Quote from: K-Dog on Jan 23, 2024, 08:08 AMAs much as chocolate costs now it could be a means of exchange.
Food which is compact and long lasting works great as money, especially when in short supply.
In Feudal Japan, the main unit of money was 1 Koku, which represented the amount of rice to feed a family of 4 for 1 year. Samurai were paid in Koku based on their rank and how many samurai they led and servants salaries. Hatamoto, a rank akin to a colonel might be paid 1000 koku/year, out of which he had to pay his soldiers and servants. The liege lord in turn had to pay his taxes to the Shogun in Koku as well, and the amount depended on the size of his fiefdom.
This direct form of resource based money is very straightforward and a whole lot harder to manipulate than debt based money. It's impractical to use in small amounts though for daily transactions, so you still need some form of token to use as currency. The hard part there is finding something to use that is difficult to counterfeit.
RE