Eh. This wasn’t what I thought it was but I see enjoyed getting some recipe ideas! Maybe I’ll check out a few more like this

A fun cookbook for gamers - this covers a wide range of recipes and games so includes something for everyone

I loved the theme of this cookbook! A lot of my favorite movies and series were in it so I'm excited to try out some of these recipes! The whole design of the book looked very nice.

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review.

The Video Game Chef is a fun, quirky, and unique cookbook based on video games across different decades.
The book isn't set out as you usually find with a cookbook e.g. starters, mains, desserts but is set out in a chronicalogical format, which is a little confusing at first until you get your head around it but also added to the retro theme of the book. Dishes are also labelled as beginner, normal, and expert, making it great for all levels of cooking skills. I especially enjoyed the information linking to each dish about the game it is linked to/inspired from, making it a fun and intriguing collection of recipes. The only think that knocked down my rating for this book was the lack of photographs for finished dishes as this was very disappointing as I visually like to see how a dish turns out before making it and found this very strange to have not been included.

This was a fun collection of video game inspired recipes that ranged from simple to more complex for home chefs that are more confident. I felt that the selection was broad enough that this cook book would appeal to many video game fans. The graphics were great and worked well with the overall aesthetic of the book though it was difficult to visualise what a recipe would look like in real life. Overall a fun read that I think would be a great addition to any video game fan's collection.

This book has recipes inspired by games across many eras. The recipes are separated by them, so you have the 80s and 90s, then the early 2000s, 2010-2015, and 2016-present. Some of my favorite games have recipes in here like Stardew Valley's Blackberry Cobbler, FFXIV's Priestly Omelette, League of Legend's Poro-Snax (how CUTE!), Diablo's Mana Potion, Genshin Impact's Sticky Honey Roast, and Pokeblocks from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. If you love a wide variety of games and want a cookbook that has something from everygame you love, this would be it! Their kitchen utensil page is also separated like it would in a video game; Common items include a spatula and baking sheets to name a few. Rare items include a deep fryer, Epic ones have a bamboo mat or a food steamer, and lastly Legendary Items are ones like ring molds, canoe pan, takoyaki pan, and a wok.
Each recipe denotes whether it's beginner, normal, or expert. Some recipes have hints, a MOD, or an "Easy Mode" that swaps out a more advanced part of the recipe with an easy alternative.
I am someone who likes photos in my cookbooks. This one has a lot of art which is awesome! It's art of the food in the game environment. It's unique and I love the detail.

Thank you to NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group – becker & mayer!, and Epic Ink for this ARC! ♥

Do you love gaming and cooking? have you considered how to make mushrooms from Super Mario Bros. or the wall meat from Castlevania? You don't have to wait longer; this book has it all.

Video games can be educational, if you know what to look for in them. In this case, author Cassandra Reader looks into the food of each one, and how to recreate them. Apparently you can infuse chicken with beer or cider to render your Trash Can Chicken. That was news to me, as well as how to use applewood chips.

We also get a glimpse into how video game culture changed between the decades. The 2000s brought us Grand Theft Auto, while the 90s remind one of Earthbound. (Can you believe Minecraft only came out in 2011??)We also get a reminder from Glaados that the cake is a lie from her, and then can bake it to spite her.

I haven't tried the recipes provided, but I do know a portion of the nerdery, having put a few inspired recipes on Patreon. Yoshi's sugar cookies look fairly simply to make, so I might stick with those.

Mind that most of the recipes are spicy and have meat in them. As a result, it's going to require some modifications if you are vegetarian or have a weak tongue like mine. Still, this timeline with food makes me hungry, and eager to start baking!

This book was an excellent presentation of dishes inspired by games. I made several of the dishes with my 9 year old and he was able to handle all the steps easily and got a kick out of eating food from Pokemon.

I got this on Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoy cooking collections like this and this was no different! It contains a lot of fun recipes and I really like how it divided them into levels of difficulty! It also has a lot of stuff inspired by a diverse range of video games, old ones, new ones and everything inbetween. A few of the recipes seemed a bit randomly and thinly connected to the game, but most was good choices! If you like to have video game inspired cookbooks, this is definitely for you!

I loved the theme of this cookbook! A lot of my favorite movies and series were in it so I'm excited to try out some of these recipes! The whole design of the book looked very nice.

Hmmm... I don't really know how to review this. It was cool to see some of the foods come to life, though I didn't try any of the recipes because I'm lazy lol.

