Let's go to the arcade! In part one of our two-part series, Nicole and Julia take you through the cooking games leaderboard and introduce you to some of the genre's "top players" in the 1970s and 1980s. We'll see the formation of a lot of popular mechanics and gameplay that persist in cooking and food-related video games today. We'll also talk about girl(y) games, representation, and the time Julia was personally victimized at a GameStop circa 2008. Don't forget your quarters!

Our theme song is "Red Onions" by Louie Zong, off of his album Vegetable Soul: https://louiezong.bandcamp.com/album/vegetable-soul

We're on Instagram @girlslunchpod. Nicole's website is nicolehylton.com. Have an episode suggestion or question? You can email us at [email protected] and we will add it to our chaotic list of future episode subjects.

Links to sources:

• "Tapper," Museum of the Game
• "Chili's Big Smasher BurgerTime Video Game Levels Up Fast-Food Face-Off with the Chance to Win Free Burgers for Life" Press Release
• Tweet by Garry Kitchen about the origin of Pressure Cooker
• High Score, dir. France Costrel
• "Short Order" review by NESFriend on YouTube
• "Why Doesn't The Industry Make Good Girls' Games?" by Moon Channel on Youtube
• Delicious Pixels: Food In Video Games, by Agata Waszkiewicz
• Gamer Girls: 25 Women Who Built the Video Game Industry, by Mary Kenney