I tend to agree with you. Sul->potato is easy, and they don't even bother to call the grain "sa-tarna", they just call it "grain". We can just pretend. I do think that if G&S really wants to expand, they're going to need to rethink some of this ... verr are fine but the bosk and tarsk are a bit scary and no one doing a realistic earthbound RP wants to get into "tharlarions"! Again my two cents.
I have been thinking on both of these in the back of my mind. In the recipes the rence flour is used as a more finely milled flour, which makes sense considering that with Gorean tech you're milling with grindstones (as I understand it). So what plant do we have that gives a fine flour and can also be brewed into beer or beaten into a papyrus? If we did it probably would be some kind of shoot, similar to bamboo, probably aquatic. Maybe we should just go with bamboo?
To get my mind about kalana I always thought of a combination of apple and peach. Apples have a durability, are red, and are used in making liqueurs, and peaches have a shape, flavor, and sweetness such as is described of the kalana. Appeach? Peapple? Anyway, my two cents.
YOU STOLE MY IDEA!!!
I still love you <3
