Mistbread

A steamed herbal bread found on every dinner table in Pluvia—warm, fragrant, and meant to be shared.

Mistbread is a staple food in Pluvia—humble, comforting, and endlessly versatile. It’s made from a mix of stone-ground root grains grown in the fertile rain-fed gardens surrounding the city, and flavored with a rotating blend of seasonal herbs. Its most unique quality comes from the way it's prepared: not baked, but steamed in ceramic leaf-lined baskets, giving it a soft, springy texture and a subtle floral-earthy aroma.

The name comes from its delicate outer crust, which forms a shimmering, mist-like pattern when properly steamed. Children often try to find shapes in the glaze, much like they would in clouds or puddles.

Mistbread is traditionally torn by hand, never sliced, and passed around at meals before any main dish is served. It is often dipped into warm broths or spread with veinflicker butter, a pale blue dairy made from goats raised in the lake-meadows.

Every household has its own version—some add garlic shoots, others sweeten it with pickled rootfruit, but the ritual is always the same:
Mistbread is the first thing shared. Always.

During the Sundawn , residents will form long communal tables where Mistbread is passed down in woven baskets, often still warm from the steamer. In families where a member is ill, grieving, or affected by The Hollowing, neighbors will often deliver mistbread wrapped in veillinen cloth, a gesture of care and quiet support.