Gastronomy in D&D: The Truly Non-Standard Rations

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I tend to go all-in on food and drink in my games. If I know they’re going to be going to a bar or eating a meal, I always have detailed options that make sense for the culture. I use food to tell the story.

My current home campaign is a homebrewed earthmote world. As a result, cows aren’t really a thing because of the amount of space needed for grazing. So people tend to eat more goat, fish, and poultry. Plants that can be grown on trellises are popular. Wines and liquors are more prevalent than beer.

I do try to have lots of fantastical boozes in my campaigns. Gnomish glitterwine, Orcish Kruush, Dwarven mushroom spirits, and so on.

The question about eating intelligent creatures is made tricky when you can just cast a spell and talk to a plant or animal. I think I prefer to let that one lie. I had a PC cook and eat a merrow once. That was enough.

 

[Tony Vargas]

And my immediate thought was, of course, "Boy, I bet a DRAGON WING would be pretty good in buffalo sauce. Not that I would, um, say that to the Dragon."
4. Is there a prohibition (at least, among good races) to eating "intelligent" creatures? Would people partake in Red Dragon Brisket?

So, in one campaign, we kill a dragon, and acquire an egg (or maybe it was more than one). Typically, you can sell a dragon egg, or subdue the wyrmling or something.

Now, in the Philippines, there's a delicacy called Balut which is just a boiled egg, that was fairly close to hatching before you boiled it.

Yeah.

In another, my disgraced-noble Dragonborn is an unabashed carnivore with no qualms about how intelligent his meat may have been when it was alive. Also, not always careful enough about cooking it - can I get another Remove Disease, over here?

1. Do you have fine dining and "restaurants" that the PCs can go to?

I know restaurants aren't as anachronistic as they might seem, but, just no.

2. Do you have regional cuisines, or different cuisine mapped out by races?

I've done that, in some more 'slice of life' campaigns. (Yeah, I've run campaigns like that - no, they did not go over well.)

3. As a general rule, do people eat the same things we do (agriculture, domesticated livestock) or more fantastical things?

Frankly, some historical things people actually ate can seem pretty far out.

How does a Roc taste?

Like chicken, because it's the default taste for anything the machines lost the source code to.

5. What about "field rations?" Do PCs in your campaign ever prepare creatures they have vanquished? What, if any, are the moral lines?

Yes. In one goblin game, the battle-cry was "bacon!" and "Kill them in descending order of tastiness!" (Some of the enemies were riding dire boars, you see...)

6. Finally, are you still a vegan if you eat a vegepygmy? Vegetarian?

Yes.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

6. Finally, are you still a vegan if you eat a vegepygmy? Vegetarian?

Yes, one is a vegan if they eat a vegepygmy. But they're likely a carnivore if they eat a vegetarian*.

* In all fairness, that may depend on the vegetarian's CR.

 

[Len]

5. What about "field rations?" Do PCs in your campaign ever prepare creatures they have vanquished? What, if any, are the moral lines?

One of the PCs in our current game is a goblin gourmet, which has led to some issues.

edit: For example: The Unrepentant Satisfaction of Misunderstood Pedantry | Sins Of The Past | Obsidian Portal

 

[Ulfgeir]

Well, they did have some interesting recipes in a Dragonlance-supplement (Leaves of the Inn of the last Home),
But normally we do not engage in specifics of food and drink.

However we had an assassin in an Exalted 2e-campaign who masquerades as a chef (yes, he was good at it).. And during one session he offered Habanero Icecream to someone. That became a running joke in the campaign, and then later the pLayer actually came with home-made Habanero Icecream. It was chocloate icecream with finely cut habaneros. The one made with dark chocolate was much better than the one made with white chocolate...

And in our Scion 2e-campaign, we encountered grilled Taoist-priest. One of the characters who was from the Chinese Panteon, had married a demoness. All the demons that attended the wedding really looked forward to that meal. Most of the characters avoided eating it.

 

[Shiroiken]

I try to make food different culturally. Most human cultures eat similar foods, but elves use mostly fruits with vegetables and a little meat, dwarves use more earthen vegetables (potatoes and such) than leafy ones, and halflings use a lot more spices and seasonings. Drink is much more varied (mostly because I'm an alcoholic), with each region having a specialty or two. Rations are... rations; just like MRE, no one likes them, but eat them anyway.

