What’s this nonsense? Fans of Dungeons & Dragons are arguing about … Tacos?

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Stephan
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A picture from the new Player’s Handbook has some people up in arms, and all because of sushi, tacos and cheeseburgers

A few days ago, there was a major discussion on social media about Dungeons & Dragons. The starting point for these discussions, which were mainly held on X, was a post by the user Osgamer74. The post was published on September 1 and has since been viewed over 300,000 times and commented on hundreds of times.The reason for the uproar? Tacos and sushi

Osgamer74 posted screenshotsof artwork from the new Player’s Handbook, which is due to be released on September 17, 2024. He also writes:

Dungeons & Dragons. Tacos? Sushi? What is this nonsense?

A heated debate broke out in the comments, which, in typical X fashion, quickly became about more than just tacos and sushi. Here’s why the community is even arguing about this topic

What kind of picture is that?

The split image comes from the new Player’s Handbook, the first new set of rules for D&D 2024. The current 5e rulebook is being revised and reissued many times over, which is why fans of the role-playing game like to call the new version D&D 5.5.

A special feature of the new rulebook: Many morespells have been illustrated with picturesand are intended to give an idea of what a particular spell might look like. The picture shows a version of the spell Heroe’s Feast. The incantation conjures up a magical feast with which your group of heroes can strengthen themselves massively

The food piles up in front of the heroes in the presentation. In addition to classics such as roasts, beer and bread, the illustration also includes tacos, sushi rolls and croissants.

That’s what people argue about

Critics of the picture have primarily singled out the tacos and sushi to complain about a lack of immersion. They say that such meals are far too modern to fit into the setting of Dungeons & Dragons, which is more reminiscent of the European Middle Ages.

This, in turn, prompted an opposing side to actively contradict this attitude. After all, it was firstly a magical feast and secondlya completely made-up fantasy worldin which even moreabsurd things are possible than sushi and tacos

Critics are also accused of claiming that their aversion stems primarily from prejudices against cultures that do not correspond to the white West. Mexican tacos and Japanese sushi, for example, were particularly targeted, while other anachronistic foods such as potatoes, tomatoes and pumpkins were apparently tolerated, even though none of these existed in medieval Europe.

However, there is also some Western food that does not suit the image’s critics. For example,a cheeseburger is also denouncedwhich is on display in the full picture. Alsothe croissants are a modern invention of the 20th century However, the focus is much more on the tacos and sushi

Is the criticism justified?

All in all, the criticism of the food depicted seems extremely bizarre. Not only is it obviously magical food in a universe consisting of many different dimensions, but temporally anachronistic food has already been established in Dungeons & Dragons in the past.

You can also find poutine in Baldur’s Gate 3, i.e. fries with cheese and gravy. A fast food dish that is particularly popular in Canada and first appeared in the mid-1950s

This is what our role-playing expert thinks

Before I even liked Lord of the Rings, I was a very big fan of the Middle Ages as a little boy. That’s why I like fantasy worlds that are strongly colored by this era, but which of course can and should never be a pure copy of real history. Lord of the Rings is also riddled with anachronisms. Nevertheless, I can understand to some extent that at some point the medieval flair is lost if too many obviously modern events are introduced

Nevertheless, I can only scratch my head at the criticism of the food. Personally, I like DSA a bit better than D&D, precisely because D&D basically contains a lot more absurd concepts and really has very little to do with the Middle Ages. There are robots running around in this world. How D&D fans in particular can draw the line at food is absolutely beyond me

Since the illustration comes from the Player’s Handbook, it’s supposed to be an abstract representation that shows what’s possible in theory. And since D&D hardly sets any limits to its worlds anyway and in the end every game master can decide for himself what to eat or not, the whole debate about it seems completely out of place to me.