Heroes' Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook

by Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, Michael Witwer

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 80 recipes inspired by the magical world of Dungeons &; Dragons

“Ready a tall tankard of mead and brace yourself for a culinary journey to match any quest!”—Tom Morello, Rage Against the Machine 

From the D&D experts behind Dungeons & Dragons Art & Arcana comes a cookbook that invites fantasy lovers to celebrate the unique culinary creations and traditions of their favorite fictional cultures. With this book, you can prepare dishes delicate enough to dine like elves and their drow cousins or hearty enough to feast like a dwarven clan or an orcish horde. All eighty dishes—developed by a professional chef—are delicious, easy to prepare, and composed of wholesome ingredients readily found in our world.

Heroes’ Feast includes recipes for snacking, such as Elven Bread, Iron Rations, savory Hand Pies, and Orc Bacon, as well as hearty vegetarian, meaty, and fish mains, such as Amphail Braised Beef, Hommlet Golden Brown Roasted Turkey, Drow Mushroom Steaks, and Pan-Fried Knucklehead Trout—all which pair perfectly with a side of Otik’s famous fried spiced potatoes. There are also featured desserts and cocktails—such as Heartlands Rose Apple and Blackberry Pie, Trolltide Candied Apples, Evermead, Potion of Restoration, and Goodberry Blend—and everything in between, to satisfy a craving for any adventure.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Dungeons and Dragons, Reference, Role Playing Games

212 pages, Hardcover

First published October 27, 2020

About the author

Kyle Newman is an award-wining filmmaker and New York Times Bestselling, Hugo Award-nominated author.

His directorial work encompasses multiple feature films including, 'Fanboys,' the Star Wars-fueled comedy starring Kristen Bell and Seth Rogen, the action-comedy 'Barely Lethal' starring Oscar Nominees Hailee Steinfeld and Samuel L. Jackson for A24 Films, '1UP,' starring Ruby Rose for Lionsgate and Buzzfeed Studios set in the world of esports, and the upcoming official 'Dungeons & Dragons Documentary' exploring the fifty-year history of the iconic game for Entertainment One, Ltd. which he is also executive producing.

He has directed the music’s top artists including Taylor Swift (“Style”, “Clean” and 1989 World Tour content featuring Selena Gomez, Haim and more), Lana Del Rey (“Summertime Sadness”) and Cyn (“Losing Sleep” and “House with a View” guest starring Katy Perry) with his work garnering billions of views.

Newman produced the acclaimed documentaries 'Raiders: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made,' about three teenagers who set out to recreate Steven Spielberg’s classic Raiders of the Lost Ark shot-for-shot and 'A Disturbance in the Force' which explores the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special (an official 2023 SXSW Film Festival Selection). He also crafted the story for the hit Netflix Original animated feature 'Gnome Alone' for Shrek-producer John H. Williams.

He is a New York Times bestselling author known for his work on the Hugo Award and Locus Award-nominated 'Dungeons & Dragons: Art & Arcana,' a history of the world’s greatest roleplaying game as well as 'Heroes’ Feast: The Official Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook,' which debuted on all major bestseller lists including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly. His two new books -- 'Heroes’ Feast: Flavors of the Multiverse' and 'Lore & Legends,' which chronicles D&D’s improbable resurgence -- hit shelves in Fall of 2023.

Newman, an honors graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of Film/TV and the recipient of the esteemed ‘Martin Scorsese Award for Excellence in Directing’, has written and/or directed for clients including A24 Films, The Microsoft Corp., Interscope Records, Starz Entertainment, Wizards of the Coast (Hasbro), The Coca-Cola Company, Starwars.com, 20th Century Fox, Capitol Records, Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Big Machine Records, Lionsgate, Endemol Shine, Millennium Films, Pacific Life Insurance, Lucasfilm, Ltd., NECA/WizKids, Games For Windows, Awesomeness TV, Hooters of America, Titan Publishing, Unsub Records, The Saturday Group and Universal Republic Music.

