Food, Drink, and Drugs of Valoran
Curious if we can detail all the things consumed in lore.
How about a drink first?
Tea
enjoys tea which
makes fun of her for. IRL the vast majority of tea is grown in Asia. The climate of piltover is said to be balmy. They could grow tea themselves, but it could also be a major expor from Ionia as well . The Zaun story "Iron and Glass" mentions 'Herbal Tisane' so perhaps it is consumed in Zaun as well.
Ale & Wine
is an expert on these.
mentions that beer and dark beer are some of the few things humans have done right. These seem to be widely consumed everywhere. You can make wine from tons of things other than grapes. Beet wine is mentioned at least once in
story.
isn't impressed by Demacian wine. "Pisswater, but beggars cant be choosers."
in his lore mentions "shimmerwine".
???
lore mentions a man selling "shimmer drops "
He spotted his first patient hawking shimmerdrops just outside Ranker’s Limb Maintenance. The man limped around in a circle, shouting at everyone within arm’s length about how shimmerdrops would make their eyes roll into the backs of their heads and how if they didn’t buy some right now, right this second, then they were damn idiots and did you just give him a condescending look? Because he’ll kill you and your family and your family’s family.
It stands to reason the two are related. Perhaps common WIne + Shimmerdrops =Shimmerwine? The official artwork conception for Zaun depicts a breather station with fresh air, and entrance to a "shimmer bar" below.
"Iron and Glass" also mentions
Wyn clambered to his brother, his legs rubbery as a shimmerfiend’s after an all-night bender.
It may possibly be illegal, based on
story.
The city itself seemed to carry us forward as we slid down into its depths, farther and farther from the sump-scrapper we’d just robbed and left bleeding in the gutter. His cogs still jangled in our pockets. More than enough for a bit of fun. We were on our way to the Black Lanes, the market at the heart of Zaun.
“Think they’ll sell us any shimmerwine?” Zori asked. “Bleedin’ that sumper made me a mite parched.”
Blenk scoffed. “They’d sell shimmer to a child in the Lanes. And then they’d sell the child.”
We don't actually know just what kind of intoxicant it is. But it's probably artificial. I swear there's something in Shadowrun with a similar name.
Kouaxi is said to be a Shuriman drink of fermented goat milk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir
Champagne is alluded to but not named in
color story, fizzy and golded served in flute glasses.