interested to see how atevi might have reacted to her differently if her skin had been more like theirs– she would have seemed even more like a very young child to them.
Plus, I find the human children provide a nice way of showing us a glimpse into the conflicts between the Mospheirans, the Phoenix crew, and the Reunioners. That’s a conflict that is going to become increasingly important, especially with the Kyo possibly showing up any day now to see if Tabini really does have everything in hand the way Bren promised.
Naturally, opinions may differ here, and I know there are other readers who don’t enjoy the Cajeiri plot lines as much as I do. 🙂 I am simply relating the aspects of those stories that I, personally, find enjoyable.
I thought of this series randomly today and, checking the Wikipedia page, was astonished to see that a new book had just come out. I downloaded it from Audible and am currently listening to Chapter 1 at work in my headphones. It’s very good to be back with these characters again. I haven’t read any summaries or reviews yet, so I have no idea what’s about to happen in this story, but looking forward to knowing what the sixth arc is going to be about.
So far, Cajeiri is conspiring with his human associates to send coded messages with numbers in them so they’ll be able to communicate confidently to and from orbit. I’m pleased to see they’ve worked that detail out. For me, I think, the *anticipation* of what Cajeiri and the human children’s association will evolve into as they get older, and the social and political weight it will carry with both species, is the most interesting part of their plotlines to me. I feel like I can see pieces moving in the background during their scenes, even if Cajeiri and the kids are too young to notice them and think they’re just having adventures.
Enjoying Tracker so far!
Snatched up Tracker at B&N and read it so hastily–just had to get to the ending–that I’ll have to read it again right away. When one is voraciously skimming pages, one misses details. You might say, I was so eager to eat the 12-oz steak that I stuffed the whole thing in my mouth at once and, thus, missed the subtle seasonings. (Greed ain’t pretty and, in the end, is not so satisfying.) For now, I think it safe to say: this story gathers in some threads and throws out a few more; it answers some questions while raising some new ones; some humans need smacking; and the tale does not move hastily through scenes. Grrrff. Tracker has me fidgeting for the next book already.
Jacket art: Bren as a blond Humphrey Bogart??
I have to say I don’t find the covers very attractive anymore. I wish the publisher would pick one artist and stick with him or her. As for Tracker, the artist could surely have a found a scene more relevant to the story than Bren having tea with Ilisidi! He does that in every book! 🙂
As for the story itself, it takes a while to build up to the Big Event, and then moves along at a pretty good clip. Can’t wait for the next one! I love it when Bren gets to really take charge.
Favorite line: “Mr. Cameron, you are an arrogant bastard.” 😀
Ah, but on the cover art … its been 20 years and artists are not always going to stick with a project that long. The same artist has done the past 5 or 6 books anyway…
The story behind the tea scene is more WHO the models are…. If you look carefully at Ilisidi…and the model for Bren was the artist.
I thought Bren’s face iooked different, and so is Ilisidi’s. That bothers me more than which artist is making the drawing.
The tea on the balcony scene is an important icon of the interactions between Bren and Ilisidi, and it hasn’t been immortalised visually before; so even though it’s not unique to this book, I like it – but I dislike that it looks as if new actors have been subbed into those roles!
Someone else said it looked like a swirly cave, which makes no sense.
I thought the swirly cave on the cover was meant to be the draperies, but in that case I’d expect to see a bit of the appartment through them: they always breakfast out on the balcony, and I thought the draperies were hung at the open door from the appartment onto the balcony. Or maybe they’ve moved back inside for a last cup of tea, which is not the iconic moment it’s supposed to be. There’s a garden below the balcony, then the view of the city at the bottom of the hill, and far in the distance a snow-capped mountain range (the Bergid, IIRC). That view must be regarded as artistic license, I fear.
To me, Bren looks too old on this cover. I realize he’s not 27 anymore, but I just picture him very differently. I don’t care for the style either. The cover of Deceiver was my favorite, despite the rather egregious error of Bren’s hair being loose instead of tied back. I love the obvious confidence and authority he shows on that cover, as opposed to, say, Inheritor (another one I really like but for different reasons).
