#//whether that's increasing yield from actual animals (do not ask about zaunite farming practices) or artificial meat is up in the air

[heraldofzaun]

tell me about the zaun food i want to eat the smog snacks

Worldbuilding Prompt

Zaun’s food comes in a few distinct varieties.

There’s the traditional cuisine, back from before the city-state and surrounding areas were polluted to the point that growing food anywhere near the city proper (without artificial aid in the form of greenhouses and other practices) is about as likely as making a snowman in hell. This traditional cuisine is mostly food that we’d consider to be Slavic (Russian, Ukranian, Polish, etc.) as well as German (see Zaun’s name for that reasoning) - presumably with a small emphasis on seafood as well, due to Zaun’s coastal location. This is still present, but due to the fact that the vast bulk of anything Zaun grows or raises has to come from its outlying territories - if not, it’s just imported from other nations - it’s... a bit expensive, to say the least. And that’s before Zaun’s rampart uncontrolled capitalism gets its hands on the prices!

Tea (usually imported, if not grown in Zaun’s hothouses in the industrial district - this is also where some of their other crops come from, although in very small amounts) is a big thing, surprisingly enough. One might expect Piltover to have the market cornered on tea-drinking and for Zaunites to prefer coffee or caffeine pills as a sort of “mirror” (and they certainly won’t turn down either), but there’s actually a very strong tea culture in Zaun. It’s mostly black teas, and they’re strong. Tea is traditionally brewed in a samovar, although more and more Zaunites are switching to kettles for ease of use.

Then there’s more “modern” foodstuffs: prepackaged goods, junk food, probably something that’s pretty similar to what we’d call fast food (but without the drive-through culture), things in that vein. Cheap, fast, and “good”... if you’re used to it. It’s probably best not to ask what’s in what you’re eating, especially if you’re squeamish at the idea of lab-grown meats. I have to assume that there’s a market for canned goods as well - soups, fruits, beans, anything that’ll keep well in Zaun’s atmosphere... at least until you break out the can opener. Frozen and dried goods, too. Anything to give them a longer shelf life and to keep costs down... on the production front. Fresh fruit or vegetables are a prized rarity, and meat from an actual animal’s probably about as likely as a smogless day if you’re not downright rich.

There’s also a thriving multicultural food scene, as well, from folks that moved to Zaun for one reason or another. (Surprisingly enough, people do move to Zaun for reasons other than it being their ‘last resort’! Although that’s certainly a component too... see folks who left Ionia due to the Noxian invasion.) While alterations have to be made due Zaun’s unique situation in regards to raw ingredients, most folks have adapted pretty well. If you look hard enough, you can find just about anything in Zaun... and food’s no exception to that.

TL;DR: Preserved (dried, canned, frozen, salted, etc.) foods are king in Zaun due to the city’s lack of arable land for crops. There is fresh food (fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, grains, etc.), but most of it is imported, from the far reaches of Zaun’s territory, or grown in hothouses in small quantities - as a result, it’s incredibly expensive. Cuisine-wise, just about everything’s on the table due to Zaun being very accepting on the immigration front (so long as they earn their keep... less said on that, the better) - but their traditional foods map nicely to Slavic and German cuisines. There’s a strong tea culture.