Fancy poisonous food in Hallendren

[Cocoa he/him]

I was considering how seriously Hallendren takes its art, to the point that they've even got things like the synchronized gardening orchestra, and a realization struck me. The fifth heightening makes you completely immune to most toxins, and in real life we have an example of food that's fancy by virtue of narrowly avoiding being deadly poisonous in the form of fugu. So what if Hallendren has chefs specially trained in preparing delicious food using poisonous ingredients that can't be safely eaten by people with too little Breath. Poison ivy salads and deadly nightshade berry sorbets and so on.

Actually, expanding upon that now that I'm thinking about it, people of the fifth heightening are immune to diseases too. So while you almost certainly wouldn't want to consume rotten meat, because it's going to taste bad and I'd be willing to bet Breath affects your ability to taste just like your other senses, there's really no risk to you if you want to try eating raw meats or dairy or so on.

At any rate, I doubt there's enough potential customers of the fifth heightening or above to sustain a chef even if they charge extravagant prices of every poisonous meal, so it's probably something that certain master chefs learn above and beyond their other culinary expertise.

[The Sibling she/her]

That honestly sounds really cool, and then people of the fifth heightening would eat their poisonous food in front of everyone and brag about how good it tastes, and then ask if you wanted a bit and you'd be like "you suck". 

I can't think of any poisonous things off the top of my head but there's probably lots. Or not. I don't really know anything about poison.

[Treamayne]

The thing about Fugu is that you have to get a small amount of the poison. The whole point is the get the tingle and numbing sensation - just in small enough quantities that the adverse effects are minimized. Kinda like spicy food: Capsaicin, the chemical responsible for the spicy heat of chilis is, technically, a poison. It's just that the small quantity found naturally in chili peppers is survivable (the tingles, sweating and heat is your body's response to the poison).

If somebody was already Immune to poison, then they would not get any of these reactions. So, then, what would be the culinary benefit to eating them? Extreme snobbiness (I eat this because I can and you can't)?

[Minotaur]

There might be things that are poisonous but have cool flavors. Also, would the disease prevention protect from parasites?
 

 

[Cocoa he/him]

23 hours ago, Treamayne said:

If somebody was already Immune to poison, then they would not get any of these reactions. So, then, what would be the culinary benefit to eating them? Extreme snobbiness (I eat this because I can and you can't)?

Basically, yeah. Plus...

Quote

“More wine,” Lightsong said, raising his cup.
“You can’t get drunk, Your Grace,” Llarimar noted. “Your body is immune to all toxins.”
“I know,” Lightsong said as a lesser servant filled his cup. “But trust me—I’m quite good at pretending.”

[...]

“I know,” Lightsong said. “I feel positively unlike myself. Perhaps I need to go get drunk.”
“You can’t get drunk.”
“Ah, but I certainly enjoy trying.”

 

[Kasimir he/him]

On 9/10/2022 at 8:01 AM, Cocoa said:

So what if Hallendren has chefs specially trained in preparing delicious food using poisonous ingredients that can't be safely eaten by people with too little Breath. Poison ivy salads and deadly nightshade berry sorbets and so on.

I could absolutely see this being a thing - there might be poisonous ingredients with interesting flavours. Even then, as long as it is exotic and interesting, someone will try it. The fact only people of the Fifth Heightening could safely eat at those places without dying would increase mystique and basically make being able to eat there a marker of social status, which means there's an incentive that keeps it afloat (exclusiveness.)

People are willing to do things with little to dubious value in pursuit of what's trendy; in other words, in pursuit of a thrill or of status.

On 9/10/2022 at 9:27 AM, Treamayne said:

The whole point is the get the tingle and numbing sensation - just in small enough quantities that the adverse effects are minimized. Kinda like spicy food: Capsaicin, the chemical responsible for the spicy heat of chilis is, technically, a poison. It's just that the small quantity found naturally in chili peppers is survivable (the tingles, sweating and heat is your body's response to the poison).

We know Vasher at least experiences spicy food. More on that in a bit.

Warbreaker, Chapter Five:

Quote

Vasher opened his eyes, staring at the priest as the waiter arrived with two plates of spiced rice. Tektees food was the restaurant’s specialty—the Hallandren liked foreign spices as much as they liked odd colors. Vasher had placed the order earlier, along with a payment that would keep the sur rounding booths empty. [...]

Bebid paled and didn’t touch his meal. Vasher eyed his spoon with annoyance, then bent it back, calming himself. He shoveled in a spoonful of rice, mouth burning from the spices. He’d didn’t believe in letting food sit around uneaten—you never knew when you’d have to leave in a hurry.

The Warbreaker Chapter Thirty-Five annotation about:

Quote

The death of Lemex is another clue—he was, indeed, immune to disease. (Though not poison, if enough was used.) Anyone with that many Breaths is immune.

Vasher is an odd case, as we know he was suppressing his Divine Breath. That being said, given Hallendren's identity as the cosmopolitan city of exotic goods, it seems reasonable to me that the Hallendren enjoy their spices, and the Returned would be typical in that regard. A divergence between the elite and the (Does suggest there could be a thrill-seeker industry through, if you suppressed your Divine Breath for maximum thrill and stopped at the last moment, if that's what's going on with Vasher. But I doubt it.)

The Lemex annotation makes me think that it can be done, but at a lower Breath level than Fifth Heightening, so maybe less snobbery than if it were gated by the Fifth Heightening (IIRC, Lemex had maybe five hundred Breaths thereabouts.) Possibly a balance between enough poison that you can taste the effects at all, and not enough to kill you or make you seriously ill.

But on the other hand, we know Lightsong can't get drunk, no matter how much he drinks. So not sure what's going on here, unless it's down to Cognitive shenanigans again - spices, normal, drunkenness and poisons, not so much so.

As a very brief digression -

If exclusiveness and social status (community, if you are less cynical) alone (even with little material returns) wasn't so much of a draw, NFTs offering exclusive access to projects that haven't even been realised yet, and which sometimes, are fairly disappointing even on realisation - they wouldn't have as much attractiveness as they apparently enjoy. It makes sense to me psychologically that given enough curious people, and the natural Breath (so social status!) gateway, something like eating fancy poisonous food could plausibly develop an attractiveness in and of itself in Hallendren.