A proud member of the Director’s Guild of America, he resides in Los Angeles with his partner Cyn and his three sons James Knight, Leo Thames and Etienne Noel.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going to break with tradition here:

The recipes in this book (with the exception of two of them) were written by Adam Ried (known to many for his appearances on American's Test Kitchen, and for his column which ran in the Boston Globe Magazine for many years).

I was given a copy of the hard cover version of this book by Adam. He didn't give it to me to review, he just gave it to me because I've known him for years and he knows I love his recipes. But for the purposes of full disclosure, I want to explain how I came by a copy.

So, the book has three elements to it: The visual style and artwork, the writing by the authors, and then the recipes themselves.

The visual style and artwork are (in my opinion) perfect, they exactly match what you'd expect from a D&D manual. You could slot the book in amongst your existing source books and it would fit in perfectly. The art is lovely, and high quality. The paper stock is thick, glossy and magnificent.

The writing is a charming examination of the different races one might find in the average D&D world (or source book) and the various types of cuisine they might enjoy.

The recipes however, are the main reason I love the book. As I said above, I've followed Adam's work for years, I enjoy his writing and his cooking, and anytime he shares either a recipe, or just something he himself made I learn something. This book contains 73 of his recipes (I believe he said 73). They cover a wide variety of styles and range from full meals and showpiece dishes to smaller fair and snacks.

The recipes are broken up into sections intended to represent the foods of the different racial groupings with heartier things like stews and breads ending up in the Dwarven section, while lighter things like salads and fish ending up in the Elven one.

So, the theme and visual presentation are well done and are sure to bring a smile to your favorite D&D fan, (or table-top RPG fans in general).

The recipes are awesome. Highly recommended.


Disclaimer: I was given a copy of the hard cover version of this book by Adam, he didn't expect anything in return, but I'm reviewing it anyway because I liked it.

[Sherwood Smith]

If you have a gamer in your gift-exchange group, here's a great choice. It's a beautifully produced book, full of terrific art, and fun bits of lore for fantasy gamers, plus the recipes are real. I'm not much of a kitchen person, but I actually wanted to try a few of them. (Or even better, get a passing dwarf of elf to cook them for me!)

It's an exquisite book, lovingly crafted.

Copy provided by publisher

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was growing up, playing Dungeons and Dragons was suspicious. It was the game of devil-worshippers and occultists that all good Baptist adolescents should avoid. Which I totally did if you're reading this review, Mom and Dad. Anyhow, forty years later Dungeons & Dragons has released a cookbook and the only way this product can be more mundane is if they release "Dungeons & Dragons Cereal - part of this nutritious breakfast!" It boggles the mind how far things have gone.

The book is split into different sections, including recipes by race including Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, and Other - the last being all the various weird species in this fantasy world - as well as a section on mixing tavern drinks. The description of the various dishes is written as if describing how the different peoples enjoy their meals and how this or that recipe demonstrates that aspect. This can be fun if you are playing a game, but perhaps a bit unnecessary if one just wants to try their recipe for onion rings (which according to this book is a favorite of dwarves. Who knew?)

The recipes themselves are good and workable. I am halfway pleased that so many feature leeks which I admit is one of my favorite vegetables due to its amazingly wonderful aroma, however due to onion allergies we don't cook with them so the recipe becomes a slight tease. No leeks for you old man! Anyhow, I have found on a couple it's best to cut the salt. At least one in particular used a lot and we spent a lot of time drinking afterwards.

The illustrations of the food are well-presented, in some cases doing their best to keep in the fantasy theme. There are a lot of inn-type backgrounds for humans, forest or garden for elves, rocks for dwarves, homey backgrounds for halflings, etc. At least they ran with the theme which I guess they need in order for it to be a D&D cookbook.

There's some good technique in the book but little instruction behind the technique which I would imagine to be a good idea given much of my DnD days involved healthy meals of bags of chips and 64oz. cups of soda. A little more explanation of why we might be doing could go a long way. However, if you're merely competent in the kitchen and are looking for some interesting foods, this book will do.

[Cori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Themed cookbooks are getting increasingly popular, and some are definitely better than others in appearance and recipe quality.

