Anindas

Anindas is the general term to describe different kinds of bread in Andaperna cultures. Andaperna has a variety of cereals - wheat, barley, millet and rye - which are all used to produce the foundation of each Andaperna meal. Bread is almost omnipresent and even the poorest have a choice of two sorts of bread for each meal. The line between bread and cake is thin, but generally speaking, people prefer their main meals to go with rather unsweetended breads. Undoubtedly the most widespread and popular form of Anindas is tugas, which is likewise used to pick other food up.

All Anindas is made from flour or a mix of flour and semolina. The base cereal used varies from region to region or during the seasons. The only bread that is consistent through all of Andaperna is tugas, which is made from a fine wheat flour, water, sourdough and salt. This base recipe is found throughout all settlements and served to every meal. During the Iyantas milityas, the dough is seasoned while being baked with honey and lavender oil.

Instead of water, sometimes juices of fruit or vegetables are used to make Anindas. Root vegetables like turnips or rhizomes of reed are often used, but also juice of unripe grapes or dates. Trying to list all sorts of Anindas is a fruitless endeavour, but the most important varieties shall be introduced here:

Tugas is a large sheet of bread, roundish or oval in shape and dusty on the surface, as the quite sticky dough is covered with flour to prevent it from sticking to the oven walls. Tugas can be seen everywhere on the streets, as it is the most basic of breads and serves an important role in Andaperna cuisine, as it is basically the means by which other food items are picked up and put into the mouth without sullying ones fingers. As the most basic commodity, it is extremely cheap and indeed beggars who don't have a sheet or part of a sheet of tugas on them are regularly given one by passers by. There is also a somewhat ritualised code of communication, that if someone begs with a bowl or piece of cloth, they beg for something material like seashells or cloth, while laying out a tugas means begging for food.

Rutis, like tugas, is a basic form of anindas, dished out with more saucy or soupy meals. It is thick and more textured, as it is used to soak up fluids like gravy or soup. Rutis is either held between two fingers and dipped into the food and then eaten or it is torn to small pieces, which are put into the meal to 'dry the bowl' - hanupar as it is called. Hanupar is not only the name of the action of drying the bowl, but also hanupar meals are a widespread type of dish typical for Andaperna cuisine. The soaked pieces of rutis are eaten with tugas.

Muyashas is a soft bread made with cows milk. They are more costly, as cows are a more scarce lifestock than sheep in Andaperna, thus making cows milk a more rare commodity. Muyashas are a welcome treat for children for their softness and slightly sweeter taste. It is either baked in an oven or it is steamed like a bun. Dirmakus, mother of all animals, but especially lifestock, often receives muyashas as a sacrifice.

A popular to-go food is Zarpakus, a deep fried bread seasoned with cumin or black cumin, which is served on woven reeds. After cooling down a bit, it can be shared with friends or family, as everyone can just rip a crispy strip of zarpakus off the loaf. For extra taste, zarpakus is fried in cleared butter.

A meal without anindas, no matter what kind, isn't considered complete. Thus there is not a single meal in Andaperna cuisine, which is not at least accompanied by anindas. The fertile land along the rivers and the warm climate lends itself to the cultivation of cereals, so cereal products are found everywhere. Andaperna people are not very fond of mushy or liquid food, so bread was a natural way for them to prepare their cereals.

The Andaperna people see anindas, especially tugas, as such an essential part of their life, that temples bake them and give them out to wandering priests called apashis (pl. apashies). These sort of lose organisation called Luhia Apashiyas provides the poorest with tugas from the temples, sometimes even other food, if any is donated to them. Any beggars seen without tugas are also regularly given some by passers by and laying out a sheet of tugas indicated begging for food, as tugas is basically a tool for eating as described above.