Eating intelligent creatures did cause a bit of commotion in my current campaign. We have a smuggler who was known for attempting to smuggle using a whale carcass, which exploded unexpectedly. Because of this, his smuggling ring uses whale meat as a signal. This lead to a dinner party, where the main course was whale... which greatly offended the triton PC.

 

[Lanefan]

One Part-Orc character in the game I play in has as a motto: "except for Human and Orc, I eat what I kill". More than once he's had to save vs poison... Among his favourites are "man-cow" (minotaur haunch) and dragon steak; and a giant will feed him for a week.

Another now-retired character in the same game had expert chef as a background. His motto was "Here, eat this", as he produced from his backpack some culinary delight that probably had no business being there. He retired to, he hoped, start a chain of fancy high-class restaurants.

When these two ran together it got crazy - the Part-Orc kept trying to get the chef to cook up the latest kill.....

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I still have my old copy from that book. The recipes still hold up pretty well. Otik's Spiced Potatoes is still my go-to preparation method.

The more recent cookbooks (Elder Scrolls, Song of Ice and Fire, World of Warcraft, etc.) from Chelsea Monroe-Cassel are all pretty fun and tasty. Well-researched, too.

Well, they did have some interesting recipes in a Dragonlance-supplement (Leaves of the Inn of the last Home),
But normally not engage in specifics of food and drink.

An entire adventuring party at my table had to do so because someone got it into their head to cook and eat a Chuul.

More than once he's had to save vs poison...

 

[Salthorae]

But ... how do people generally view cuisine in their campaigns? How do they view gastronomy?

Now, I know that many people do the standard, "Write two weeks of iron rations and forget about food." Or, at most, maybe get some unspecified food (ALONG WITH A FLAGON OF ALE* at Ye Old Painfully Punny Publick Pub & Inn). But what about those who do more than that?

It depends on the campaign honestly. Sometimes I've focused on it and other times not.

1. Do you have fine dining and "restaurants" that the PCs can go to?

In the bigger cities, I do this, yes. Otherwise, fine dining is reserved for the nobility of an area, though Inns usually act as a defacto restaurant in most small towns, etc.

2. Do you have regional cuisines, or different cuisine mapped out by races?

I don't usually think about cuisine by races but will often describe different regional human cuisines.

3. As a general rule, do people eat the same things we do (agriculture, domesticated livestock) or more fantastical things? How does a Roc taste?

Yes and yes. it's a fantastical world. Fine dining at least should reflect that. Cockatrice canape's and Owlbear Osso Bucco should be de rigueur!

4. Is there a prohibition (at least, among good races) to eating "intelligent" creatures? Would people partake in Red Dragon Brisket?

Most "goodly races" have this prohibition, yes.

5. What about "field rations?" Do PCs in your campaign ever prepare creatures they have vanquished? What, if any, are the moral lines?

Usually yes, though it is often glossed over with a single line of "I want to dress this creature" and some survival rolls. Moral lines are the intelligence ones noted above.

Obviously a party of Lizardmen might have different standards than a group of Human/Elf/Dwarf, etc, but I've never had to deal with that.

6. Finally, are you still a vegan if you eat a vegepygmy? Vegetarian?

oof. Since they're technically a fungus creature... yes? Technically a Fungivore. Blech.


We have an on-again, off-again 5e game which is entirely based around cuisine as a fun break from other games.

Main PC is a Draconic (Red) Sorcerer with the Guild Artisan (chef) and Gourmand feat (UA Feats) named... Guy Fury

My noble dwarven monk is his manager and patron, sponsoring him in food competitions and keeping away saboteurs.... and maybe sabotaging the competition when Guy is asleep. cough cough

DM put us in a chili cook-off as our first adventure. Low and behold there is an actual Dragon Breath Chili recipe created by none other than Guy Fury's RL inspiration. I couldn't believe it. So in the game, we actually made that recipe and developed marketing and price sheets around it.

We won a chef's wagon (FR food truck) for that competition and now travel around the lands selling our chili and getting into crazy adventures as we go. Most recently we set up shop in Waterdeep and are busy building up a base of business before we open a more permanent shop.