Friend of the blog Chris-Rachael Oseland has published a new cookbook! You've probably already seen many of her geektastic foods, such as Transformers pull-apart bread, the Captain America shield breakfast and 1-up mushroom pizza rolls. When it comes to geeky food, Chris-Rachael is deservedly known as the Kitchen Overlord.
Chris-Rachael's newest book, Wood for Sheep: The Unauthorized Settlers Cookbook, is inspired by the game The Settlers of Catan. It's fun, but it's also practical. Chris-Rachael uses the game board layout to provide a variety of options for people with different dietary needs:
Whenever I game, two things invariably happen. First, a generous gamer who has somehow miraculously reached adulthood without any food allergies or dietary restrictions will offer to buy everyone pizza. Yay! Second, half the people in the room say, man, they wish they could eat pizza, but one has Celiac disease and another is lactose intolerant. For them, pizza might as well be poison. Then at least one other person quietly coughs that they're either a vegetarian or a paleo/primal dieter. By the time everyone with limited diet has bowed out, you realize the person who suggested pizza is the only person in the room who can safely eat it.I hate situations like that. Too often, the poor, generous gamer who just wanted to top off everyone's fuel tanks so the group could keep playing without interruption now feels like a jerk. That's not right. Feeding a mixed group of geeks is hard. [...]
Even if you don't play the game this book is based on, you recognize those red, green, and yellow hexes as an iconic part of geek culture. Lay out a hex shaped spread in those colors and you're automatically flying your geek flag. Plus, the edible hex maps look amazing. Each one is tailored to fit multiple dietary restrictions. As an extra bonus, most of them honestly aren't that hard to prepare.I hope this book is helpful for any geeks struggling to figure out how to feed a group of people whose digestive systems all seem to be at war. I promise, no matter how physically limited or just plain picky they are, it really is possible to invite almost all of your friends over for the same meal. Pick up some cheap, disposable hex shaped dishes and you can even do it with style.