Still, these are nit-picky things. It’s what’s inside that counts 🙂
I figure Bren’s in his late 30s, now. AND, with all that he’s been through in the past 3 years, the trip out to Reunion, the trip back, the coup d’etat of the Aishid’tat, the subsequent return to power, being shot at least twice, and any number of other harrowing experiences, it’s a wonder he’s not even more aged-looking. Remember how he was an active outdoorsman before he was transferred to the mainland…he hasn’t had time to do the things he used to do, and it’s starting to show on his face, too. Just my thoughts……
Bren is pushing the hell out of 40, I’m pretty sure of it. So his age looks right to me. 🙂
My favorite covers remain the first two: Foreigner and Invader–but, then, Michael Whelen is one of my favorite artists. I love his choices of color and intricate detail.
Bren is no longer a young turk, but what about time lapse from faster-than-light travel? Would that have slowed his physical aging?
I’ve finished Tracker for the second time; can’t wait for discussion time to begin. I will say this: Braddock would be right at home in Florida politics (yes, I admit to living and voting in the state of Florida).
It bothers me that there are not any items of kabiu decorating the table. It leaves me with a very uneasy feeling.
but couldn’t the table be kabiu without having any extraneous objects on it? Just what is needed for the tea……that seems to me to be even more kabiu than having anything else on the table….just thinking, though.
With two persons? Or is the third implied by point of view?
I wonder if the felicitous number is always implied by point of view in atevi artworks. Could this be ‘modern art’?
Hee hee! I love the idea of Atevi Modern Art, Tommie. I bet Uncle Tatisegi would disapprove of “point of view” providing a felicitous third in this art.
Excellent point, Tommie. If two is considered less felicitous than three, marriage must be hell 😉
Marriage is intended to produce a third. How ill-omened and distressing must be the birth of twins!
Thanks for another fine episode to this story, CJ. Especially for Irene. 🙂
I think this is a small enough detail I can say it here, without it being considered a spoiler.
One small detail I loved was how CJ finessed Irene’s colorshift, from being almost as dark as an ateva, but with dark eyes, when Cajeiri first met her; to being called pale and standing out in the darkness when they were riding mecheiti at Tirnamardi. From what I remember from the talk here it was a small slip-up, meant to emphasise Irene’s smallness and frailty compared to Cajeiri (CJ having forgotten it was Irene and not Bjorn who was described as darkskinned: we only know his haircolor is dark and nothing about his skin, officially*); but here CJ has retroactively made it clear it was her hair that she’d bleached; and she does it in such a way it becomes a logical part of the plot and probably one of the ways Irene reacts to the tension between herself and her controlling mother. Irene is turning into a strong character, and I’m glad she didn’t get accidentally whitewashed.
* We really need to put the rest of the books into the Foreigner Who’s Who for CJ, to help her avoid such little slipups in such a long-running series. Anybody volunteering for putting in all the names in a book, with descriptions where given? At the Who’s who in Foreigner link at the top of the blog you can post which book you’re adding.
The Who’s Who database is a good idea, though these details can also go into the wiki… a wiki allows for cross-references, family tree visuals, etc.
I was pleased with how Irene’s skin color was managed in this book, too. (And in general, Irene, you go girl!)
The two models for the Tracker cover were myself as Ilisidi and Todd Lockwood (the artist) as Bren. We did the photo shoot at Miscon, in Montana, with Betsy and Jane in the room. The teapot is based on one of Todd’s. I’m not quite as old as Ilisidi, however.
There is no person who is Illisidi’s elder.
I agree that a certain person truly deserves her -daja. What do you do when you see what needs to be done, but are scared spitless to do it? If you were she, you would do it anyway.
Maybe I should have that radial keratotomy.