In terms of themed cookbooks, this one was actually pretty great! Many of the recipes are wonderful, although some can come out salty, so maybe salt to taste a bit more than usual. Also, some of the ingredients maybe somewhat challenging to find based on your region, particularly some of the cheeses and seafood stock. But no worries! There are still plenty of straightforward recipes anyone can make. And the photography is fantastic, as well as the artwork! That sold it for me.

If you have a hardcore RPG-er in your life, this is a fantastic collectible to gift them.

I'd rate this a G.

[Redfeather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've made 6 things from this book already and love all of them. Plus it's a beautiful book. I love the pictures, the layout and the names.

[Rachael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish it had cook times listed and more pictures of the finished food. I honestly don't have a visual reference for some of the recipes and because they have high fantasy names, I'm kinda boned at guessing.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The recopies themselves are ok, but there is far to much filler material delving into backstory and minutia that adds nothing to the cooking or the reading.

[C.J. Alred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm those delzoun tide-me-overs are first on my list

[Linda Malcor · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is absolutely wonderful! I love the menus with the gaming prices on them. It's nice that some vegetarian recipes are included. Also meat substitutions are handy in case your party is wandering through an area where salmon are nonexistent or your grocery store doesn't carry venison. The instructions at the end about how to get creative with the recipes is useful.

You do really have to know your stuff about D&D in order to understand some of the text explaining where the various recipes came from. The only thing I found really difficult was the size of the text. It's a bit small to read while trying to work in a kitchen.

All in all, well worth the money.

[Noah DelGrosso · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very pretty and fun book with lots of delightful recipes. I've made my first, a lovely Traveler's Stew, so I mark this as complete but will update my review as I make other meals. The Dwarves look like they know what's up so I'm tackling their meals next!

Recipes Complete
**************
Traveler's Stew: 7.5/10
Great if you like hearty beef stews, the dark beer broth really makes this stand out though, even as someone who doesn't like beer.

Potato and Leek Soup: 8.5/10
Yummy yummy! I made it too salty. User error. Still delicious for my first soup using an immersion blender.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Intriguing and fun recipe book that literally puts more flavor into your roleplaying game or adds gamer lore into your kitchen.

Some very good recipes herein along with fun bits of game lore and personality.

My only complaint was the formatting and graphics didn't come through clearly on two different Kindles, leading to muddy or confusing reading at times. Still, one expects final publication products will have fixed these tech issues.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent cookbook for any D&D fan or friend of D&Der. So many delicious recipes with great pictures included. My DM husband and I have loved cooking through this book.

Definitely must try the Cocoa Broth.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic and fun, this cookbook features recipes created from Dungeons & Dragons using modern ingredients and cooking methods. I made the Halfling Sweet Nibblers (cookies) and they were delicious!

[Christian Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some fun and tasty recipes in this book. Definitely great if you wanted to do a themed session with food.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book to read. The recipes look to be standard fare but with a story behind each of them. The menues and photos were well done.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

good ideas

[Aja: The Narcoleptic Ninja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this book as a birthday present and I am super excited to try a lot of these recipes. Originally, there was a slight concern that the bulk of the book would be stews and bread, but there's actually a really nice variety here. In addition, the book comes with a bunch of handy notes about substitutions, etc. in case all the necessary ingredients aren't handy to you.

My biggest issue with this book, and the reason it lost a star from me, is the lack of pictures. There's a ton of great art in the book, but many of the recipes lack a picture of the finished product which would have been nice to have included.

Overall, I'm very excited about this book and I look forward to trying some of these recipes soon.

