Summary
Cooking and gaminggo hand-in-hand in many ways– from wildly popular game franchises that turn living room get-togethers into scenes fromThe Bear, to the shared precision of game design and baking that call for serious math and science skills – making video game cookbooks a no-brainer. WithMinecraftcontinuing to be a powerful force within the gaming sphere despite being released over a decade ago, Mojang has decided it’s time for another official cookbook.
Releasing on March 19th,The Crafter’s Kitchenaims to teach young chefs a thing or two about overworld cooking in therealworld. With over 60 recipes covering a wide variety of dishes,The Crafter’s Kitchenoffers families a new way to connect offline while learning culinary basics alongside some natural science facts about our own world.
Design & Organization
It may seem like the obvious choice, but it’s pretty cool that the cookbook is divided into different biomes, giving kids and parents a slight idea as to what type of recipes will be included in each chapter. Every biome is on display, including the End. The order of the biomes makes little sense at first glance, but the recipes are actually very thoughtfully laid out.
Each chapter has a clear upward progression, with easier recipes being listed first and often having subsequent recipes build on that first, basic dish. For example, the very first recipe is how to make pasta, followed by how to make gnocchi and then a flavorful tomato sauce. Each chapter also has one recipe that’s significantly more difficult than the others, usually in the middle or the end of the chapter. That’s great for precocious kids who are ready to jump into tougher instructions and for parents who want to actually work together for a recipe, rather than have their child or themselves acting as a “hold this, bring that” assistant.
As the book progresses past the halfway point, the recipes begin to get much more difficult. They still build on earlier recipes, both referencing previously taught techniques and calling for those dishes to be used as part of the ingredient list. The End chapter is especially tough, filled with complicated baked goods that draw heavily on all the other information in the book.
The overall layout of the book is pretty inviting and not half as intimidating as some other cookbooks might be. That’s thanks to its neutral colors and the inclusion of aMinecraftcharacter guiding readers. Plus, most of the recipes come with clear photos, and the instructions don’t often extend beyond a single, well-spaced column of just a handful of steps. While some kids will inevitably get bored after a few lessons, those who develop a genuine interest in cooking can go through the entire book and end up with a mastery of the basics. There are even some tips included that highlight the logic behind some techniques, such as why tenderizing is important or the fact that some soups and stews taste even better the next day, all written in easy-to-understand snippets.
Recipe Variety & Accuracy
Being organized by region is common enough for cookbooks, but many nerdy cookbooks focus so much on the culinary aspects of the content that the recipes are often incongruent with the tie-in franchise. By choosing to focus on biomes rather than recreate in-game food or try to make the dishes otherwiseMinecraft-inspired,The Crafter’s Kitchenactually does a good job of sticking to the theme of each chapter. This also allows for a wide variety of dishes from cultures around the globe to be included naturally.
As a child of immigrants, it can be difficult to resist the urge to assimilate when it comes to meals, especially when friends come over or everyone is showing off their lunchboxes at school. However,The Crafter’s Kitchenmakes no assumptions about the reader’s culture and offers international dishes without making a fuss about it. Sure, many recipes have some background information included, but all of the dishes are intermixed unceremoniously, celebrating each unique taste equally. Kids can make food from the US, Korea, Jamaica, Italy, and more, with some dishes offering alternatives to better serve staples found in different kitchens or simply broaden their horizons.
That being said, this cookbook is made for children ready to start making real meals for the first time, and as such, most of the recipes are fairly basic. As previously mentioned, most of the recipes only have about five steps, which makes them incredibly straightforward and nearly impossible to mess up. Anyone who already knows how to cook won’t get much out of this book unless they’re sharing it with a much younger, inexperienced friend or family member.
Additionally, while the various flavors cover a wide spectrum of cuisine, and gamer chefs can certainly make a full day’s worth of meals from this book, they’re mostly things that children would like to eat, which makes perfect sense! Pasta, fried chicken, cake – if it would look great on a kid’s plate, it’s probably in this book.
