I'm very much of the opinion that we can't rely on or expect the Devs to include every single plant, animal, and the like that would make up the game's ecosystems through either inventory items or mentions in quests/leves/etc -- it'd make the game's file size too big. So I run on the assumption that if it's reasonable that something would exist (we have the in-game climates that would support whatever) and/or there are related examples, then until the Devs step in and specifically say that it doesn't exist, it's fair game. And even if they do come out and say something doesn't exist, there's likely something that DOES exist that would make for a decent substitute.
Like coffee. I honestly had an argument with someone prior to 2.4 about the existence of coffee. My only way to get them to drop it and stop being disruptive (couldn't /blist, they were an LS member at the time) was to say that it was a coffee substitute made from roasted acorns, which is a real thing.Â
I take a similar approach to how a specific food is made -- if the technology to cook it exists/would be feasible to make in the game's setting, it's fair game. I had a similar argument (with the same person I did with the coffee, actually) over ice cream. They said it wasn't possible without freezers, but all you need to make it is milk, cream, sugar, two seal-able jars of different sizes, ice and rock salt or ice shards, and about twenty minutes.
So if you really think about it, there's... not a lot of food that couldn't exist in Eorzea. Off the top of my head... maybe astronaut ice-cream and anything that was specifically made to be cooked only sous-vide style might be 'out'. And maybe waffles, because I don't know how to make an Eorzean waffle iron off the top of my head beyond "magic!". But hamburgers, pizza, french fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, bacon McMuffins, Hot Pockets, doughnuts... they're all actually feasible with the game's represented cooking techniques and inventory items.
Like coffee. I honestly had an argument with someone prior to 2.4 about the existence of coffee. My only way to get them to drop it and stop being disruptive (couldn't /blist, they were an LS member at the time) was to say that it was a coffee substitute made from roasted acorns, which is a real thing.Â
I take a similar approach to how a specific food is made -- if the technology to cook it exists/would be feasible to make in the game's setting, it's fair game. I had a similar argument (with the same person I did with the coffee, actually) over ice cream. They said it wasn't possible without freezers, but all you need to make it is milk, cream, sugar, two seal-able jars of different sizes, ice and rock salt or ice shards, and about twenty minutes.
So if you really think about it, there's... not a lot of food that couldn't exist in Eorzea. Off the top of my head... maybe astronaut ice-cream and anything that was specifically made to be cooked only sous-vide style might be 'out'. And maybe waffles, because I don't know how to make an Eorzean waffle iron off the top of my head beyond "magic!". But hamburgers, pizza, french fries, grilled cheese sandwiches, bacon McMuffins, Hot Pockets, doughnuts... they're all actually feasible with the game's represented cooking techniques and inventory items.