[James Bowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not normally a cookbook person, but I picked this up as a novelty. I appreciated the D&D food lore (minus some misfires, like identifying humanoid flesh as the original ingredient in two dishes - not what I want to read in a food book). However, the majority of the recipes - largely D&D-ified versions of common dishes like shepherd's pie - were too complicated for me to consider trying. But as I said, I'm not normally a cookbook person... (B)

[Kerstin · Rating 5 out of 5]

»Dungeons & Dragons: Heldenmahl – Das offizielle D&D-Kochbuch« musste selbstverständlich bei mir einziehen, denn ich spiele ja nicht nur seit Jahren leidenschaftlich gern »Dungeons & Dragons«, sondern sammle auch noch schöne Nerd-Kochbücher, und wann trifft man schon mal auf eine derart perfekte Vereinigung zweier Hobbys?
Aber kann das Buch meine zugegebenermaßen hohen Erwartungen erfüllen? Nehmen wir es doch mal gründlich in Augenschein …
Es geht mir einer kurzen Einführung los, in der man einen ersten Überblick darüber bekommt, was »Dungeons & Dragons« eigentlich ist – schließlich könnten ja auch Nicht-Rollenspieler unter den Lesern sein. Nachdem die Abenteuerausrüstrung und die Geschmackswelten ebenfalls sehr D&D-typisch anhand des Multiversums und einiger Kampagnenwelten erklärt werden und man noch ein paar Tipps bekommt, geht es richtig los.
Unterteilt sind die Rezepte in die Küche der Menschen, Elfen, Zwerge, Halblinge sowie die Exotische Küche und Elixiere & Ales. Diese Kategorien empfinde ich als sehr stimmig, und die Rezepte sind auch größtenteils sehr passend zur jeweiligen Region ausgesucht.
Nach einer Vorstellung der jeweiligen Rasse zu Beginn des Kapitels, die von entsprechenden Zitaten beispielsweise aus »Drachenlanze«-Romanen oder dem Spielerhandbuch begleitet werden, folgt eine Vielzahl an Gerichten, wobei das Spektrum von Eisernen Rationen über Eintöpfe und Kleinigkeiten bis hin zu deftigen Hauptmahlzeiten wie Truthahn oder Rinderschmorbraten reicht.
Leider ist nicht jedes Rezept bebildert (ich würde schätzen, dass ungefähr bei der Hälfte ein Foto des fertigen Gerichts zu finden ist), viele zieren auch geschmackvolle Fotos oder stimmungsvolle Bilder, die man aus dem einen oder anderen D&D-Buch kennen dürfte.
Die Rezepte sind mit einer entsprechenden Einleitung versehen, die sie der jeweiligen Region zuordnet, und gut erklärt, vielfach auch noch mit einem »Hinweis vom Koch« versehen. Da es allerdings weder eine Info über den Schwierigkeitsgrad noch die Zubereitungs- und Herstellungsdauer gibt, sollte man sich vorher alles gut durchlesen …
Abgerundet wird das Ganze durch einen Index der Gerichte, in dem sogar vermerkt ist, ob es sich um ein vegetarisches oder veganes Gericht handelt, sowie einen Index der Orte und Küchen, sodass man auch schnell mal einen Überblick über die enthaltenen Rezepte hat.
Mein Fazit fällt trotz einiger kleiner oben genannter Schwachpunkte daher sehr positiv aus. Das Thema wurde nahezu perfekt umgesetzt, die Rezepte sind abwechslungsreich und durchaus auch mal etwas ungewöhnlicher Art, und das Ganze wurde stilvoll und stimmig in Szene gesetzt, sodass man hier sowohl ein schönes Geschenk für »Dungeons & Dragons«-Spieler:innen als auch ein ungewöhnliches Kochbuch für die Sammlung bekommt. Demzufolge lautet
meine Einschätzung
5 von 5 Tagesrationen

[Daniel Yocom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adventurers need food to go out and slay the monsters. I have played or run many adventures over the years that involved food at the tavern, in the market, at some grand dining hall, or sitting around the campfire. If our grand adventurers need to make sure they are eating well, don’t the players around the table also need to be well fed?

I was given a copy of Heroes’ Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook. It wasn’t given to me for review purposes, but because my backstory includes decades of tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs) and even longer of working with food.

There are three authors listed on the cover of Heroes’ Feast: Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Michael Witwer. D&D enthusiasts possibly recognize these names because they are all authors who have significant work published in the worlds many players have adventured in. These three authors have extended their talents to include more details about the worlds, races, and customs for the recipes presented.

