tlhIngan Soj - Klingon Food, Part 4

Though the gastronomically uneducated might consider Klingon food to be nothing but small animals (still alive) or chunks of barely dead animals thrown together indiscriminately with odoriferous herbs, to make Klingon food properly actually involves a great deal of study, practice, and just the right touch. There are, of course, practitioners of greater and lesser skill, but one must never be careless when preparing food. -- Klingon for the Galactic Traveler

Klingons are not carnivores. A Klingon meal can include vegetable matter of various kinds - and the jaw strength of the Klingons ensures that they can eat some pretty hard fruits and vegetables by comparison to human jaws. It's just that most Klingon food tends to be meat-based, and with some exceptions vegetables and fruits almost never form the base of a Klingon meal.

The basic term for fruit and vegetable is naH. This can cover all sorts of edible plants, from flowering tops to roots; from the whole plant to just a seed or nut. If it cannot be identified, but it is clearly of the plant kingdom, you can call it a naH.

Food can sometimes be eaten raw or unprocessed - Soj tlhol. The adjective tlhol means raw, be raw, unprocessed (v). You can cut (pe' cut (v)) part of the plant off, or break off a piece with your hands (wItlh break off with one's hands (v)) or indeed eat the food whole(naQ whole, be whole, entire (v)).

naHvam DaSopDI' naH naQ DaSopnIS	When you eat this vegetable, you must eat it whole
naHvam HochHom DaSoplaH	You can eat most of this plant (HochHom - greater part, most of (n))
Dochvam yIlagh	Take this thing apart (lagh - take apart, disassemble (v))
'ay'vam yISop	Eat this piece ('ay' - part, piece, section, component, fragment (n))
naH 'ay' 'ar tu'lu'?	How many pieces of fruit are there?
Soj HochHom DavutlaH 'ach tlholDI' 'ay'vam DaSopchugh qaq	You can cook most of this plant, but it is preferable to eat this piece raw

Freshness

The tlhIngan Hol term for fresh, as in freshly picked, is not ghoQ - that is the adjective that applies to freshly-killed meat, as was discussed in the previous lesson. The adjective for fresh that applies to plant matter is baQ. Another adjective applies to ripe (and overripe) fruits and vegetables - DeH ripe, be ripe, be overripe (v). Dry food is QaD dry, dried out (v).

naH baQ yIlo'	Use the fresh fruit
naHvam tlhol yIpoS	Open up this raw fruit
baQbe'mo' naHvetlh naHvetlh DaSoplaHbe'	You cannot eat that vegetable because it isn't fresh
baQ'a'	Is it fresh?
ghobe'. DeHqu'. He'So'taH	No. It is well overripe. It is stinking.
jIQochbe'. naDev vIlarghlaH	I agree. I can smell it over here

Preparation

Most vegetables and fruits are prepared in much the same way as Klingon meats - they can be marinaded in a chanDoq, stewed (Qev stew (v)), boiled (pub boil (v)), rendered like fats ('Im render (v)), mashed (tap mash (v)) or deep-fried (mIQ fry (v)).

A typical example of a vegetable which needs processing is a vegetable known as a peb'ot, a torpedo-shaped plant which is marinaded in a chanDoq; the processed vegetable is called a Hurgh pickle.

Many fruits and vegetables can also be fermented - in some cases, this is the only way to properly prepare a particular fruit or vegetable, because fermentation might be the only way to cause a particular chemical to be present in the prepared vegetable - conversely, fermentation might be the only way to cook out a disagreeable chemical present in the uncooked matter.

Verbs and Adjectivals

The following all describe the fruits and vegetables, or describe processes associated with preparing them.

Descriptions

baQ	fresh, be freshly picked
char	slimy, be slimy
DeH	ripe, be ripe, overripe
ghegh	rough, be rough
Hab	smooth, be smooth
jeD	thick, be thick, dense, viscous
jej	sharp, be sharp
jejHa'	dull, be dull
let	hard, be hard
na'	salty, be salty, brackish
non	rotten, be rotten
ngal	chewy
ngIm	putrid, be putrid
QaD	dry, be dry, be dried out
rotlh	tough, be tough
tun	soft, be soft
tlher	lumpy, be lumpy
tlhol	raw, be raw, unprocessed
tlhorgh	pungent, be pungent
tlhorghHa'	bland, be bland
vaD	flexible, be flexible
wIb	sour, be sour, bitter

Processes

These are processes associated with collecting and processing plant matter.

HaH	soak, drench, marinade
lagh	take apart, disassemble
pe'	cut
poch	plant (in the ground)
QaDmoH	to dry out, to desiccate
ragh	rot, decay
raghmoH	to rot, to decay
rogh	ferment
roghmoH	to ferment
wIj	to farm
wItlh	break off
yIr	gather, collect
yob	harvest

Plant Matter

Satlh	agriculture
Du'	farm (n)
Du' naH	produce
naH	fruit, vegetable
naHlet	nut, nuts
tIr	grain
Sor	tree
lav	shrub
DayquS	dikus plant
DIghna'	type of plant
por	leaf
qurgh	bean, beans
'oQqar	root
vIychorgh	sap, juice from a plant
naHnagh	pip, pit, stone (hard seed at centre of fruit)
vInova' qurgh	Finova beans
naH chatlh	vegetable soup
Hurgh	pickle
peb'ot	torpedo-shaped vegetable
qompogh	fermented, mashed mix of vegetables and optionally some animal matter
yub	peel, rind, husk, outer shell of a fruit
naHlet yub	nutshell

Next, we'll be looking at Klingon beverages and that great Klingon custom of toasting.