thewildmageoftortall:

ladylingua:

ladylingua:

Ok, so Tortall is a fantasy world semi-based on medieval Western Europe, yes?

By which I mean, the art, food, hobbies, clothing, society, etc is generally confined to what would have been normal in Western Europe during the medieval period, with some modern flourishes (better hygiene, healthcare, and modern feminism, for example).

So, does Tortall have access to what are considered “New World Crops” i.e. plants that originated in the Americas?

Example of these crops would include cotton*, tobacco, potatoes, peanuts, and cocoa, among many others.

*although apparently cotton came into Europe from India, Asia, and the Middle East via the crusades, which thank goodness because it’s gotta be a godsend for a Lady Knight (durable, breathable, comfortable!)

WAIT, LET ME EXPLAIN WHY I FIND THIS INTERESTING

Because if you love your characters enough to let them wash regularly and have safe, reliable birth control, do you also love them enough to let them have chocolate?

OK, so after a few hours of looking this is what I got.

Cotton only seems to be mentioned in Tricksters. Duke
Vurquan Nomru is described to be wearing cotton (pg 327) and Aly also is said
to be wearing cotton, breeches in this case. (pg 364)* We can assume now that
Tortall and The Copper Isles are on better terms the Lady Knights will soon
know the greatness that is cotton fabric.

The food though is harder to find. It seems Tammy did her
research well when it came to it. The food that is acknowledged comes from the
region. In Emperor Mage one of the meals is a smoked salmon and herring (pg
111) which I’m pretty sure is a North American fish. So, this means meats, at least
fish, can be traded to different regions. I can’t find any mention of chocolate. This saddens me.  As far as actual crops go the only
time we hear about them is if they fail, not what they are. Also I don’t think anyone
smokes in the Tortall universe. I feel Ali Mukhtab may have but that could also
just be how I pictured him.

Someone please add to this because I could be wrong and
there are a bunch of things I probably missed.

*The copy of Tricksters I have is the combined Trickster’s choice
and Trickster’s Queen so page numbers are weird.