Exclusive Interview with The Geeky Chef Cookbook’s Cassandra Reeder
Slurm. Miruvor. Plomeek soup.
If you think it sounds like I’m using made-up words, you’re right. Cassandra Reeder, author of The Geeky Chef Cookbook and The Geeky Chef blog, is a nerd with a gift–the gift of cooking. Not everyone can create their own recipes (I, for one, am lucky if my boxed macaroni and cheese turns out), but it takes real skill to create recipes for dishes that aren’t, well, real.
What inspired you to write The Geeky Chef Cookbook?
“Well, I go into this in-depth in the intro my cookbook, but, to summarize, in 2008 there were not any websites like Geeky Chef focusing on various fictional foods and I thought there really, really needed to be.”
There are a ton of recipes in there–including a recipe for blood! How long did it take you to come up with them all?
“Writing the book took me a little over 6 months, which did feel a bit rushed because I also had a day job, but it was a great motivator to really hone in and focus on it. I can tell you there was a lot of testing, failed experiments and adding and removing of different recipes.”
There’s even a recipe for gagh. I can’t even! What prompted to you brave gagh?
“Well, I really love Star Trek and I felt like Gagh was a quintessential fictional food. Surprisingly, Gagh was one of the easier recipes to come up with! There are some really tough ones in there, with magical properties that unfortunately defy the rules of the real world.”
You had to have gone through a lot of trial-and-error for some of these. What was the most difficult recipe to perfect?
“I would say Miruvor was the toughest. In Lord of the Rings, Tolkien describes the drink as being a hot beverage that’s completely clear, which isn’t something that occurs naturally.”
What is your personal favorite recipe from the cookbook?
“It’s really hard to choose! I think I will always love Yeto’s Soup from Zelda: Twilight Princess, not only because it’s delicious but it’s also the first fictional food recipe I made with my blog in mind.”
Which game/TV show inspires you the most when you’re in the kitchen?
“Zelda and Star Trek are my two favorites. Star Trek just has a plethora of intriguing alien foods, and Zelda has these bottles of yummy stuff which has always captured my imagination.”
Have you thought of doing a whole book of recipes derived from one particular game/TV show/movie/etc.? For instance, a whole cookbook dedicated to Legend of Zelda recipes?
“Yes, I would actually love to transition to focusing on one series for future books. For me, it’s fun to really delve deep into one specific story/universe. I have some ideas for some unofficial cookbooks, but I don’t want to jinx them!”
Will there be more Geeky Chef cookbooks in the future?
“Well, it’s ultimately up to my publisher… but I will say there’s a very strong possibility.”