For those who are interested in knowing how good the recipes are, they were the work of Adam Ried. Ried is best known for his appearances on America’s Test Kitchen who tests so many kitchen gadgets. But don’t be fooled into thinking he doesn’t know his food. Ried is also a columnist and uses his skill in writing and food for Heroes’ Feast.

All the recipes use ingredients we use here in our world. The recipes are complete, and they are good. I didn’t make all of them, but I, and the people I shared the meals with enjoyed everything I made. I tried something from each of the cuisine sections: Human, Elven, Dwarven, Halfling, and Uncommon.

The final selection of recipes includes drinks to pair up with your meal, after a meal, or by themselves. These are both cocktails and non-alcoholic.

Foodies and gamers will both find Heroes’ Feast to be a book that compliments their tastes. Those who are both will be enchanted by the selections of what they can prepare for themselves and for their adventuring parties.

The recipes were easy to follow, and the food was delicious. The notes for food preparation, and how to combine it with a gaming experience were helpful and fun.

The additional information about the races, cultures, and backstory for the dishes adds an element of enjoyment that makes reading the book fulfilling on its own.

I recommend Heroes’ Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook to everyone who enjoys good food, fun food, and a good read. I highly recommend this cookbook for those who are D&D hobbyist who want to add to their game table, and their dinner table.

You can read the complete review at https://guildmastergaming.blogspot.co...

[Kenya Starflight · Rating 5 out of 5]

The minute I saw this gorgeous-looking, delightfully geeky cookbook, I knew I had to give it a look. Even if I never made any of the recipes in said cookbook, it would be fun to drool over the recipes, and to see how the creators brought to life various foods from the worlds of D&D or adjusted real-world recipes to fit the world. And I have to say that they did a fantastic job -- this cookbook will please adventurers and chefs alike, with plenty of culinary tidbits about the various D&D peoples and a variety of recipes to please just about any pallet.

The recipes in this book aren't divided by food type -- most cookbooks I've encountered divide dishes in the usual categories of appetizers, salads, breads, main dishes, desserts, drinks, etc. Instead the book has five sections, each dedicated to the playable peoples of D&D -- humans, elves, dwarves, halflings, and a miscellaneous section for other races (dragonkin, tieflings, orcs, aasimar, etc.) -- with a sixth section for drinks and cocktails. And among the recipes are gorgeous photos that not only showcase the food in mouthwatering detail but are decorated with props and weapons to look like they emerged directly from one's D&D campaign. There's also a selection of artwork and flavor text from other novels and sourcebooks, information on the culinary habits of the various races, and ideas for incorporating food in your D&D campaign (chief among them the advice to eat your big meal before or after your campaign, to avoid having to fish a die out of the fondue pot or a similar mishap...).

The recipes themselves seem to call for some fancier ingredients than I normally cook with, but hopefully one can substitute something similar but slightly less expensive without altering the recipes. And some of the recipes are real-world dishes under different names (elven cherrybread is basically fruitcake, miner's pie is shepherd's pie, hogs in bedrolls are pigs-in-a-blanket, etc.). But that doesn't mean the dishes themselves aren't delicious, and none of them look overly complex to assemble or cook. And in all honesty, I can't wait to try a colorful Woodelf Salad (complete with edible flowers!), a mug of Evermead, some spicy Tiefling kebobs, or a piping-hot handpie.

If you like Dungeons and Dragons, cooking, or both, this book is for you. And it makes a great gift for a loved one who enjoys role-playing games and good food... and who doesn't enjoy good food?

