[Sca-cooks] On and Off Topic, Betan earrings,

[Kirsten Houseknecht]

Lois McMaster Bujold writes a series of books revolving around the
Vorkosigan family....
its space opera, but darned GOOD space opera.

Barrayar is the home planet of the Vorkosigan family.  until recently it was
primitive, and much discussion is made of the primitive crafts/cooking/etc
still remembered on planet.
(of course one of the elderly Barrayarans also complains about the girls who
play  at historical fantasy...... its still too real to her)  They discuss
the difficulties of preparing a balanced diet when a lot of the plants are
not edible... and some of the traditions and foods would be right at home in
the SCA.

Beta is one of the other planets (and the one that Cordelia Naismith
Vorkosigan was born on).  Beta is much more advanced technologically, but
has few natural resources on planet.. and tends to eat all their food from
vats/replicators........ the books make a great deal about Cordelia
confronting Barrayaran cooking......

Beta is also much more sexually open (Barrayar having a more.. medieval..
view on things like chastity)...... and has a codified system of earrings to
let people know if they are:

interested
available
not interested or available
etc, etc, etc

incidentally , it is Beta Colony... as in  "Alpha colony, Beta colony, Delta
Colony..."
Kirsten
kirsten at fabricdragon.com
http://www.fabricdragon.com

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