Help me plan my Under the Skin themed dinner

September 9, 2015 4:31 PM

I'm hosting my bookclub's discussion of Under the Skin and per tradition providing dinner inspired by the food themes of the book. I'm looking for suggestions about what food to use to represent various comestibles mentioned in the text.

Here are some edibles referred to in the book. What foods should I serve under these labels?

Mussanta paste

Described as the staple of the protagonist's diet, mostly spread on bread

Serslida

Referred to in sauce form and also as "husks baked into a bar shape". Separate recommendations for each welcome if they seem to be plausibly of the same origin.

Ezziin

A staple beverage preferred over water by most of the men but not the protagonist.

Stodge

No description other than the protagonist being "comfortably full" of it at one point.

There's also voddissin, but pork seems to be the very obvious choice for that, unless there's a better product to approximate vodsel.

posted by Cogito to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

Best answer: Mussanta paste = Hummus

Serslida = "perhaps her mistake had been to select something that looked exactly like serslida husks baked into a bar shape." I think it's the humans who provide the bar shape, not the aliens? I read this as being granola bars or energy bars; it has to be something we already sell in bar format. I assumed flapjacks.

Ezziin = Beer or wine

Stodge = This could be literally anything although I assumed porridge. Soup would be my choice if you're actually trying to put together a meal here.

Also note: "She picked up a packet of potato crisps from a little metal cage and with some effort read the microscopic list of ingredients on its shiny packaging. It seemed to contain nothing exotic, just potato and oil and salt; the men on the farm were routinely served a potato dish very like this from their canteen, albeit prepared in a different kind of oil."
posted by DarlingBri at 5:04 PM on September 9, 2015

It might be appropriate to do vegetarian (after reading a summary of the book on Wikipedia).
posted by amtho at 6:08 PM on September 9, 2015 [1 favorite]

I haven't read the book or even the summary, but based on your descriptions and the need for this to be dinner:

Mussanta paste

bruschetta and/or olive tapenade on crostini
or
black bean dip/refried beans/salsa/guacamole and chips

Serslida


If you want to have a cuisine theme, go with filled manicotti or extra large stuffed shells.
or
My first thought (based on the bar shape and probably by the word husk) was tamales.

Ezziin

An alcoholic beverage seems best here, but you could also do tea: chicory, perhaps or yerba mate. You could also do a mixed drink that has a virgin variation for non-drinkers. Or maybe a really spicy gingerale or interesting soda?

Stodge

The word and the very full part make me think of porridge, but if we continue in the Italian theme, polenta! Maybe topped with roasted veggies, because yum.
or
Along the dip/chips and tamale theme, maybe a soup: pozole, perhaps or cheese soup. Or rice and beans is very filling.
posted by carrioncomfort at 7:46 AM on September 10, 2015

Maybe in Scotland stodge is the name of a food, but I've always known stodgy to be any really heavy food, such as dumplings.

Dictionary definition of 'stodgy'.

If I were trying to recreate an example of what I'd think of as a Scottish stodgy meal, it'd probably the artery-hardening horror that is the Munchy Box.
posted by veedubya at 8:06 AM on September 10, 2015