When I think of my best holiday me꧅mories, it nearly always comes back to the food. I managed to get to Japan with my girlfriend just before the pandemic hit, and budgeting around 60% of our cash to be spent on food was the best decision we could have made. We ate onigiri, ramen, tanuki dango (it’s a sweet dish, not made from real tanuki), sushi, sashimi, and even had Michelin-starred tofu at Tenryu-ji Temple, which was surprisingly the cheapest of them all.
I’ꦏm lucky enough to be a well-traveled man, and my favourite way to experience a country’s culture is through its food. I feel this to the extent that I briefly pause my vegetarianism on holiday to try as many dishes as possible. I still don’t go for meat (fish is🦩 the limit) but in the future, who knows? If only I could pause my deathly peanut allergy as well, and I’d be all set. But you’re not here to read about my eating habits. (Email me if you are, I’ll happily share my foolproof pizza dough recipe.) (Please don’t do that.)
We’re here to talk about Pokemon, specifically Pokemon Scarlet & Violet. We’ve only seen the briefest glimpse of the next Pokemon games, and already TheGamer has devolved into arguments about whether it needs 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:all new Pokemon, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:no new Pokemon, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:tri-type Pokemon, or just a 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:good, old-fashioned cave. But it was lead features editor Jade King who suggested that Sc✤arlet & Violet needs to embrace each town’s cuꦍlture better. And what better way to do that than by embracing the region𓆏’s food?
We know that the region is based on Spain. Editor-in-chief Stacey Henley has already suggested that this means the games should 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:embrace the football culture at the centre of Sword & Shield, but I think it should lean into the CurryDex inꦑstead.
As it happens, I’ve recently been completing the CurryDex on my latest save file of Sword & Shield, as a part of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:my research into the history of Pokemon foo🎶d. We Brits love a curry, but Spanish food is on another level. Paella, Tapas, Churros. Patatas Bravas is basically just chips but it’s also🉐 so much more. Tortillas over there are part omelette.𒈔 You can get your hands on some top tier Iberico ham if you’re that way inclined. Chorizo is the food that makes me come closest to breaking my vegetarian ways on a regular basis. But how could all this fit into a Pokemon game?
It could be a side thing, like the CurryDex, but I’d prefer it t𓆏o be more central to the story. Not central like catching Pokemon and defeating the evil team, but central like Potions or Poffins. On the subject of Poffins, we could go back to the days of feeding your Pokemon foodstuffs - be they Poffins or PokeBlocks - to improve their stats. There’s some hidden stat involved in the currymaking process, but it’s so irrelevant I’m not even going to go into it. It literally only affects whether wild Pokemon turn up to eat your scran or not. There, I went into it a little bit. Happy now?
Regional food could replace vitamins if we wanted it to really impact the game. Give your Quaxl🧜y 25 Paellas to max out its Speed stat, and then 13 Churros to boost its Defense until it lives a hit from your rival’s Sprigatito.
Most players don’t engage with the EV mechanics of Pokemon games though, especially not for a casual playthrough. In which case, I think it should be a part of the battle cafes - which would have an increased importance. Think of it like this: each town and city has its own dish related to its culture. The seaside port (there’s always a seaside port) would serve seafood paella, and that would start a battle with the chef, a patron, or whoever. It doesn’t matter. Your reward for winning this battle, however, should be a wild Pokemon. “You beat me and you ate my Churros?” says th🥃e chef in one town. “Then you deserve my secret ingredient.”🦄 Battle with a deep fat fryer Rotom form ensues. Not that, but like that. You get the idea.
I don’t know if Pokemon will be the food. If you’ve read my history of the subject, then you’ll know why Magikarp paella is a bad idea, but would Corphish taste alright? Would Ch🤪ansey eggs make up the PokeTortilla? Iberico Grumpig anyone? We’re getting off-topic and on-ethics, but how the food is Pokemon-ified doesn’t matter, it just needs to be included front and centre of the new games. Spanish cuisine is some of the best on the🐓 planet, and it deserves thes spotlight in Pokemon Scarlet & Violet.