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Episode 33 – Food in Games
In this episode, Sian and Heather ‘tuck in’ to video game food and its role from both mechanical and narrative perspectives. Food, an essential part of life, is a constant presence in video games that rely on world-building and environmental storytelling to convey meaning. From cute cooking minigames to games that use food to inscribe safety, tension, intimacy and fear, food carries power as a narrative device in video games. We discuss Agata Waszkiewicz’s new book Delicious Pixels and Sarah Stang’s work on food in the Fallout series. We also, of course, catch up on the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, including Heather’s tempestuous relationship with gnomes, situationships with Shadowheart, and the sound design of clown body parts.
Ludography
Arkane. 2017. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
Bethesda Game Studios. 2015. Fallout 4
Black Salt Games. 2023. Dredge.
Capcom. 2018. Monster Hunter: World.
CD Projekt Red. 2015. The Witcher 3.
Hoyoverse. 2020. Genshin Impact.
Kitfox Games. 2021. Boyfriend Dungeon.
Larian Studios. 2017. Divinity: Original Sin II.
Larian Studios. 2023. Baldur’s Gate 3.
Naughty Dog. 2020. The Last of Us Part II.
Nintendo. 2017. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Nintendo. 2020. Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Square Enix Business Division 2. 2016. Final Fantasy XIV. Square Enix.
Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XV: A Realm Reborn.
Supergiant Games. 2020. Hades.
Stoic Studio. 2014. The Banner Saga.
References
Henley, S. (2020, December 7). Eat, drink, play: the recipe for memorable food in video games. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/07/food-and-drink-in-video-games
Lamerichs, N. (2018). Hunters, climbers, flâneurs: How video games create and design tourism. In C. Lundberg & V.Ziakas (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of popular culture and tourism (pp. 161–169). Routledge.
Stang, S. (2021). Irradiated Cereal and Abject Meat: Food as Satire and Warning in the Fallout Series. Games and Culture 17(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211030800
Tomkinson, S. (2023, August 4). How Abby in ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ challenged players to think differently. GamesHub. https://www.gameshub.com/news/features/the-last-of-us-part-2-how-abby-challenged-players-to-think-differently-2625606/
Waszkiewicz, A. (2022). Delicious Pixels: Food in video games. De Gruyter.
Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.
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By Sian Tomkinson and Heather Blakey
5
11 ratings
In this episode, Sian and Heather ‘tuck in’ to video game food and its role from both mechanical and narrative perspectives. Food, an essential part of life, is a constant presence in video games that rely on world-building and environmental storytelling to convey meaning. From cute cooking minigames to games that use food to inscribe safety, tension, intimacy and fear, food carries power as a narrative device in video games. We discuss Agata Waszkiewicz’s new book Delicious Pixels and Sarah Stang’s work on food in the Fallout series. We also, of course, catch up on the release of Baldur’s Gate 3, including Heather’s tempestuous relationship with gnomes, situationships with Shadowheart, and the sound design of clown body parts.
Ludography
Arkane. 2017. Dishonored: Death of the Outsider.
Bethesda Game Studios. 2015. Fallout 4
Black Salt Games. 2023. Dredge.
Capcom. 2018. Monster Hunter: World.
CD Projekt Red. 2015. The Witcher 3.
Hoyoverse. 2020. Genshin Impact.
Kitfox Games. 2021. Boyfriend Dungeon.
Larian Studios. 2017. Divinity: Original Sin II.
Larian Studios. 2023. Baldur’s Gate 3.
Naughty Dog. 2020. The Last of Us Part II.
Nintendo. 2017. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Nintendo. 2020. Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Square Enix Business Division 2. 2016. Final Fantasy XIV. Square Enix.
Square Enix. 2013. Final Fantasy XV: A Realm Reborn.
Supergiant Games. 2020. Hades.
Stoic Studio. 2014. The Banner Saga.
References
Henley, S. (2020, December 7). Eat, drink, play: the recipe for memorable food in video games. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/games/2020/dec/07/food-and-drink-in-video-games
Lamerichs, N. (2018). Hunters, climbers, flâneurs: How video games create and design tourism. In C. Lundberg & V.Ziakas (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of popular culture and tourism (pp. 161–169). Routledge.
Stang, S. (2021). Irradiated Cereal and Abject Meat: Food as Satire and Warning in the Fallout Series. Games and Culture 17(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/15554120211030800
Tomkinson, S. (2023, August 4). How Abby in ‘The Last of Us: Part 2’ challenged players to think differently. GamesHub. https://www.gameshub.com/news/features/the-last-of-us-part-2-how-abby-challenged-players-to-think-differently-2625606/
Waszkiewicz, A. (2022). Delicious Pixels: Food in video games. De Gruyter.
Credits
Music created with Per Nyblom’s Abundant Music.