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Maybe a lot of us have been watching Dungeon Meshi. I put together this Cairn 2e background inspired by the show, the blogs I’ve read about cooking in TTRPGs, and my own love of cooking. As a sidenote, I recently injured myself on a mandolin and subsequently ordered a chainmail glove, so now I’ll own some chainmail! Now that’s D&D.

Some of my favorite posts about cooking in RPGs:

• If you smell what the party is cooking by Dice Goblin
• The TTRPG Cooking Minigame by Prismatic Wasteland
• Monster Menu Playtest by Rise Up, Comus

My go-to pollo a la brasa recipe: Pollo a la brasa

My unhinged recipe for baked mac and cheese (where I misspelled flour), annotated for my friend, who thanked me for making it “so user friendly and accessible”:

And finally, here’s the background:

Chef

You are an expert of the cooking arts. You belong to an order of chefs whose knowledge is passed down from generations.

• Rations (3 uses)
• Torches (3 uses)
• Flensing knife (d6)
• Badge of your order (petty)
• Cookpots

What order of chefs were you initiated into?

1. The Poison Order. You were trained in how to cook with common poisonous ingredients and neutralize or minimize their effects for safe consumption. Take a jar of Deep Charcoal (10 uses), which expels toxins from the body in a fairly debilitating manner. Rations or fresh meals you prepare using neutralized toxic ingredients remove a Fatigue.
2. The Forager Collective. Your order specializes in foraging. Take the Herbalist’s Primer. When you forage, your yield dice is stepped up by 1 (1 becomes 1d4, 1d4 becomes 1d6, etc).
3. The Gaming Gamers. Your order specializes in game animals and how to snare, trap, dress, and prepare them. Take scent cover, a scent-removing salve (10 uses). When you hunt, your yield dice is stepped up by 1 (1 becomes 1d4, 1d4 becomes 1d6, etc).
4. The Ghost-Eaters Society. A society of heretics who commune with the dead and feed on the energies of ghosts and other strange spirits. Take a snow churner (bulky): Can churn ethereal material into an edible treat (and can also make ice cream). Rations you prepare using spirits remove all Fatigue.
5. The Alewives. This brewers’ organization is widespread. Take fermentation gear (bulky), which may include hoses, funnels, jars, and packets of yeast. Fermented rations you prepare remove a Fatigue.
6. The Order of the Brigade. Take the Brigade Manifesto, which details how to organize, establish, and run a kitchen brigade, written by elite chefs over the span of centuries. Writing a question on the final blank page of the book makes the writing disappear and a response appear (how long depends on if or when another chef can take up the answer). Occasionally questions will appear in the book, usually related to cooking.

What cooking gear could you never part with?

1. Wok shield. 1 armor, +d4 to attacks, hand. Handy in cooking, can withstand heat as hot as dragon breath. Gets very hot.
2. Curing gear. Bulky. Jars, brines, solutions, herbs, and salts necessary for curing meats and pickling vegetables. Can be used to preserve game and vegetables. Turns any fresh food into rations.
3. Bone cleaver. Inflicts d8 damage, can cut through bone.
4. Fireproof apron. Protects against flames. Can be thrown over fires to smother them.
5. Chainmail gloves (petty). Protects hands against slashes and cuts.
6. Portable smoker. Take a donkey and a wagon (4 slots) which carries the smoker. The smoker (bulky) takes up 2 slots on the wagon and can be moved. Name your donkey.