[Lisioł Czyta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uczta lisiołów
.
Komnata Beznadziei Acereraka potrafi być przerażająca. Zwłaszcza gdy utkniecie w niej z druidem 11 poziomu, który serwujewyłącznie wątróbkę i marynowane sardele. Oczywiście możecie wybrać szybką śmierć, ale po co? Oficjalna książka kucharska Dungeons & Dragons „Uczta bohaterów” wyciągnie Was z każdej kulinarnej opresji i uczyni gotowanie prawdziwą przygodą. W jaki sposób zacząć tę podróż od kuchennego gnoma do paladyna?
.
Książka podzielona jest na sześćgłównych rozdziałów:
- kuchnia ludzi;
- kuchnia elfów (ewidentnie coś dla wegetarian);
- kuchnia krasnoludów;
- kuchnia niziołków;
- nietypowa kuchnia (tutaj znajdziecie przepisy takich ras jak gnomy, drakoni, diabelstwa czy półorkowie);
- eliksiry i napitki – *lisie piski radości*.
.
W środku nie brakuje też porad w tym poradnika magicznego gotowania, czyli praktycznych wskazówek o tym jak gotować szybko i sprawnie. Lisioł musi przyznać, że jest ekspertem od pucharu płynnego jadła, ale o tym stałym sporo się nauczył. Dodatkowo przed każdym rozdziałem jest odpowiednie wprowadzenie w stylu D&D, a uważne oko znajdzie także menu ze słynnych fanatycznych karczm np. Ziejącego Portalu – takie smaczkiczynią książkę niesamowicie klimatyczną.
.
Lisioł musi przyznać, że zakochał się w tej pozycji. Wspaniałezdjęcia powodują ślinotok, precyzyjnie podane przepisy pomagają stworzyć nietuzinkowe dania nawet amatorom. Jak można podziwiać, futrzak całkiem nieźle poradził sobie zeSmoczym łososiem.
Żebra Rotha w sembiańskim miodzie, pęczki zielonych włóczni zawijane w boczek, kazarka w pomarańczach, placek z Ziem Centralnych z jabłkami i jeżynami, zapiekanki trillimakowe gnomów głębinowych, łupieżca umysłu czy herbata Par-Saliana to tylko niektóre z przysmaków, które Lisioł ma na szybkim wybieraniu. Każdy przepis ma kilka słów wstępu, a niektóre opatrzone są nawet dobrą radą od kucharza. Warto więc zanurzyć się w świat przygód kulinarnych i dać się ponieść fantazji, zwłaszczazwłaszcza że autorzy: Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson i Michael Witwer odwalili kawał dobrej roboty! Zdaniem Lisioła „Uczta Bohaterów” do każdej kuchni wprowadzipowiew świeżości, ale sprawdzi się też jako super prezent dla fanów fantastyki.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this cookbook more then I thought I would. I made several recipes and they were good, the instructions were clear, and the art was nice.

I made "Traveler's Stew" page 7, I made this as written. I liked it but my partner found the vegtables too crunchy compared to my usual beef stew. I would make this again maybe putting the vegtables in sooner to let them soften more.

"Hand Pies" page 21, I used my own pie dough recipe, otherwise I followed the recipe. I really liked these, especially dipped in BBQ sauce.

"Miner's Pie" page 95, my daughter loves shepard's pie so I made this. She found the cheese on top of the potatoes weird, but I loved it. I have made this a few times. It is really good.

"Gully Dwarf Homestyle Porridge" page 101, I don't normally go for oatmeal but this was a nice breakfast. I have also done this a few times and I like how easy it is to tweak to my preference.

All in all, I found this cookbook great for a beginner cook and there are several other recipes I plane on trying in the future. This is a fun little cookbook for any D&D fan out there.

[Erin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art and photographs are wonderfully done, but because they take up most of the pages, the recipes are laid out oddly. Ingredients are not all listed together, sometimes spread out over three pages and not necessarily next to the section where they are discussed. The book is divided by race, not the typical appetizer, main, side, dessert. However, this makes sense for the style of the book, as it is mostly lore. Its a cookbook being treated like an encyclopedia, complete with best taverns in each world and little passages from various books.

Recipe wise: most are standard recipes given exotic names, such as hot chocolate being titled "cocoa broth". There is several variants, the variable being that some of the spices used are different, of fried potatoes and potato soup. I expected as much, as that tends to be the case with these types of cookbooks, but I could have lived my entire life quite happily without ever seeing the words "cocoa broth". That will haunt me for the rest of my days.

All in all, this is a cookbook you buy because of what it is. I am glad I got it from the library.