A wonderful read filled with the food you crave when playing a video game. Does the food you see on screen while playing a video game look tasty well this new cookbook brings it all to life. Filled with 76 recipes it will bring your childhood to life in the form of food. It includes games from the 80's up until now. You'll find pictures that show you exactly what.its suppose to look like and fun facts not only about the food but also the games. I tried two of the recipes and they turned out deliciously. The Butter Cake from Silent Hill 2 was a simple and yummy sweet treat. Minecraft's Suspicious Stew turned out well and was perfect for a cool evening. This is the perfect book for any video game enthusiast!

If you're a gamer and you're throwing a party, this cookbook is for you! There's so many fun gaming inspired recipes that I don't know which one to try first! My whole family is filled with gamers, so we will be testing out some of these unique recipes. I loved that the recipes had levels: beginner, normal and expert and "cheat codes" to make the recipes even better! The art is cool and I like that the games go back to the 80s but include more recent games too!

Really great cookbook for any video game fan in your life. I didn't recognize most of the newer games, but I did get a lot of the old school references!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy!

This is a really fun cookbook with unique recipes! The recipes are really creative and are inspired by different video games. There are recipes inspired by different video games from different decades making this perfect for all ages. I would recommend this! Special Thank You to Cassandra Reeder, Quarto Publishing Group/Epic Ink and NetGalley for allowing me to read a complimentary copy prior to publication in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me review this book. This was a fun read! I liked the rating system for the recipes and a bit of history on the video games. I liked the drawings of the finished foods but do wish there’d been photos to see the finished product. If you’re into video games and cooking; this’ll be a fun read!

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to like this book, but it wasn't what I expected. There are no pictures or anything of the recipes suggested in this book. While the recipes are video game "themed", they're not really based on anything. Some of them are standard recipes with a video game name attached and others are inspired by the game, but again nothing that would make me say oh this is clearly that stew from Zelda or the banana from Pac-Man that would differentiate it from any other recipe. It feels like a stretch to say these recipes are specific to any game or tied to them in a meaningful way. I think this could have been better off as a standard recipe book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was such a great cookbook. I loved that it showed different eras of gaming cooking. The recipes that I have tried have been delicious and turned out great.

When I saw this book in the Read Now I knew I had to get it! The cover is so cool, really bright and definitely catches your eye. I've always loved the idea of recipes to make video game food or food seen in films (usually animated ones) so this was definitely something I needed!
I loved the way the start of the book was laid out like an old video game screen, and the explanations of the book and things at the beginning were really funny. I thought the little "Mods" and "Easy mode" suggestions on some recipes were great, giving you ways to slighty change aspects like colours and flavours. Having the book laid out in chronological order of the games I thought was actually really cool. It made a change from having the recipes grouped by meal or something and linked it to the games even better. And because obviously being able to find a recipe for a certain meal is useful it had some helpful indexes at the back which listed the recipes and their page numbers by meal so you can flick back there to easily find a breakfast recipe or a snack etc. as well as an index grouped by difficulty and the usual one alphabetically for ingredients.
I thought the recipe pictures being all pixelated in video game style was a cool idea, they looked really bright and eye-catching, but they did make it a little harder to see what some of the recipes actually were. At first I thought they were pictures of the food as it's shown in the game for you to see, but they were the real recipes drawn in video game style so you couldn't tell what it looked like in the game or in real life.
The recipes mostly sound delicious but there were a couple where it was difficult to work out exactly what they were for some of the more abstract ones. For example the Stardew Valley Blackberry Cobbler is obvious what it is, but Pac-Man Power Pellets less so. From the ingredients I could tell it was a sweet recipe but it wasn't obvious what exactly. I think maybe for some of them it would be good if they'd had a normal recipe title underneath the game food title? Like if it said Power Pellets big at the top like it does and then something like "Ball Cookies" underneath a bit smaller. Or even just a little explanation in the blurby bit about it like it did for the Mario Mushrooms. The Mario recipe is just titled Mushrooms which doesn't tell us what it is, but then at the end of the blurb it says "mushroom-shaped steamed buns filled with marinara sauce, cheese, and, of course, mushrooms" and then you know what the recipe is. I just think that especially as a fussy eater and not a huge cook, I can't always work out what something will be from the ingredients and I'd like to know what I'll be eating and whether I'd like it before I finish making the recipe.
I'm really excited to start making some of these though! I've played Stardew Valley with my husband and I've always wanted to make a cobbler. The Harvest Moon 64 Corn Pasta and the Ration from Metal Gear Solid also sound particularly delicious and I'll definitely be giving them a go in future!

Some fun video game inspired recipes from a variety of different video games and spanning a number of gaming eras. It even has something from Monkey Island!

I loved the little details like the difficulty index being titled "Levelling Up" and the illustrations that were provided.

This would be neat for anyone that loves cooking and video games. I've already pre-ordered a copy to give as a Christmas gift.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing this ARC. These are my honest thoughts.