forum How Well Do Your Characters Cook?

Started July 20, 2023 by @sock group

tune

Exactly as the title says! Are your characters good cooks? What do they tend to make when given the choice? What ingredients do they favor? Do they cook a lot? Only for themselves? For others? Order takeout? Do they even have the means to do any of that? Go ham!
You don't have to answer just (or all of) these questions btw - they're there as a basic guideline, and you're free to add more or less info than that

I'll start this off with my own characters :D

Aster: Very meat heavy dishes and favors stews, will put a lot of spices and herbs, presentation isn't too great but the taste is! always willing to share and enjoys giving food to his friends
Thala: Can cook very basic dishes but not much outside of that, if they were in the modern world they would stick to microwaveable food, will share food if there's enough
Theo: Cooks extremely well, the food will look good and taste good too, not very skilled at desserts, will almost always make food for you if you ask
Alexi: Seems to subsist solely on dried meat, dried fruit, and nuts, prioritizes nutrition and usefulness over taste, would start a wildfire if left to his own devices
Eli: Decent cook, dishes will usually have plenty of vegetables and/or herbs (most of which he grows himself), tends to stick to stir-frying but can follow a recipe if given one
Willow: Vegetarian but technically doesn't need to eat, will usually prepare everything with raw ingredients but can follow instructions/recipes if given them, enjoys making preserves and jams
Milo: Will inevitably burn anything he tries to cook, banned from the kitchen after the Frying Pan Incident, would order takeout frequently if in the modern world
Auran: Doesn't need to eat but knows a lot of obscure recipes, could probably write a cookbook if they ever found the time for it, hasn't actually cooked before and doesn't intend on doing so either
Mai: Very passionate about cooking but isn't very good at it yet, learning from Theo, foods tend to be very spicy since she physically can't feel spice, particularly enjoys making seafood dishes

Paris: strict vegetarian that makes good plant based meals
andrew (Our Supreme Lord and Overseer): will burn water
Jamie: thinks of cooking as a science experiment, his cooking is hit or miss
Sammy: took him a while to figure out that instant noodles and pop tarts are not considered a feast
Savannah: amazing at cooking, loves finding new recipes to try out, is typically the go to chef of the group

Carmen: great at cooking (perks of being the embodiment of good luck)
Carlos: amazing at cooking, loves feeding his family
Amarya: gets distracted while cooking and will somehow overcook and undercook food at the same time
Lenna: food is just fuel, has eaten a piece of wood just to prove her point
(Ash and Gavin are forbidden from entering the kitchen)
Ash for somehow finding liquid nitrogen and freezing the kitchen floor and food
Gavin for ice skating on said kitchen and setting the oven on fire

Hi!!! Imma join if that's ok :) (i really need to name some of these people, ik)

Malissa: The kind of person that would accidentally mix up the salt and the sugar. Cooks fairly decently but gets the kitchen incredibly messy (would always help clean up tho). Gets annoyed at L's need to keep EVERYTHING clean and spotless and just has fun w/ it.

Arlo: Would get distracted halfway through and just mess about most the time. Would likely burn things or knock things over. Says he'll tidy up after but probably forgets.

(Still needs a name, call her L (no reason)): Would keep the kitchen METICULOUSLY clean while cooking. Measures out everything exactly and does everything exactly per the recipe book and somehow STILL can't cook a decent meal. Would not have any mess to clean up at the end (except would end up clearing up after Malissa and Arlo anyway while saying that she won't clean up after them next time (she will)). Also canNOT eat spicy food, anything remotely spicy will blow her brains out.

Agnir: Improvises everything. A scale? Who needs that? Measurements? Nope, never heard of 'em. His cooking is still really good though. Also he knows a crazy amount about like herbs and stuff. Likes LOTS of spice on food.

Diane: Likes to take the lead and pretend she's the best at cooking (she's really not). Eventually gives up and lets Desdemona take the lead. Then when the food is done, she'll take all the credit for Desdemona's good cooking. Giant appetite, will eat everything on plate (and half of Desdemona's w/ permission)

Desdemona: Very good cook. Amused at Diane's attempts + enthusiasm and waits patiently to inevitably take over from Diane. Lets Diane take all the credit and doesn't correct her because she finds it cute <3. Small appetite.

(Again needs a name, been calling her X): Tries so hard to cook a good meal and won't let anyone help (but still can't figure out how to do stuff). Ends up burning everything and getting pissed at herself because 'she can't do anything'. Leo consoles her and cooks something simple.

Valerian: Literally HAS to help when people are cooking anything (will smell food from like 300 miles away). Is ALWAYS hungry. He's also probably the only person X would let help her (he would give her no choice and would REFUSE to stop annoying her unless he helped). Will REFUSE to touch the salt or any spice though (has massive spice intolerance).

Leo: Always offers to help X, but X always refuses. Can only cook simple food and refuses to try anything complex because he doesn't want to waste ingredients in case he messes up. Slightly irrelevant but he would always give Ren and X (not actual name) bigger portions than himself; would never tell them.

