FFXIV cookbook will be released for sale on November 9

Publication date of the original Japanese article: 2021-08-04 18:16 (JST)
Translated by. Ari Clark

A cookbook full of recipes from Final Fantasy XIV (aka FFXIV) will apparently be released for sale on November 9. Details about a cookbook called The Ultimate Final Fantasy XIV Cookbook: The Essential Culinarian Guide to Hydaelyn, by American cookbook author Victoria Rosenthal,were published on Amazon. The hardcover edition will retail for $35.00. The book will apparently be a collection of recipes from various locales featured in FFXIV, adapted for real-world cooks to prepare. According to the Amazon product page, it will feature an exclusive foreword written by FFXIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida.

The author, Victoria Rosenthal, is famous as a writer of books that adapt food featured in video games into real-life recipes. Her previous works have included cookbooks for everything from the Fallout series to the Street Fighter series. Besides her printed books, she’s also published many recipes to her video game-themed cooking blog, Pixelated Provisions.

Over 70 different recipes are compiled in the book. The sample pages posted on Amazon include recipes for a Dodo Omelette, Starlight Dodo, Coffee Biscuits, and Warmwine. The Amazon description also mentions recipes like the Knight’s Bread of Coerthas and La Noscea’s Rolanberry Cheesecake, so it seems like the book will include recipes hailing from many regions, from Hydaelyn to Norvrandt. The photographs that accompany each recipe include photos of real food that have been carefully paired with scenes from the game, creating a book that you can enjoy just as much by looking through it as by actually making the food.

In addition to the cooking instructions, each recipe is also accompanied by a bit of flavor text, seemingly to help readers remember where and how the food originally appeared in-game. You can also spot a lot of terms related to the Namazu in the sample pages, with mentions of Seigetsu and the Namazu Festival. All this talk of the Namazu brings to mind Banri Oda, the main scenario writer for FFXIV, who is known among the game’s staff for being especially fond of the Namazu. Perhaps there’s a possibility that Mr. Oda had something to do with writing this text…

FFXIV has a history of trouble with a fanmade cookbook that reproduced food from the game, which was forced to stop selling copies at the request of Square Enix back in 2017. However, this time around, the official FFXIV website and official Twitter account have posted information about the cookbook being published. Unlike the previous controversy, it seems like there’s no need to worry about copyright infringement and cease-and-desist orders this time.

The Ultimate Final Fantasy XIV Cookbook: The Essential Culinarian Guide to Hydaelyn is planned to release on November 9.