Although Monster Hunter Wilds may have gotten millions of players glued to their consoles and PCs since its release last week, one particular scene featuring extremely delicious-looking food has given many players intense cravings for cheese naan. This seems to have caused something of a “cheese naan” boom in Japan, with salivating hunters throwing down their controllers and rushing off to their nearest Nepalese restaurant to get some real-life cheesy goodness.
The scene that has caused all this fuss shows your hunter and their companions sitting down to enjoy a much-deserved meal in Kunafa Village, known for its yummy cheese. One of the local specialties that everyone is digging into is a cheese-covered bread that bears a striking resemblance to cheese naan (except the cheese is on top instead of inside). Warning: Do NOT watch this food porn video unless you have some kind of bread/melted cheese combo to hand. Seriously.
This feast scene seems to have truly captured the hearts and bellies of many Japanese players, with many people posting the results of their real-life hunts for cheese naan on social media. Naan bread filled with melted cheese is a side dish commonly served in Nepalese and Indian restaurants in Japan, however like the California Roll is a twist on Japanese sushi created in America, the cheese naan was born in Japan. Over the weekend, X experienced a barrage of posts of people sharing pictures of their cheese naan lunches- all triggered by “That scene in Monster Hunter Wilds.”
Salam Namaste, a Nepalese restaurant in Tokyo with a strong social media presence, was quick to address the Monster Hunter Wilds-driven cheese naan popularity spike. The restaurant jokingly reposted the viral “When it’s time to go and someone orders 99 burgers” TikTok with the following caption:
Although this was clearly tongue-in-cheek, the restaurant later posted about how crazy popular the cheese naan was getting, expressing gratitude to Capcom’s latest game for boosting their sales:
In a previous interview, Monster Hunter Wilds’ art director Kaname Fujioka revealed that this cheese naan feast scene was “The first thing we made,” and explained that it took a lot of effort to make the game’s food look so mouthwatering: “It took many, many attempts to express aspects like the tearing of the naan bread and the melting of the cheese.” he revealed. “I really focused on this because I wanted to challenge myself to see how delicious I could make simple food look.”
It seems that the developers’ efforts have paid off, stimulating players’ appetites so much that many feel compelled to rush to their nearest Nepalese restaurant for some real-life fluffy naan bread filled with warm, melted cheese. Now, if you will just excuse me…
Monster Hunter Wilds is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam).
