Some of the best video games strive to activate as many of the players senses as possible in order to create an engaging gaming experience. While taste is one of the harder ones to include given current technological restrictions prevent us from being able to relay taste through a screen, they can elicit hunger and remind you of taste by including images of excessively appetitizing food. Some games do a better job at this than others, and portray culinary masterpieces that leave your mouth watering hours after seeing them.
10) Pancakes - Sims 4
While the Sims games allow you to pursue culinary mastery by creating tons of different meals, some definitely look more delicious than others. While definitely not the most difficult meal you can make in the game, pancakes in the Sims always seemed to stand out above the rest. They're undeniably fluffy, with carmel-colored syrup, and a perfect square of butter to top it off. If they were real, they'd give any breakfast place a run for their money.
9) Goat Cheese Wheel - The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
While many people have differing opinions on cheese, especially goat chese, it's hard to deny having never wanted to just take a bite out of a wheel of cheese like the ones you see in Skyrim. It's a food item that you can find in abundance in the game, stackable, and enticing in it's color. Goat cheese as we know it does not have the golden hue pictured here, but still relays a rather tasty looking meal, especially with the bread pictured.
8) Cake - Portal
Hear me out here. The cake may be a lie, but the Black Forrest Cake visualized here at the end of Portal does look undeniably delicious. Layers of spongey chocolate cake, vanilla frosting, filled and topped with cherries. While it is unfortunately an unattainable goal within the game, it's fair to say that any food you see in a video game is going to be impossible to get, no matter how delicious they look.
7) Rikimaru Ramen - Overwatch
The ramen shop, Rikimaru, pictured on Overwatch's Hanamura map has an absolutely delicious looking bowl of ramen depicted on it's store front. Ramen is unfortunately not something that you can purchase or eat in game, and the bowl here is definitely a sculpture, but relays to the deliciousness of the meals they sell nonetheless. Egg, seaweed, and what looks like either braised pork belly or spam making excellent additions to a nice, steaming bowl of ramen.
6) Mama Yakis - Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends
Mama Yakis, based off of the pastry of a similar name, imagawayaki, are absolutely one of the most appetitizing treats in the Cooking Mama series. If you've ever had a red bean cake, these are exactly the same. With a warm, spongey cake outside and red bean paste filling, imagawayaki's are to die for. Having a Cooking Mama special twist with her face on it just makes it that much more cute and appealing.
5) Sea Salt Ice Cream - Kingdom Hearts
One of the most iconic ice cream flavors in gaming, Sea Salt Ice Cream definitely deserves a spot on this list. A treat like this is perfect for what is pictured here for Roxas, Axel, and Xion. Relaxing, sitting with friends, and enjoying each other's company while having a cold treat. Sea salt ice cream is featured often throughout the series and truly is just appetizing both in that baby blue flavor, and the superior combination of sweet and salty.
4) Golden Shrimp Balls - Genshin Impact
Like many games, Genshin Impact has a cooking mechanic that allows you to create dishes to replenish health, give the occasional buff, or resurrect (not unlike how a good meal will wake me up after a hangover). Of all the dishes that you can cook up in the game, one of the most tasty and well-prepared looking dishes is the Golden Shrimp Balls. The potato encompassing the shrimp is fried into a truly beautfiful golden color, that itself is enough to make the mouth water, and the flower garnish in the middle just makes it that much more appealing.
3) Chicken Gyro - Hades
While it was a tough choice between this and the Nectar you can gift other characters in Hades, the Gyro and Fries combo you see to help replenish health looks substantially more satisfying and filling. Fries are always a go to as a savory side, and Gyros hit almost every tier of the food pyramid with pita bread wrapping up what appears to be grilled lamb, lettuce, tomato, and onion. If you think about Chiron being the one to earnestly create this meal himself to sell in his shop, it makes it that much more of a tempting meal.
2) Kaiser Turkey – Monster Hunter: World
Some of the greatest, most mouth watering cut scenes in gaming come from the different meals that can be purchased from the Canteen in Monster Hunter: World. Not only do you get to see the process of how some of the most delicious food in gaming is made, but is made by Felyne, creatures who bear a striking resemblance to cats. If you can move past the idea of cat hair getting into your food, you'll be entranced by their cuteness as well as the painfully appetizing nature of their food. While the Kaiser Turkey is one of the most appetizing meals they create, there are certainly many others that are just as deserving to be on the list.
1) Basically All of the Food - The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
While many games have delicious looking food, there are few games that match the amount that Breath of the Wild boasts. With the exception of a few meals, you'll wish you could pull the food right out of your screen. It definitely takes a bit of time to gather up a significant amount of recipes and ingredients it's worth the pay off. Just to name a few, you have the appetizing looking Cream of Mushroom Soup, Fried Egg and Rice, Seafood Paella, Pepper Steak, and more. While the food in this game is heavenly looking, it may just end up being more painful that you can't eat any of it.
