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(Feel free to move this to another forum if it fits better elsewhere.)

Final Fantasy XIV doesn't just have battle jobs, but crafting and gathering jobs as well. One of those crafting jobs is Culinarian, and there's a TON of recipes for all sorts of food in the game. Well, now you can make some of those recipes at home!

The Ultimate Final Fantasy XIV Online Cookbook: The Essential Culinarian Guide to Hydaelyn was released a few days ago, and my copy arrived today!

One thing I appreciate about Final Fantasy XIV is that it's so rich in stories. Even the crafting jobs have a storyline to them. They ran with this in the cookbook, too: it starts out with an introduction that features a Namazu who wants to improve his culinarian skills, so he travels around Hydaelyn tasting local cuisine and coming up with his own recipes. He's accompanied by a sidekick: a moogle, of course, who loves to eat and is not shy about stealing food from others, haha.

Each recipe is presented with a gorgeous photo, a brief introduction from either the Namazu or Moogle, and the recipe itself. There's also a page at the beginning of the book that gives definitions for the more unusual ingredients. Being that this is a Japanese MMO, there's plenty of Japanese ingredients - fish sauce is common, for example. Also, the recipes seem to be pretty faithful to their in-game counterparts: as an example, several recipes use birch syrup instead of the more common maple syrup, though the text does indicate that you can substitute maple if you'd like.

I flagged a couple recipes to try. Alas, I live with a picky eater, so there were some that looked appetizing to me that I wouldn't be able to do. I was also a bit disappointed that mushrooms were such a common ingredient (I'm allergic to them and I just don't like them anyway). Still, there's plenty in there that I felt it was acceptable to spend my money on the book.

I notice Amazon currently has it on sale for $22, so if anyone is thinking of getting it I'd jump on it now.

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Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Fridays: Final Fantasy XI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

Ha ha, I looked inside it wondering if it would read like a food blog where you get a detailed story about the recipe before seeing it, after reading your post. And to an extent you do! That's pretty great.

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Bumping this because I saw via an unofficial news source on Bluesky that a second volume is in the works! This time it will include recipes from the Shadowbringers and Endwalker expansions. I'm definitely going to buy the book! Even if I don't make any recipes from it, it should be a fun read if it's anything like its predecessor.

R51, feel free to edit this post and add an AmaCoN link if you'd like - it's already available for preorder.

As for the original book, I did end up making a recipe from it! It was a beef stew, and it was really yummy. The amount of garlic in it sounds like a LOT, but trust the recipe - we didn't put as much garlic in the first time and definitely felt it could have used more. The stew is really thick, which mom wasn't pleased with as she likes gravy; since I am NOT a gravy fan, I was fine with the thickness of it.

--------------------

Watch me play games on Twitch!
Schedule:
Mondays: Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles
Fridays: Final Fantasy XI
Saturdays: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail Side Quests & Shenanigans

Happy to oblige!

Here's the first edition: https://amzn.to/43DAoQK

And the new one: https://amzn.to/45cLRI7

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?