[Shannon Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every cookbook these days has plenty of stories and anecdotes. This one just draws upon decades of D&D lore. Not a cookbook for every day cooking but besides the great illustrations and lore the recipes themselves are very well written. Solid, detailed instructions with helpful tips and techniques highlighted as well as in most cases offering up great alternatives and substitutions. While most of the savory recipes in this book are for omnivores the book includes multiple recipes for vegetarians.

I haven’t yet cooked any of the recipes, and more than a few will probably have to wait until I can once again host people in my home. But until then there are a bunch of recipes I will try to make soon for my wife (who eats chicken but not pork or lamb or beef etc). However having more than a few (indeed quite a lot actually) recipes that I would like to cook and cook soon is a sign of a successful and useful cookbook

[Ay Oh Be · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is the best cookbook I have ever read! Actually I think that this is the only cookbook I have ever read to cover to cover.

1. I am super excited to try a lot of these recipes. It was really interesting to read them and see which races my food tastes line up. I am an odd mix of halfling and elf. Most of the recipes are user friendly and the ingredients are fairly common (important to me since I live in an isolated area). The D&D flavoured introductions to each recipe really made this a great cookbook. It tied it into the theme so nicely and made me really happy.

2. I LOVED the flavour text about each races foodways prior to their recipe chapters. I teach about the cultural importance of food in some of my classes so I actually found this really fun. The entries, for me, added a depth to the races and sent new character ideas tumbling through my head.

I really cannot express how much I thoroughly enjoyed this.

[Carly · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best part about this cookbook is the drinks or ‘potions’ at the end! They are absolutely delicious. We made The Mindflayer and the Potion of Resoration. I almost wish this was just a cocktail book! The recipes are fairly basic and not too inventive in themselves— the joy of the book comes from the DND world, not the actual recipes.

The cookbook is divided into sections: Human Cuisine, Elven Cuisine, Halfling Cuisine, and Uncommon Cuisine. I also enjoyed the ‘Hero’s Feast’ they put together for each DND race.

Easter eggs are bountiful... there are menus for famous DND establishments between sections.

Finally— there are some nice vegetarian options (most of them in Elven cuisine), but several can be easily adapted. Not a lot in here for gluten-free or vegan folks... except the cocktails which are delicious.

[Kenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a truly magical cookbook, with recipes for everyone in the multiverse, but I do take a few issues with it. The most major being that for the recipes with no photo attached, you are most guessing what it is based on the steps and ingredients because none of the recipes are given an Earth-equivalent name. My only other issues is the amount of recipes that require an alcohol. There are a lot of ways to build a hearty flavor without beer or ale or wine. I received this book as a gift before I was 21, so a lot of these recipes were blocked from me being able to follow them exactly. For a book that heralds community, this feels like a major oversight in terms of the amount of people who do not or cannot consume alcohol of would take a cultural moral issues purchasing it to cook with. An alternative ingredient really should have been offered in these recipes.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of cookbooks and usually don't ever get around to actually trying any of the recipes, but we ended up making 4 different recipes from Heroes' Feast before I returned it to the library. Not only was everything delicious but it was an entertaining read. The recipes are divided according to which race inspired the dish, including main sections for humans, dwarves, elves, and halflings, plus miscellaneous rarer races. Each chapter gives background on the races' habits and cultures including how that influences their recipes. Also included are ideas for integrating the recipes into your game sessions, menus for well-known taverns in various Dungeons and Dragons settings, magical cooking tips, and special fantasy ingredients/ substitutions.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its literally a cookbook.

It also has a a solid sense of humour and generally is having fun with the concept. Recipes are sorted by what fantasy race is most likely (in the writers eyes) to have made them. Mostly everything is given a fantasy name, and brand with a short little lore blurb about its creation and development in world. But some of the recipes in here look legitimately delicious and I had to break a couple of times reading through it to warm up something to eat because reading about this much food made me hungry.

As a bonus there are at least a couple of recipes in here I might be able to pull off myself, and I may just have to give them a try. Particularly some of the Halfling and Dwarven ones.