Okay everybody, as a thought experiment I have been trying to figure out how to replicate orangelle teacakes. Before I start operational testing I thought I’d run my theorizing past the community to get further input.
Size: larger than a cupcake (everything Atevi seems to be larger than human scale) I was thinking to use 3 inch aluminum meat pie pans with sides adjusted so they are more vertical.
Ingredients: while there is no guarantee that foods mentioned in the books are analogous, I am assuming that if an ingredient appears to fulfill the same role in Atevi cooking as it does in my kitchen it can be accepted as roughly equivalent. Eg. flour and sugar may or may not be sourced from wheat or sugarcane but they seem to provide body or sweetness in the same way, so Earth standard may be permitted in the replica. As physics is physics, so chemistry is chemistry, so I am assuming that water, salt and such purely chemical ingredients as sodium bicarbonate, baking powder, and cream of tartar would be known and available. “Foreigner” mentions both milk and cheese, but I can’t recall any further mention of dairy animals so I would tend not to trust analogues of these. We know eggs are available and common, though from more reptillian sources. From descriptions of various fluffy omelets, it seems to be clear that they behave in cooking much like hen’s eggs. References to solid fats are vague, but there is clear mention of cooking oil. Bearing all this in mind, I am leaning to either a basic sponge batter (no fats) or to a chiffon-cake type batter (oil). Both types of cake rise via a mixture of chemical leavening and beaten egg.
Flavours: The tricky bit is the orangelle part. I am assuming a citrus flavour, which I’d approximate with a mixture of orange and lemon, with a hit of triple sec and/or bit of Seville orange peel for a bit of a bite. I think on general principles the cakes should have a touch of alkyloid, perhaps a few poppy seeds ground to a paste or (if I go the chiffon cake route) the liquid could be strong tea (either something like pu ehr or orange spice). The idea being to add a bit of je ne sais quoi.
Icing: Textual references make it clear that cakes should be frosted, but the absence of clear direction about solid fats leads me away from buttercream type icing. Something along the lines of a seven-minute cooked frosting would do ingredient-wise, but other textual references say that if a cake is frosted too warm the icing melts. I’ll have to test this with 7-minute frosting; the frostings I know melt are buttercream, cream cheese and any icing sugar based frosting with butter as a binder. Royal icing is out of the running for esthetic reasons –the stuff is boring.
This theorizing won’t mean anything to those of you who don’t bake, but what do the foodies think? Input please.
Yeah, I should get a life eh?
Oil based with tangerine zest,or perhaps grapefruit. That strong, smokey tea who’s name escapes me at the moment, or coffee. Raw sugar. Beaten egg whites as leaven, but incorporate the yolks as well. Perhaps a frosting/topping based on dulce de leche?
Size: maybe those large muffin tins might be a decent size? Or the small four inch cake rings/pans you can get. Those would make a two (human sized) serving cake that would be on the verge of “almost too much” for a human and “not quite enough” for an atevi (prompting the consumption of more cakes for them).
Flour and sugar would have to be either the Earth standard equivalents, unless you went to something slightly more exotic, and used nut flours in combination with fruit purees and eggs. White flour and granulated sugar have been mentioned though. There is mentioned tea that was strong, and with so much sugar added that it was almost syrup (that sounds dreadful, by the way, yuck). Do they have honey? Was honey mentioned at any point, or am I imagining that? They do have sugar of some sort that is made into lumps too. Tabini added some to his tea in Foreigner, the equivalent of sugar cubes.
Another observation: It was mentioned in one the of the books that atevi seemed to prefer spicy, highly flavored foods, and they tended to find the Mospheiran diet bland and far too heavy on the sugar. Well, if you ask me, they’ve veered well away from that standard. They seem to be consuming sugar in very large amounts now. Although cooked fruit also appeared seasonally on their menu so… *shrugs*
It was mentioned that, though atevi did not keep animals domesticated for slaughter, I thought they were somewhat more tolerant of the idea of keeping dairy animals. So animal milk and cheese would definitely be on the list (for cheese pie, sweet milk pudding, salty highland cheese, and the Mospherian concept of cream cheese that they really seemed to take to). Alternatively, nut milks could be used (I believe it’s mentioned that atevi do have nuts. *coughs*) Especially when you consider that a milking animal has its own season, and there will be a drying off period when you will need an alternative.
