Hero’s Feast - My review and Alternatives

I recently purchased the OFFICIAL D&D Cookbook Heroes’ Feast with an Amazon special and giftcard.   The book is attractive and well laid out. There is some OK fluff in each recipe description, but boy am I glad that I didn’t spend actual money on it. 

The reason being – its pretty meh when it comes the actual recipes. 

Broken down into categories of Human, Elven, Dwarven, Halfling (aren’t we supposed to hate that term now?) and Uncommon Cuisines (plus a section on Elixers & Ales), most of these recipes have nothing exotic about them – and probably are just copied from other sources with an fantasy name tagged to them.  Traveler’s Stew, Sword Coast Seafood Bouillabaisse, Drow Mushroom Steaks, Moonshae Seafood Rice and  Lluirwood Salad are all examples of just that. 

Meanwhile, you have a recipe for Smoked Sausages and Kraut with Dwarven Mustard – Ummm, Kraut is a German word and gets left in….but then we have Dwarven Mustard?  There is also Dragon Salmon…….but nowhere in the description is a reason it is called this, other than it sounds cool. 

Particularly egregious is the recipe for Iron Rations. 

Hurray – Trailmix with Beef Jerky! How about some preservation techniques?  Bread ?

Honestly – this book is way overpriced.  If anything, WotC should have put it out as a free PDF for download and let it go at that.  The book will look good on my shelf, and I am sure someone will pull it down and look at it from time to time…..but with an MSRP of $35, I would suggest trying to find a PDF online. If you want better flair types of recipes – dig up a copy of Dragon Lance : Lost Leaves from the Inn of the Last Home which has 24 recipes in its “Lost Recipes” section, plus you get addition source material to use in your game. 

 Now, that being said – what is a DM to do if he is really trying to put together some themed food (or even a meal) for a gaming session.  Here are some YouTube channels I subscribe to that provide a period feel and authenticity, albeit not exactly catering to the fantasy market:

Townsends – Probably the channel we watch the most.  While not the correct time period (his focus in 18th Century), you do see how cooking is done in primitive fashion – and he covers a lot of other topics such as cabin building, creating an earthen oven, a LOT of History and of course cooking & preserving.

Tasting History with Max Miller – Dedicated solely to cuisine, you get all kinds here – Ancient Greek and Roman, Medieval & Renaissance, Desserts, Bread and even cocktails.  If you want to learn about period cooking – this is the guy! 

Modern History TV – Not just dedicated to food, this channel also covers life the middle ages, armor, food and history. 

English Heritage – Predominately period pieces in English culture, there are some great recipes…plus some history.  Who doesn’t want to learn what life was really like in a castle?

I sometimes believe that today’s gamers focus too much on the “Official” publications. With just a few searches, you can find more and better alternatives that actually provide historical context, are cheaper (ie - Free), and even walk you through preparation. In other words, even if you do not use them in your game - you learn something…..and that something might translate into future games or situations where it could be beneficial…..and knowing is half the battle.

Go Joe! ——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- Ed