tlhIngan Soj - Klingon Food, Part 2

A well-fed warrior is prepared to battle any enemy and claim glory for the Empire; a warrior displeased with his meal looks to the cook for retribution. -- Klingon for the Galactic Traveler

And so we come to the next stage in our examination of the eating habits of Klingons. Today, we will be taking a close look at the most famous item in the Klingon culinary repertoire.


qagh gagh, aka serpent worms.
Gagh is a delicacy whose fame extends beyond the boundaries of the Klingon Empire. What is generally not known is that gagh comes in at least 51 varieties, each with its own quirks and textures. Some of the named varieties of gagh are:-

Wistan gagh: this comes packed in targ blood.

Filden gagh: this variety squirms.

Meshta gagh: this variety jumps

Torgud gagh: this is the variety which wiggles

Bithool gagh has feet.

Gagh preparation

Klingon for the Galactic Traveler has this to say about gagh.

Perhaps the most representative Klingon food, certainly the one best known outside of the Empire, is gagh (or, in Klingon, qagh): serpent worms in a thick sauce (called ghevI'). Prior to the preparation of this dish, the worms are fed only 'Iw puj ("diluted blood"; literally, "weak blood"), which the worms find unappetizing and therefore consume only when they are nearly starving. The type of animal from which the blood has been taken has a great deal of influence on the eventual flavor of the qagh, and individual cooks, as well as individual eaters, have their own preferences. As the final step in preparing the dish, the worms are poured into a bowl filled with the ghevI' (sauce), which contains, among other ingredients, pellets of an extremely flavorful herb that the hungry worms quickly ingest, even though it is toxic to them and kills them within minutes. Since qagh is considered best if consumed while the worms are still alive, it is important to keep the worms out of the sauce until just before the dish is served. For the same reason, it is customary to eat qagh as quickly as possible. If, for some reason, the qagh cannot be consumed before they all die, the entire mixture of qagh and ghevI' is saved and later heated up as a sort of stew (the general term for which is tlhIq; thus, qagh tlhIq may be translated as "qagh stew"). Although not as desirable as live qagh, this is a common way to serve leftovers.

The key terms are:-

qagh	gagh
'Iw puj	weak blood
targh 'Iw	targ blood
ghevI'	sauce in which gagh is served
qagh tlhIq	gagh stew

Klingon Sayings Connected To Gagh

The following popular sayings appear in The Klingon Way: A Warrior's Guide:-

qagh Sopbe'!

He doesn't eat gagh!

Everyone loves gagh, so if one is not eating it, something must be wrong. This expression is used to mean that there is something wrong with someone or that someone is acting suspiciously. It is also a way to refer to somebody as a coward. For Klingons, among whom cursing is a highly developed art form, this is a rather mild dismissive remark, not a strong insult. As this expression demonstrates, even though Klingon culture in known for its directness, it is also capable of expressing ideas subtly.

qagh HoH

kill gagh

Gagh, the Klingon delicacy consisting of serpent worms in a sauce, is ideally eaten while the worms are still alive. To kill gagh (qagh HoH), therefore, is counterproductive, to say the least, and that is the notion this idiom conveys. The phrase is applied to a person and means that he or she is doing something counterproductive:

SuyDuj DaQaw'chugh qagh DaHoH	If you destroy the merchant ship, you kill gagh
SuyDuj	merchant ship
DaQaw'chugh	If you destroy it

-- that is, destroying the merchant ship is contrary to the best interests of the current mission.

yIntaHbogh qagh jablu'DI' reH nIvqu' qagh

Gagh is always best when served live

When Klag said this to William Riker, he was speaking literally, actually talking about the Klingon delicacy gagh, or serpent worms. The same expression, however, is often used figuratively to mean that a fight is always better when there is a worthy adversary, or that one should always want to face real challenges.

Next week: An interruption for a very special post. The food posts resume 2014-01-08.