Obviously, we love eating and gaming together. (Really, hit the food tag and you’ll see what I mean.) So when I saw a gamer putting together a cook book with gamers in mind, I flipped. Plenty of us talked about doing it, but here’s Tiffany Simmons making it happen. +5 Food of Eating is happening right now, and you can be a part of the funding if it looks like the thing for you. I grabbed Tiffany across the internets and got her to answer some questions about her, cooking, and gaming. Check it out. Check out the Kickstarter, and hey, what’s would you put in a game-centric cook book?

First things first, what was your first game? What was your first gaming experience like? 

My very first game was a mixed group old World Of Darkness campaign, in which I played a Gurahl named Fredrika. The campaign ran for five years, and it actually had a profound impact on me as a person. Even today when I get frustrated or in very tight spots, I ask “What would Fredrika do?” and it helps, as weird as that sounds.

And since it’s a cookbook, what’s the first thing you can remember cooking/preparing? 

The first thing I can ever remember making by myself was pancakes. I was seven years old at the time, and my mother and I had fallen into the habit of watching cooking shows while eating brunch on Sundays. I was completely enthralled by Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, Martin Yan, and Justin Wilson; they were like wizards to me. That morning mom overslept, so I decided that I was going to emulate Pepin’s fruit crepe recipe. I couldn’t remember it exactly, so I improvised with Shake and Pour pancake mix, some sliced strawberries, and powdered sugar. They might not have rolled up, and the French would’ve fainted in horror at my pastry atrocity, but I was proud of myself. Mom was too, although she wasn’t too pleased about me using the stove.

Why Kickstarter? How has the experience been so far? Do you find crowdfunding empowering, liberating, or maybe just a lot of work? 

I chose Kickstarter because there were so many fantastic gaming projects popping up there that also showed up in my Google + stream. I really love the concept of it, the idea that all these mad geniuses and artists have a place where they can really shine without the conforming pressures of mainstream distributors. The romantic in me proclaims a return to the age of artist and patron, the rebel in me shouts that it is one more step away from the stifling chains of mega-corporations. So far my experience has been dreamy; I never quite expected to get the kind of response I have so far, even though I hoped for it passionately. My big worry now is keeping the momentum going and reaching the goal in time.

What’s your go-to food at the gaming table? Have you played via Hangouts or online yet? What would you recommend for that sort of game night? 

As of late, it’s been baby carrots and steamed edamame. Baby carrots are crunchy and easy to gesticulate with, and the steamed edamame covers the salt craving I get when it’s time to game. The edamame comes in bags that let you steam them right in the microwave, it’s pretty danged handy. And for last night’s gaming group I made Hilah Cooking’s “Chik-Fil-Gay”, a copycat recipe of the famous Chik-Fil-A chicken sandwich. It was fantastic stuff. I’ve played in quite a few Hangout games and I adore them, they are tons of fun! For that kind of game I would recommend something quick, soft, not too slurpy, and still delicious at room temperature. For example, an almond butter and raspberry preserve sandwich with a side of yogurt will fill you up and give you lots of energy, plus you won’t make icky noises in the ears of your fellow gamers.

What aspect of this project are you the most excited about? 

The test kitchen phase. Any excuse I have to jump into something I haven’t tried before, or to muck around with something I have made, sends me into fits of joy. On top of that, I was lucky enough to snag the awesome Brian Vo of Cast Iron Therapy to do some test kitchen work in his California home, so most of the kitchen variables have been covered!

Anything else you’re working on down the line? What should we be preparing ourselves for? 

The next thing I’m working on is a short story collaboration with Ashe Rhyder and Jenn Parnell of re-imagined fairy tales with a dark bite to them. I have a few mad ideas floating around in here, some good, some terrible, i.e. a romance novel from the P.O.V. of a villainous sorceress who falls in love with the sidekick of her lawful good rival. Don’t ask me where that one sprung from, because I honestly don’t know.

Thank you for taking a moment to talk with me, I’m really excited about this book, and ultimately my dream is to have it picked up by all kinds of gaming shops, comic book stores, or even (gasp!) retail chains. Even if I don’t make it, at least I’ll have opened up the conversation and perhaps get people motivated to try things on their own.

 

As of the writing of this post, +5 Food of Eating is well over half its funding goal. With a nice push, I’m sure it could go nicely over and give us all some new things to try at the table and in our kitchens. Take a look, maybe we can make the GaW bump a thing as impressive as the Colbert bump.