Foodomancy

Foodomancy was a school of magic that tapped into the Art found in everyday objects. In this school's case, it tapped into magics contained in various exotic food ingredients that, when brought together in a specific manner, resulted in enchanted wondrous dishes. A person who specialized in foodomancy was called a foodomancer.

"This is the first of my written tomes which discloses my findings on the school of "Foodomancy." Not a terribly sharp title, I suppose, but it will have to suffice until I think up something wittier."

- Jonathan Greenleaf, a disciple of foodomancy

Abilities
Foodomancy followed the school of thought believed by many common folks of the Realms that the Art permeated every part of the world. It taught its practitioners that the more fantastic object or creature used in cooking, the stronger and more likely the resulting dish was to have a magical aura bout it. Tapping in the resulting magic was simple – consuming and digesting the prepared food. When certain parts of magical and fantastical creatures were digested, the Art hidden within was released and imbued onto the imbiber. The enchantments provided by foodomancy remained active as long as the food remained in the imbiber's body; once it left the digestive tract and out of the body – the magic was gone.

Many ingredients caught after by a foodomancer were rare pieces and cuts of creatures that one could not find with ease unless they had coin and access to Skullport's markets.

Magic Recipes
Some of the recipes shared by Jonathan Greenleaf in his book included dragonblood soup, which required wineskins-full of red dragon's blood, dragonflesh, shredded heart of a dragon, and a bunch of more mundane ingredients. If the dish was made correctly, following its detailed cooking times, it made the eater protected from fire, their skin thickened and became as hard as that of a red dragon, and they received the ability to breathe fire. Presumably, similar effects could be achieved by using other dragon types, but the precise instructions were not yet developed at the time the book of Jonathan Greenleaf's was printed. Another dish described was basilisk and bread, a "sand witch," as the author described it, chopped with an enchanted blade that was made out of two basilisk's eyes, Death Cheese, and cooked on magical flames. If the recipe was followed precisely and the ingredients were authentic, the eater received the benefits of the stoneskin spell and gaze abilities of a basilisk. Failing at the recipe could earn the imbiber food poisoning. Similar dishes existed in the school of foodomancy.

Practitioners
"I'd hate to oversimplify, but the process can be described in three words: we eat it!"

- Jonathan Greenleaf Not all who practiced foodomancy had to be experienced mages as the preparation needed specific tools, incantations, and ingredients and could be performed by any skilled individual. Following the recipes was integral to the magic's successes. Despite that, cooks who had a knack for magic were more likely to succeed and master this school of magic.

Typical individuals who could master this magic were mages, clerics, thieves, paladins, rangers, and bards. Practice made perfect, so foodomancers who practiced often had a lower chance of failing the recipe. More experienced foodomancers learned to identify magic in potential cooking ingredients and identify the origin of an ingredient in front of them. The most talented and experienced foodomancers learned enough of the theories and got enough practice to create their own new magical dishes. With each failure, they quickly identified what part of the formula was flawed and knew how to fix that on the next attempt to create a new magic dish. Master foodomancers were exceedingly rare.

History
"In any case, I wish you Tymora's blessing in creating these recipes (even more so in acquiring the actual ingredients!)"

- Jonathan Greenleaf It was believed that the person who re-discovered the foodomancy magic was Jonathan Greenleaf, a magic practitioner and an extraordinary chef of the late 14 century DR from the City of Splendors, Waterdeep. His works were compiled into at least one tome, and in his research Jonathan used an ancient book called the Manual of Culinary Delights, that collected magic diagrams and recipes for a foodomancer's use.

In the late 14 century DR, Lord Raventree of Waterdeep got his hands on Jonathan Greenleaf's handwritten leather-bound works. The noble read the book while sipping on Undermountain Alurlyath. After completing the work, Lord Raventree set out to find and hire Jonathan Greenleaf as one of his cooks.