At the same time, these recipes don’t play around with the seasoning. Everything has reasonable seasoning, rather than the watered-down flavors that many children’s cookbooks tend to use. It’s clear that the goal of the book and the recipes it offers is to teach legitimate cooking techniques that kids can carry with them throughout the rest of their lives.
Bonus Content
Cookbooks can be a real feast for the eyes, depending on the target audience, but that’s not the case with the art included inThe Crafter’s Kitchen, which mostly consists of poor-quality snapshots of each biome. Where the book’s style really shines is with its photography. Although it’s quite rare, there are only a handful of the 69 recipes that do not have a photo. Visual learners rejoice! Basically, every dish has a photo somewhere in the book. One nice touch is that each photo isn’t a perfectly minimalist Instagram picture. The plates are full, and the surrounding surfaces look a bit messy, almost like a child was cooking. In the age of perfectly photogenic everything,Minecraft’s cookbook wordlessly lets kids know that it’s okay to break a few eggs to make an omelette.
Despite theMinecraftart being a bit of a flop, the character guide of the book, named simply “The Gourmand,” offers a plethora of interesting facts and information to help readers connect with the real world outside ofMinecraftand cooking. Each biome can be found in multiple regions around the world, and every chapter discusses the unique properties of each, going over the types of plants and animals that inhabit these areas and what sort of challenges the people and the land face. These excerpts mainly focus on environmental information, which ties into the other half of each biome introduction: community calls to action.
These sections, placed right next to the environmental facts, are a great way to help children think about their impact on the world. The sections encourage kids to go outside their comfort zone, typically with a parent or guardian, to do things like composting or participating in a beach clean-up day. Some are even easier than that, encouraging kids to pick up after themselves when hiking, though some suggestions are questionable.
In particular, two suggestions stuck out as inadvisable, at least in some areas: rainwater collection and protesting. Rainwater collection is a great idea, but it simply isn’t safe everywhere; some areas even have laws against it. Similarly, though a bit more extreme, is the final excerpt that encourages kids to join a protest. At best, they can be seriously crowded and overstimulating for children. Although the book does instruct children to go with their parents, it’s certainly a debatable piece of advice. Hopefully, most readers stick with the community service suggestions, since the rest of the cookbook is aimed at kids around 10 years old.
Overall Impression
The Crafter’s Kitchen: An Official Minecraft Cookbook for Young Chefs and Their Families
Featuring over 160 recipes from regions and cultures around the world, The Crafter’s Kitchen: An Official Minecraft Cookbook for Young Chefs and Their Families aims to teach Minecraft fans how to cook! Ideal for kids learning to cook for the first time with their parents, each chapter features a different biome of the Minecraft world, from the deepest ocean to the highest mountain. Families can work together to create delicious recipes while learning about environmental issues facing our own world’s unique habitats.
Parents who want to spend more time with their kids doing something that they can both enjoy will find a lot to love aboutThe Crafter’s Kitchen. The cookbook is incredibly inclusive and brings a wide variety of seriously tasty dishes to the table. Although the book may not be suitable for kids much older than 13 or so, it’s packed with facts and features designed to spark curiosity in young minds.
The recipes are super simple to follow, and the additional information provided will inevitably lead to questions about science, nature, and culture. Even without that, the engagingMinecraftnarrative and beginner-level dishes will give kids basic cooking knowledge that they will use in the future, regardless of whether they become a chef.
With its cute, accurate, and ultimately engaging content, this newestMinecraftcookbook is a must-have for young fans.Minecraftplayers who want to learn to cook or connect with theirMinecraft-obsessed loved one should pre-orderThe Crafter’s Kitchennow, or pick it up when it’s released on March 19th.
For more amazing video game cookbooks, check out Game Rant’scollection on BookShop.org, the best place to support local bookstores online!
