Grocery

The grocery essentially is the food market, where one can buy food.

Description
Meals purchased at markets or in restaurants are often delicious and comfortably filling, but will not sustain travellers long on the road. Most markets offer travellers packs of rations in quantity. Prices vary greatly from towne to towne. Farmers will usually be glad to sell the passing traveller eggs, fruits, vegetables or whatever else they produce. At the Farmer's Market in Britain, the fruits, vegetables, eggs and meats produced on the farms of Britannia may be found for sale.

For a quick meal one could do no better than to sample the wares of the local food vendor. To find the local food vendor, one need only listen for his friendly bark and call.

Age of Darkness
Groceries were very common in the cities of old Sosaria in the Age of Darkness in Ultima I and Ultima III, offering food to modest prices. Such shops also existed during the time-warp on Earth in Ultima II, only that their workings at time might have looked strange to people from Sosaria.

Age of Enlightenment
Traditional groceries persisted well into the Age of Enlightenment and were still a common sight in cities during the time of Ultima IV, where they as usual offered their wares. At the time of Ultima V however, they had vanished from the cities when the taverns started to offer food besides their usual drinks, and only few other outlets survived.

Only during Ultima VI did the monopoly of the taverns on food sales weaken, and purchase directly from the producers such as bakeries and slaughterhouses became possible.

Age of Armageddon
In the Age of Armageddon during Ultima VII the situation had relaxed further and besides the previous outlets, it had become possible to buy from farms directly and the traditional grocery had made a comeback in form of the Farmer's Market in Britain. However, further into this age the Great Cataclysm ravaged the land and ordered food production broke down, leaving only few outlets for food available.