Battle of the Game of Thrones cookbooks

Earlier this year, I wrote about the Game of Thrones-themed culinary blog The Inn at the Crossroads and its forthcoming cookbook A Feast of Ice and Fire (now due out May 29).

However, there’s another Westerosi cookbook out there called The Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook. While its recipes aren’t strictly from the books, they are inspired by them, with the result that dishes like Direwolf Ale and the Imp’s Wild Strawberry Fool don’t necessarily ring true for avid fans of the books and TV series. One gets the feeling that the author selected a few modern recipes and slapped some GOT lingo on top.

Call me a stickler, but I prefer my literary cookbooks to be a fully realized part of their respective worlds. With A Feast of Ice and Fire (recipes in which are lifted directly from the books), it absolutely comes through that the dishes were shaped by George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy world, and not the other way around. This stamp of authority is even reinforced with a forward written by the author himself.

I think you can guess which cookbook I’m favouring. After all, it’s hard to argue with recipes for cream swans, aurochs with roasted leeks, and honey-spiced locusts. Your burgeoning waistline, however, might have something different to say.

Follow Jennie Ramstad on Twitter at twitter.com/jennieramstad.