Dear Urist McFoodCritic,
I have received complaints from our chefs that you refuse to consume any of the high-quality meals they have prepared for you. Instead, they claim that you prefer to consume their raw ingredients, and then proceed to complain that they never cook anything decent. This picky behavior is unhealthy and is bad for fortress morale. We encourage you to open your palate to the wide variety of flavors in the world and learn to enjoy literally any kind of food, preferably one that we are able to keep in stock.
Sincerely,
The Mayor
*After writing this, the mayor went to the dining room and was disappointed at the lack of slug meat in the larders. He ate a raw plump helmet and complained about the lack of decent meals.*
Dear Mayor,
We find that, yes, the meals prepared by you and your subordinates are indeed delicious! However we the workers, much like yourselves, are contractually obligated to see to our duties first. Our rest periods are the only time available to us to eat, drink, sleep, pray, read, and socialize; as such we will tend to go through the necessary motions as quickly as possible. Whatever food is closest when we decide to go eat is what we'll get. We don't have time for anything else in busy times, and the habit persists even among the most idle dwarves so they're ready if their workload increases again. We'll grab the prepared foods most of the time, but if you really want to keep workers out of the larder the best thing to do would be to set out meals closer to the work areas from a central kitchen, or to restrict access to the room where raw ingredients are stored to kitchen staff only. We hope to work with you on this, and improve conditions for both of us.
On Behalf of Those Concerned,
The Manager
Dear Manager,
It has come to my attention that you and many other dwarves, including Urist McFoodCritic, to whom my original letter was posted, have been traveling great distances out of their way to avoid eating prepared meals. This seems to have little effect on the enjoyment of the food, however, as demonstrated by Urist McFoodCritic's refusal to find any food of any type desirable. As Urist McFoodCritic's only flavor preference is for pearl millet beer, and as Urist McFoodCritic refuses to eat prepared meals containing that ingredient, despite such meals almost always being closer in proximity to him than the raw ingredients upon which he dines, it is his own fault for not enjoying the food.
Furthermore, the cooks report that even citizens with preferences for actual food complain about eating their masterpieces unless said masterpiece contains their favorite ingredient. I understand that it can be hard to go without one's favorite foods for a long time. I, myself, have been craving slug meat for many seasons now. However, we should at least make an effort to appreciate the hard work our cooks put into preparing our meals.
With Regards,
The Mayor
Dear Hunters,
While your efforts to feed the fortress by killing large game are commendable, could you possibly spare some of your time to collect slugs? I find their meat delicious, and I have been unable to dine upon them since coming here from the Mountainhomes. I know Urist McButcher claims he is unable to get usable meat from slugs, but these protests clearly stem more from laziness than from actual inability. Slugs are my favorite food, and how could that be if slugs cannot be butchered?
Also, please do not allow the cooks to prepare any slugs you manage to collect, as I will have difficulty identifying meals containing slugs. All prepared meals look the same to me, due to the fact that our cooks' only means of preparing food is mincing it into such tiny pieces that the original ingredients are unrecognizable. Their ability to do this with booze and milk is, however, miraculous, and our scholars are still attempting to understand how our kitchen knives are able to cut liquids. Anyway, I seem to have gotten off-topic. Please go get me some slugs!
Cordially,
The Mayor
EDIT:
To whoever spilled prickle berry wine in the area that is soon to become our new tree farm:
Well done! I had not considered christening our new grove with an offering of wine, but this is a nice touch, and a good way to start things off. Here's to hopefully being able to stay ahead of our carpenters and wood burners in the years to come! Also, due to the fact that homeopathic dilution is a law of nature, when we restore the water to our dry riverbed, the entire river, and eventually the ocean, will be ever-so-slightly alcoholic. Thank you for making the world a slightly boozier place.
Sincerely,
The Mayor