Eggs seem to come from reptiles (embryonic lizards, lol). Cajeiri mentions them in Intruder, some kind of large, slow, cold blooded creature. He said they were scaly, and probably not that fun to keep as a pet… hence the parid-ja. You can use hens eggs, if you like, or if you have access to them, duck eggs are exceptionally good in baking. Or a goose egg. They are very large, and you can definitely say it’s an unusual cake, made with a goose egg.
Fats. There are solid fats, I think. I believe Bren was trying to butter a muffin in Invader, but had to give it up to the servant because his casted arm made it impossible to do one handed. And the dairy products (milk) would naturally provide the butter fat to make it worth churning. Also, there is vegetable oil mentioned. A cake can be made with either (I prefer butter).
It also answers the icing question. 🙂 They would be able to make a cream cheese frosting, for sure (see above reference). (There was a pastry mentioned in Inheritor that had a “mint-like” icing; I always found that interesting. Obviously, humans managed to bring mint down to the planet, for Bren to know it, and make that comparison.)
The flavoring looks good though. Orange/lemon and poppy seed are often common flavor combinations in baking. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be alkaloid though. Remember, Bren eats a lot these, so alkaloids must be avoided. 🙂 Bits of citron might make it interesting.
On the subject of cake: Cajeiri once accidentally ate a cake that was his mother’s favorite flavor, but one that he detested, and for some silly reason, I imagined it had an anise/licorice flavor (probably because those are the flavors I detest in strong amounts… XD)
They must also be quite sturdy, substantial things. There’s always a plate or two piled with cakes, but no indication of them falling apart or being particularly fragile when they’re served? Or I might have interpreted those scenes badly in my head… either way, you could play with cake texture too.
This is sounding entirely too much like standard European cooking to me. I think Teasel should be looking further afield to African, Asian cuisines.
Thinking of “strongly flavored”, my mind turned to mole poblano, unsweetened chocolate and red chilies. I dare say the atevi would probably be fans of Scotch Bonnets. Probably like strong kimchi too. 😉
The idea of a nut flour seemed to resonate.
I’m just telling you the references I found in the books, thus giving you the possibilities that would seem most likely available. A lot of atevi cooking does seem to be European-like, but with Asian-like features, like the eating sticks used in Explorer, and their fondness for almost ceremonial tea drinking (although that’s pretty European-like too; the Brits love their tea. In fact, all cultures that I’ve come across seem to have a traditional drink of some sort, be it tea, coffee, or that ancient chocolate drink that the Aztecs, Olmecs and Mayans used to drink.) But again, I do think they’ve rather well veered away from their dislike of too much sugar lately. 😛
The problem I’ve always had with bergamot, is that the flavor itself never really came through in the tea as much as I liked. The smell was fantastic, but the tea was pretty average drinking.
I think the tea cakes must be made from very simple ingredients, because Bren is comfortable serving them to an alien, on the assumption that simple starches and sugars will be ok. They are all lucky Prakuyo wasn’t allergic to eggs, if those were used. Proteins in general are riskier than starches and sugars, being more complex.
I’ve generally assumed flat icing (hot water and powdered sugar) on tea cakes, but there might be variations. The birthday cake at Cajeiri’s party, with layers, may have been some kind of frosting with more body. I also seem to recall that the orangelle is an icing or filling flavor, more than part of the cake itself, though I’m sure it could be used either way.
While I am normally in agreement with not making atevi things too much like Western European/American equivalents, I really did get the impression that tea cakes were very simple.
(On another note, I generally think of the atevi green pizza sauce as being similar to a tomatillo-pepper sauce…)
Are you thinking of Lapsang Souchong? But it’s not so unusual for Chinese to roast black teas (which stops the fermentation) over wood fires, making many of them “smokey”.
