D&D World Cuisine...

[Scribble]

So I was looking at the new article for familiars in Dragon today, and I cam across the Gelatinous Cube familiar. It's a tiny cube, and apparently the acid is so weak it only tickles your skin.

This made me start thinking about what kind of wizard would want a gelatinous cube as a familiar, and for some reason "Frat Guy" was popping to the forefront... Gelatinous cube shots anyone???

But then I thought, I wonder if people WOULD eat a gelatinous cube that wasn't strong enough to dissolve you? I watch some of the cooking challenge shows (Top Chef, Iron Chef) and they use some pretty crazy ingredients from the real world... Imagine what a chef in the D&D world could do?

I mean I think aside from the standards like grilled Dragon steaks, we could really get into some ideas about say, how various D&D plants and stuff could be used as spices, how stuff like Rissidium could be used in cooking etc...

Maybe even how like various monstrous "acids" could be used to marinate or cook other food ceviche style?

Any thoughts?

 

[Clavis]

So I was looking at the new article for familiars in Dragon today, and I cam across the Gelatinous Cube familiar. It's a tiny cube, and apparently the acid is so weak it only tickles your skin.

This made me start thinking about what kind of wizard would want a gelatinous cube as a familiar, and for some reason "Frat Guy" was popping to the forefront... Gelatinous cube shots anyone???

But then I thought, I wonder if people WOULD eat a gelatinous cube that wasn't strong enough to dissolve you? I watch some of the cooking challenge shows (Top Chef, Iron Chef) and they use some pretty crazy ingredients from the real world... Imagine what a chef in the D&D world could do?

I mean I think aside from the standards like grilled Dragon steaks, we could really get into some ideas about say, how various D&D plants and stuff could be used as spices, how stuff like Rissidium could be used in cooking etc...

Maybe even how like various monstrous "acids" could be used to marinate or cook other food ceviche style?

Any thoughts?

Why not? There are plenty of real-world foods that are only edible after careful processing and/or cooking. Things that come to mind are nettles, and cassava. The shells of cashew nuts contains a very potent caustic agent, which is why they aren't sold unshelled. And then there's fugu...

I could see small gelatinous cubes being eaten, especially by a warrior class that does it as a display of manhood.

 

[Scribble]

Maybe cubes would be sold in various "ages" with different levels of potency kind of like hot sauce?

DISCLAIMER: WARNING: THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS THE ACID FROM THE LARGEST KNOWN CUBE ON THE PLANET TORIL. PLEASE USE WITH EXTREME CAUTION.

 

[weem]

Nice, now I am imagining a "Gelatinous TUBE" - laid into a bun like a hot dog

Yes, anyone will eat just about anything, so the possibilities are only limited by your imagination really, hehe.

 

[Gregor]

Awesome topic.

Cooking, the collection of high end cooking equipment and spices and the accumulation of knowledge on all things food related, are hobbies right up there with d&d for me.

As such, my players are never exposed to taverns or inns that offer up "stew and bread." Nay, I have the culinary habits and commonly found ingredients in each region of my homebrew world. Inns and taverns provide interesting menu choices and my players enjoy (and I think they find a bit of humour in it) hearing what each tavern is serving that night, so it adds a bit more roleplaying into the game.

I have actually gone so far as to make a d100 chart for each region that can be used by the ranger/scout in the party to forrage in the wild for food, and then can be used by the player with ranks in profession (cook) to make excellent meals around the camp fire. Thus, the party is currently in a colder rugged boreal climate (e.g. northern Canada) so the scout in the party is now finding lake trout, wild parsnips, sage and cranberries when he rolls his survival check. The paladin, who is also the party chef, rolls his cooking check and whips up a pan fried trout fillet with roasted parsnips and a sage and cranberry sauce.

In fact, since we dont really have a cleric or druid in the party, I've allowed clever forraging and cooking descriptions, to result in the party healing at a slightly higher than normal rate (e.g. like as if they were in total bedrest). You'll heal alot better when you've had a great meal They seem to like it and have embraced it.

Obviously this is a bit more hard core in terms of cooking than most people probably want to extend into their game, but we dig it.

I just cant wait for them to travel south so I can start making my southern spanish / berber style d100 list!

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Maybe even how like various monstrous "acids" could be used to marinate or cook other food ceviche style?

A delicate ceviche de chuul diabolico, prepared in its own bile, is simply to die for!


Oh yeah, one of the simplest ways to paint color on a setting is just by throwing out a few local delicacies for the PCs to munch on.

Imho, even just naming food a little more interesting than "stew and potatoes" can make a big difference. Here's one (of probably several) "fantasy menu" generator online for fairly mundane fare:

Fantasy Menu generator at Abulafia

You can always swap out "pork" for "orc" for a more adventurous taste
http://www.random-generator.com/index.php?title=FantasyMenu

 

[Scribble]

Can you imagine a campaign based around the PCs being hired by a famous and wealthy chef to locate various specialty ingredients?

 

[Shemeska]

My PCs in my last campaign ended up owning an inn, and eventually they managed to turn it into a rather fashionable locale within their particular Ward in Sigil. This got the attention of a self-appointed food and culture critic (my board namesake) who sent them a letter announcing her intention to visit and critique the place, and sent a laundry list of things she liked and things that good establishments should have. Some of it was picky and self-centered, but much of it was honestly good advice for the inn, and so rather than pissing her off yet again in that campaign, they did renovations, hired away a top end chef from a rival tavern and got some entertainment.

End result being that outside of some of the PCs wanting to strangle her, and one of them almost serving her a goblet of dish water, they ended up preparing a rather unique number of foods and drinks.

I did a lot of fiendish cuisine over the course of that game. Everything from serving the PCs some BBQ elf, rare slasrath steak marinated in its own spinal fluid, and an alcoholic drink made from bytopian brandy, pureed dretch pineal gland, styx water and a sprig of razorvine.

 

[the Jester]

My 3.5 halfling campaign's second adventure arc involved a series of jam contests that were being won by a halfling npc who was kind of cheating, using edible jellies (I made an "edible jelly" template that could be applied to oozes) which later caused terrible tragedies to those who ate them.

Also, the 1e "Adventure Pack 1" (I think it was I13?) had an adventure called Steaks in it, in which a restaurant was driving all the others out of business with their amazing steaks, which turned out to be cuts of some monster or other (up to the dm, but unicorn and purple worm were suggested).

I always try to add some color and spice (har har) to my cultures by thinking about their food choices- the local foods in my newest group are pretty standard goat/cow/pig/chicken meats, carrots/potatoes/cabbage etc veggies... but add a few exotics like giant frog legs (feed your whole family off of one leg!) and you have a little bit of local culture in a few words.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Can you imagine a campaign based around the PCs being hired by a famous and wealthy chef to locate various specialty ingredients?

Monte Cook presents: Iron Chef

oh, wait... that's something else...