For all who have played Dungeons and Dragons, or a similar game, we all know that getting through the, often, more than three hours on just air alone, can be rough.
Especially because D&D is a game where you can be expected to do silly voices, and talk a relative lot. It’s completely natural to become thirsty or hungry during that time, and it might even make for a great bonding experience to eat together. But not all food items make for a good D&D time, so here’s a little piece on what you can stuff into your face without worry. Notice that I’m not saying you can’t eat or drink certain things, this is merely a mixture of my experiences and advice based upon this experience.
Pizza
Pizza is a classic food item for D&D, as it is easy to order almost anywhere in the world, and with most pizza places offering a wide range of items to put on, it is hard to find someone who doesn’t like pizza. Most pizza that you order is cut into slices, which means that you can eat some of it at your own pace. If the locale you’re playing at have options for re-heating, it can last a lot longer still.
However pizza can be a delicious pitfall for your D&D session, so consider it carefully when ordering food.
The first and perhaps most notable thing about pizza, is grease. In particular on pizzas with pepperoni or bacon. These types of meat may be the most tastiest, but they also contain natural fats, which, when heated up, turns into an oily grease.
Grease can somehow manage to get into the weirdest of places, but more notably, it gets on paper and pens. To avoid this, eat any meal at a different table, if possible, than the one where you are playing. With greasy foods such as pizza, it can also be a good idea to have everyone wash and dry their hands after eating.
Another thing about pizza is that it is often a fairly salty meal. The thing about salty meals and snacks, is that they make you thirsty, but I’ll get to drinks later on in this post.
Chinese/Vietnamese/Thai
The south-eastern Asian cuisines are also a popular choice, as there usually is a very short waiting time and, just like pizza, there’s a large variety. Unfortunately most of these dishes are not of the “dry” variety, so you should having it anywhere near your character sheets. This type of food is also fairly salty, which should warrant a slight warning of it’s own.
Barbecue
Various bbq foods can be very tasty and can fill your stomach with it’s rich meats and sugary flavours. It should go without saying that bbq makes you thirsty, as it is both a fairly fat and a fairly salty type of dishes.
Rice, bulgur and quinoa (and pasta)
This is actually some of the best food for D&D. All of these are not only healthy (which isn’t really a focus point of this post, but hey, positives sell), but also very good at filling your stomach for a long time. Excellent for those grueling six hours or more, if you’re pulling an all-nighter. These food items have very little fat, that can turn into grease, and usually they aren’t all that salty either.
Pasta can work a bit of the same qualities as rice, bulgur and quinoa. However it seems the more popular pasta dishes are Mac n’ Cheese and Spaghetti Bolognese, these are unfortunate as they tend to be rather greasy.
Bread
Sandwiches are a great way to get a large variety of easily eaten foods in. But bread might not be the best idea. Crumbs and other parts can fall off/out of the sandwich, so keep it away from character sheets and other paper.
Drinks
While deep in a delving quest, the players can get thirsty, making them do less voice acting. Even more so if you’re the DM. A lot of drinks can work, but there are also things to be aware of.
Coffee is a great pick-me up drink, when you’re low on energy, and most people become in a better mood after even just a sip. Coffee does have downsides too though, as coffee is diuretic. This means that you’ll likely need to head to the bathroom a little more than usual, but if you don’t mind that, there shouldn’t be an issue.
Tea is great for the DM in particular, especially if your D&D have a lot of NPCs, and as such, a lot of different voices that the DM needs to make. Tea can be soothing, help you take care of your vocal chords, to keep them (and you) from getting hoarse.
Soda is actually a counter-active drink, as drinking soda tend to make you more thirsty, so if you combine a soda with a greasy type of food, you’re going to become very thirsty after and during eating your meal.
Energy drinks can work to give you a boost of energy, as the name suggests, but they tend to be even more diuretic than coffee, as the amounts of caffeine is higher and more concentrated in the average energy drink, than in a regular cup of black coffee.
Other substances
It is always important to communicate needs and ideas with your D&D group, to work out what is accepted and what is crossing the line of what is acceptable behaviour.
If you have agreed to consume alcohol, there isn’t a problem. Just be aware that alcohol gets very sticky when spilled, so it might be a good idea to keep an eye out, if someone starts getting shaky hands when pouring a drink or taking a sip.
In general, communication is key. Ask if someone in your group have any allergies, and try to mind them as best you can, when you’re ordering or making food, that way D&D becomes a great experience for all, just as it should.
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