Yes! That’s it!
If you can get it, maybe oil of bergamot, the same citrusy oil used in Earl Grey tea, might be sufficiently exotic for Atevi tastebuds. I wonder if the Mospheiran colonists brought tea and coffee starts with them? I don’t remember coffee being present, although the Atevi drink a variety of herbal teas (half of which are no good for humans). If Bren had managed to hold onto his original apartment, he might have been tempted to inquire if one might plant some Mospheiran/human herbs, if only so he could have mint tea when desired.
I agree about oil of bergamot being a good ingredient to use as part of an orangelle substitute.
I have wondered about tea plants, myself. If tomato seeds were smuggled along, one can easily imagine going to the effort to bring along tea plant seeds. There were colonists with Asian names in the first part of Foreigner, and they might have prioritized tea. I would wonder, though, why there isn’t mention of “human tea” in any of the books. Maybe it’s just too boring for atevi, even though Camellia Sinensis does have plenty of alkaloids. I doubt coffee made the trip, or we would have heard about it, e.g. as something Bren either misses or doesn’t.
Human plants are quarantined to Mospheira, and mint would be one of the worst things to give Bren permission to grow on the mainland, given how aggressively it spreads.
On the fifteenth hand, we have no idea what plants the colonists lost due to infelicitous circumstance — a bad season, a blight, simply not able to adjust to conditions on Mospheira.
The tea is Lapsing Soochong.
I seem to remember, when Bindanda suggested offering the kyo some teacakes, and Bren was thinking about that, that he considered that these favorite teacakes had simple flavours and ingredients, mostly (refined) flour and sugar, high-caloric, so he thought there was little risk of them causing either allergic or poison-reactions or triggering taste-aversions, but that they would taste like treats to most species capable of eating those kinds of carbohydrates.
So for these specific teacakes, beloved of both humans, atevi (including the youngster), and the kyo, I think it would be logical to keep it simple.
I also got the impression they were called tea-cakes because they were often served with tea, not because tea was an ingredient. Considering the dangers inherent in atevi teas and the need to be careful with them across species-boundaries, I don’t think he would consider anything containing them such an easy and safe choice to feed an unknown species as a treat, even if the kyo had been surviving (though losing weight) on human stationer food (which, like the ship staples, was probably mostly yeast-derived). The same probably goes for any kind of herbs or unrefined whole-plant-parts ingredients used for flavouring, as (as far as I know) all plants contain chemicals meant to defend them against nibbling herbivores, which might seriously discommode an eater who wasn’t part of that ecosystem.
I always interpreted orangelle as an orangeblossom sort of taste, more delicate than a real orange citrus taste – I don’t know why, except that orangeblossom is sometimes used with refined sugar and almond flour for fine and delicate kinds of tea biscuits/cookies.
I seem to remember, when Bindanda suggested offering the kyo some teacakes, and Bren was thinking about that, that he considered that these favorite teacakes had simple flavours and ingredients, mostly (refined) flour and sugar, high-caloric, so he thought there was little risk of them causing either allergic or poison-reactions or triggering taste-aversions, but that they would taste like treats to most species capable of eating those kinds of carbohydrates.
So for these specific teacakes, beloved of both humans, atevi (including the youngster), and the kyo, I think it would be logical to keep it simple.
I also got the impression they were called tea-cakes because they were often served with tea, not because tea was an ingredient. Considering the dangers inherent in atevi teas and the need to be careful with them across species-boundaries, I don’t think he would consider anything containing them such an easy and safe choice to feed an unknown species as a treat, even if the kyo had been surviving (though losing weight) on human stationer food (which, like the ship staples, was probably mostly yeast-derived). The same probably goes for any kind of herbs or unrefined whole-plant-parts ingredients used for flavouring, as (as far as I know) all plants contain chemicals meant to defend them against nibbling herbivores, which might seriously discommode an eater who wasn’t part of that ecosystem.