Ren (11y/o): Leo and X make sure she NEVER cooks meals (they love her too much). She'll eat anything (but is a picky eater at heart, but due to tRaUmA she would never complain to them). When she forces Leo and X to let her help she tries her hardest but keeps knocking over things (she's really clumsy)

Iyuna: Is the dark horse. Pretends to be bad at cooking and refuses, but once reluctantly agrees cooks up a really good meal. Oversalts EVERYTHING for no reason.

Anyway I think that's all my main characters (I forget people all the time tho). Should probably go and name my characters now hehe :)

Melody - Shes not the best cook, but shes great at baking and bakes everything and anything! Her favorite thing to make is cookies, specifically pumpkin chocolate chiop cookies :)

Calix - He definitely is not the best at cooking or baking, which is weird because hes basically cooked his own food since the age of 12 but its always been super easy throw-in-the-microwave and call it good type of food lol. He's gotten increasingly better at baking because of Melody's influence though. He likes to make her favorite cookies for her

Silas - Silas is very good at cooking and makes home made meals like every night. Its just a fun little thing he picked up when he was younger. He tends to make home made meals for calix and its kind of like his love language in a weird way.

Jayden - Burns literally everything he touches. Like, how? Don't let him cook anything or you'll be scraping food off of walls for like months. He usually leaves the cooking to his more experienced mother who makes killer tteokbokki (a korean street food which is basically simmered rice cakes paired with boiled eggs).

Sydney - She is definitely not a cooker or a baker, but she's not bad at it, she just hates doing it. Shes more of a "lets go out to eat and i'll order the most expensive item there" type of person.

Layla - She really enjoys cooking! Shes not the greatest (not nearly as good as silas) but its something she likes to do! She likes to help her father make meals. She's lactose intolerant though and so she tries her best to stay away from dairy products, but ask any lactose intollerant person and they'll tell you how well that works (i am lactose intollerant and just ate a bowl of ice cream)

Quinn - either he will make a big meal, reheat leftovers, or get someone else to do it. At a restaurant he would be very cost-effective. If it's just him he'll most likely eat cold leftovers or nothing.
Jasmine - Make something really nice and healthy, or convince Quinn to make food. on bad days (she has a condition) she doesn't eat hardly anything.
Cayde - Is surprisingly good at food-ing, and loves to flaunt his ease at making good meals. He often lets someone make food for him only to frickin' Gordon Ramsey them about how 'inferior' it is.
Amelya - Don't let her in the kitchen! she is greatly coordinated except for when it comes to making food. she will burn things, drop things, get timing wrong, basically just ruin everything in the kitchen. so don't let her in the kitchen.

Jordan: She may be as ghetto as I get up, but she can cook. She would make some chicken, fried chicken and nicely seasoned because, her words, 'I ain't no white person'.
Xavier: He would probably make some steak, like Jordan, nicely seasoned because, and I quote, 'Mama always said no seasoning = disgrace'
Sophia: If she doesn't like you, she will set the house on fire. However, she can cook. Something slight like spaghetti
Seth: He's learned a thing or two by living on his own. One of those things is cooking. He can make you a whole Thanksgiving dinner
Neveah: She can do a lot of things, but cooking is not one of them. The food will be burnt if she even walks into the kitchen. However, she can make a mean sandwich
Caroline: She can cook a small little serving of food. Like, she can make some ribs for the black people cook-outs. You know.

Canarie: She’s a surprisingly good cook, and can basically learn anything. Cooking is actually very calming to her because her mom taught her a few recipes when she was young. Her most famous dish is her vegetable soup, and even Iris (known vegetable hater) likes it.
Andy: He can’t taste food and human food makes him projectile vomit, so he would be horrible in the kitchen. He doesn’t even check if ingredients are spoiled, but in his defense, everything looks the same to him. His idea of cuisine is eating Doll cores, but that’s the only things he really eats.
Rin: A ridiculously horrible cook. Like genuinely. She is so bad at cooking at one of her dishes caused Canarie- the person who’s been living in the wild for two years and has developed some immunity to poison- to collapse. The only person who’s willing to eat her cooking is Andy, but that’s because he can’t even taste it.

They all can cook fairly well except Delilah and Elizabeth

Elizabeth: a lady from Gilded age America beside from being too ill, was of high social standing and therefore for never had need to cook a day in her life

Delilah: can burn water

Red: she can make you a sandwhich. That's it.
Jack: very good cook! Learned from the whole village!
Emma: as royalty, they had a cook. She'll burn down your kitchen.
Floss; Yep! She lives alone, so she had to learn.
Sunny: may or may not have burned some corn with a heating spell.
Lunarice: she can magic herself some food, but can also cook without magic.

Menghan: master chef
Nasove: knows a few recipes
Zyye: can follow instructions on a box
Veya: made toast once
Ire: banned from the kitchen