This week, we're once again shining a light on the intersection between games and that biologically-necessary treat we call food.
Food is the bedrock beneath our lives and cultures, influencing all of our relationships—to nature, to each other, to work and emotion and health. And so of course it appears often in videogames, which emulate or challenge all of those relationships in one way or another. Food is power, or poison, or life, or something you found in a trash can and picked up because you pick up everything, or real food that you're actually eating, over your keyboard, making a mess.
We'll have at least one food-related story for you each day from today until Friday, beginning with our guide to gaming's nicest and nastiest foods and an ode to MMO cooking. We'll add each story here as we go, plus some stories from our archives.
Thanks to Drake's Cakes for sponsoring Food Week on PC Gamer. Check out the video above for highlights from Webster's appearances at the PC Gaming Show and around E3 2018.
The stories
Why food may be the most powerful game design tool — Thoughts on how food, and the need for it, can radically change how a game works. What new games and genres can we invent by changing our relationship to food?
PC gaming's nicest (and nastiest) virtual foods — Andy catalogs the tastiest-looking, and more revolting videogame food.
The joy of RPG cooking: why games shouldn't abandon the culinary arts — Leif describes his life as an MMO chef, and the personal reasons that inspire him to cook up big meals in virtual worlds.
Anime and bubble tea inspired this food physics sim — Game developer Tj Hughes tells us about Nour, his tantalizing, experimental food physics simulation.
Cuisine Royale started as a joke, but it's now a fun and currently free battle royale shooter — Chris investigates one of the latest games of the 'joke battle royale trend,' and it's actually pretty good.
I tried all 100 recipes in the World of Warcraft cookbook and it made me love the game again — And why wouldn't it?
The history of hit points — You are what you eat, and since games often make us bags of hit points, it follows that food often restores them. Here's the story of how HP came to be, whether it means hit points or 'health pineapples.'
What is the absolute best gaming snack? — This became a heated discussion for some reason.
Watch us cook an egg on an Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti — Sometimes you do things just because you can.
The rise of videogame bread — James examines the evolution of virtual bread, and what the future might hold for bread-based puns.
5 things driving game Tacopocalypse gets wrong about the impending tacopocalypse — Nice try, but we all know this isn't how the tacopocalypse would play out.
Why I love Ark's pickiest creature: a giant snail that only eats cake — Speaking of survival games and food, read Chris' adventures in baking for his giant snail, which refuses to eat anything that is not cake.
The chefs making Stardew Valley's recipes real — Anyone want to try a Strange Bun?
We matched food and drink to some of our favourite games — The sommelier is in.
Gamer snacks around the world: What are the international Doritos & Dew? — Celebrate your local junk food.
