Talvarin

As an intricately woven tower of bread, a talvarin is both a table decoration and the staple food of the Heshuan people. Each section is flavoured with a different herb or spice, allowing multiple people to enjoy at once, an important aspect of the community driven Heshuan lifestyle. The tower is constantly being added to, with the host never allowing it to be fully consumed; something that is considered a great insult to the guests and a poor exhibit of the host's abilities. Craftsmanship is also highly valued, with more complex and balanced towers improving their standing in the community. A household will usually have one person who is the designated crafter, focusing on maintaining the talvarin, while the others prepare the rest of the meal.

Recipe

History

The tradition of making talvarin originates from the mages that came over to the islands of Heshua. Before this, the islands had never had human contact, so the wildlife was large and often deadly, having broken apart from the continent in the early days of creation. This meant that the explorers had to stick together as a community. After much trial and error, most of the plants were found to be poisonous to mages, leaving them with little available food. One of the only nutritious foods they could find was from a similar plant to the wheat found on the mainland. After attempting to make bread from grinding up the grains, it was discovered that evolution it had underwent to survive on the island made the bread tasted unpleasant but not inedible. Unfortunately, due to being the one of the only available foods, the explorers were resigned to eat the nasty tasting bread. One day however, the cook accidentally spilled some herbs they were using to make make tea onto the bread. He decided that he didn't want to waste the batch so cooked it anyway. To their surprise, the herbs masked the original taste and made it taste even better than normal bread. That night they celebrated their discovery by drinking and making intricate designs with the dough, eventually getting to a point of the night where they started stacking the pieces together to make a large tower of bread, inventing the first ever game of Breadstack. In the morning, all the explorers left, each taking a piece of bread from the stack to take with them, while the cook continued to bake, stacking the new pieces onto the tower. Ever since then the tradition of the talvarin has been an important part of Heshuan community, reminding them of how they came to survive; the explorers paving the way for life on the islands.

Competitions

Due to the importance of the talvarin, it is considered a skilled craft of which there are many competitions. Competitors are judged on their design, flavour, speed, and overall height. Some competitions may also do a balance test; applying increasing amounts of force until the tower topples. Winners will often win money, but the most valued prize is the renown and popularity that comes from being labeled the best for that year. This leads to many gatherings being held at the winner's home, with everyone wanting to see the famed talvarin. Anyone found cheating with additional help or stealing recipes and ideas will be disqualified and lose all their respect within the community.