I always interpreted orangelle as an orangeblossom sort of taste, more delicate than a real orange citrus taste – I don’t know why, except that orangeblossom is sometimes used with refined sugar and almond flour for fine and delicate kinds of tea biscuits/cookies.
I’ve tried 4 times to post my contribution to the tea-cake discussion; but despite there not being a single link in it, it’s not appearing.
Should it suddenly show up in multiples, CJ, would you please delete the extras?
It boiled down to “keep it simple” ; Bindanda and Bren offered them to Prakujo because they only contained simple ingredients and straightforward taste. Refined flour and sugar, a calorie-rich treat for Prakuyo who’d lost a lot of weight despite surviving on the yeast-based human food; nothing that would be too strange-tasting and nothing that might trigger allergies or be poisonous to a different species.
So no teas (they drank water IIRC), herbs or whole-plant-parts based flavorings.
I seem to remember, when Bindanda suggested offering the kyo some teacakes, and Bren was thinking about that, that he considered that these favorite teacakes had simple flavours and ingredients, mostly (refined) flour and sugar, high-caloric, so he thought there was little risk of them causing either allergic or poison-reactions or triggering taste-aversions, but that they would taste like treats to most species capable of eating those kinds of carbohydrates.
So for these specific teacakes, beloved of both humans, atevi (including the youngster), and the kyo, I think it would be logical to keep it simple.
I also got the impression they were called tea-cakes because they were often served with tea, not because tea was an ingredient. Considering the dangers inherent in atevi teas and the need to be careful with them across species-boundaries, I don’t think he would consider anything containing them such an easy and safe choice to feed an unknown species as a treat, even if the kyo had been surviving (though losing weight) on human stationer food (which, like the ship staples, was probably mostly yeast-derived). The same probably goes for any kind of herbs or unrefined whole-plant-parts ingredients used for flavouring, as (as far as I know) all plants contain chemicals meant to defend them against nibbling herbivores, which might seriously discommode an eater who wasn’t part of that ecosystem.
I always interpreted orangelle as an orangeblossom sort of taste, more delicate than a real orange citrus taste – I don’t know why, except that orangeblossom is sometimes used with refined sugar and almond flour for fine and delicate kinds of tea biscuits/cookies.
I seem to remember, when Bindanda suggested offering the kyo some teacakes, and Bren was thinking about that, that he considered that these favorite teacakes had simple flavours and ingredients, mostly (refined) flour and sugar, high-caloric, so he thought there was little risk of them causing either allergic or poison-reactions or triggering taste-aversions, but that they would taste like treats to most species capable of eating those kinds of carbohydrates.
So for these specific teacakes, beloved of both humans, atevi (including the youngster), and the kyo, I think it would be logical to keep it simple.
I also got the impression they were called tea-cakes because they were often served with tea, not because tea was an ingredient. Considering the dangers inherent in atevi teas and the need to be careful with them across species-boundaries, I don’t think he would consider anything containing them such an easy and safe choice to feed an unknown species as a treat, even if the kyo had been surviving (though losing weight) on human stationer food (which, like the ship staples, was probably mostly yeast-derived). The same probably goes for any kind of herbs or unrefined whole-plant-parts ingredients used for flavouring, as (as far as I know) all plants contain chemicals meant to defend them against nibbling herbivores, which might seriously discommode an eater who wasn’t part of that ecosystem.
I always interpreted orangelle as an orangeblossom sort of taste, more delicate than a real orange citrus taste – I don’t know why, except that orangeblossom is sometimes used with refined sugar and almond flour for fine and delicate kinds of tea biscuits/cookies.
I’ve got my hard-cover book of Tracker, too, and am enjoying it very much. Just reached page 58 and found a nice little typo there:
“As the bus startled to roll, ”
Now back to reading…
Regards
Ektus.
Have I been disallowed? Trying to post from my phone doesn’t appear to work either.