Overwatch: The Official Cookbook Review

Titan Books has published a hardback book titled Overwatch: The Official Cookbook available from numerous online retailers and high street book stores. Does Overwatch: The Official Cookbook deliver what it sets out to by producing a detailed official cookbook to the Overwatch videogame?

Overwatch is a team focused always online multiplayer first-person shooter videogame. Overwatch accumulated over 7 million players within a week of launching with a total playtime of almost 120 million hours. Overwatch earned more than 115 awards in 2016 including the much coveted title of Game of the Year from Forbes, Game Informer, GameSpot, IGN, Wired and much more besides.

Overwatch: The Official Cookbook is in expert hands as it is written by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel as she is a passionate artist and fan of fantasy; having created for the Game of Thrones food blog titled Inn at the Crossroads before going onto co-author New York Times bestseller A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook before venturing into creating World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook and Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook. Chelsea Monroe-Cassel continues to be focused on bringing more fantasy worlds to life via food, photography, art and digital media.

Overwatch: The Official Cookbook begins with an introduction written by the author of the book, Chelsea Monroe-Cassel; showcasing the worldwide cuisine covered throughout the cookbook. Overwatch: The Official Cookbook encompasses every global location related to all of the major Overwatch characters. Culinary locations include the Americas, Africa, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Moon, while the subcategories within each location focus on the characters and their favourite foods or drinks. For instance, Jesse McCree’s favourite food recipes are Carne Adovada as comfort food and Biscochitos as celebratory food, alongside a drink named Deadeye. All 102 recipes includes full guidance of food type, prep time, cooking time or alternative timings such as baking or chilling time, quantity of servings, dietary category and step-by-step instructions for ingredients and how to cook or bake it.

However, unlike Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook; there is no index showing recipes alphabetically by food type category, a dietary information chart or a culinary conversion chart as was previously situated towards the back of the book to provide immediate assistance in having a greater understanding of each recipe or knowing what recipe meets the reader’s dietary needs respectively before turning to that specific recipe.

The quality of writing is excellent as every character’s favourite food and drink is described with a full backstory including how the character discovered or received that particular food or drink, alongside a step-by-step guide on how to recreate the recipe.

Overwatch: The Official Cookbook is amazingly well presented with an incredible hardback front and back cover design featuring food related to the Overwatch videogame characters, alongside an interesting description of what readers can anticipate from Overwatch: The Official Cookbook. However, there is also a lot of awesome photography relating to every recipe, while there is a lot of character artwork and quotes to provide a more personal feel for each character and their respective recipes, alongside a presentation that simplifies every recipe by making them easy to understand; despite the complexity and multitude of steps in every recipe.

Overwatch: The Official Cookbook’s value originates from 102 recipes that depict the favourite food and drink of each main character within every location in the environments of the Overwatch videogame throughout the duration of 216 pages.

Fans of Chelsea Monroe-Cassel’s official themed cookbooks should also look at A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook, World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook, The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook and Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook.

Analysis
• Title: Overwatch: The Official Cookbook
• Writer: Chelsea Monroe-Cassel
• Publisher: Titan Books
• Length: 216 pages
• Cover: Hardback

Overwatch: The Official Cookbook can be purchased in the UK from Amazon and Forbidden Planet, while Overwatch: The Official Cookbook can be purchased in America and Canada from Amazon. You can also find Titan Books’ official website including a back catalogue of captivating books and product details regarding Overwatch: The Official Cookbook.