Explore the Culinary World with “Tomb Raider: The Official Cookbook and Travel Guide”

The esquites recipe is a tasty summer dish.

The first Tomb Raider game was released in 1996, and the franchise is still going strong today. In addition to a long list of video games spanning many platforms, the franchise also includes movies, comic books, novels, an anime, and even a cookbook: Tomb Raider: The Official Cookbook and Travel Guide. While Lara Croft, the titular tomb raider, doesn’t typically eat much in the video games, she does travel to far-flung locations all around the globe, which opens many culinary possibilities. Indeed, the creators of this cookbook managed to find recipes from every continent (yep, even Antarctica) to fill the pages.

For every recipe, there is a little blurb about the food and where it comes from, of course, but the cookbook also works for the “travel guide” portion of its subtitle by providing a few pages at the start of each chapter, which have been divided according to continent. These highlight some of the unique features—geographical, biological, or cultural—of each region, as well as summarizing Lara Croft’s travels or connections therein. I’m sure big fans of the franchise would have fun reminiscing on playing through each location.

Insight Editions

I tried three recipes from this book for this review.

• Okonomiyaki: I was already familiar with this dish, so I thought it was a good choice to see how this cookbook’s recipe compared to others I’ve tried. Okonomiyaki are often called “Japanese pancakes” or “cabbage pancakes,” and most often they’re thinly sliced cabbage and pork with a simple flour batter, cooked like pancakes and topped with green onions, bonito, Japanese mayo, and okonomiyaki sauce. I found this recipe to have a good flavor, but there wasn’t quite enough batter to help things hold together. Use less cabbage than it calls for to fix that issue.
• Esquites: This is “Mexican street corn salad,” very similar to elote, which I love, though I’ve never made it myself. This recipe has you cook the corn (and jalapeños) in a skillet to try to char or brown the kernels a little before tossing it with cotija cheese, spices, mayo, and a spritz of lime juice. I used fresh corn on the cob and fresh jalapeño from a local farmstand. It was pretty good, but I think the flavor would have been improved by grilling the corn. This recipe made a lot, and I think it would make a good “salad” to bring to a picnic or BBQ.
• Otai: This is a Polynesian beverage made with pineapple, watermelon, coconut milk, and water. I was a little uncertain how much I’d like it, considering pineapple tends to upset my stomach and I don’t generally like the taste of coconut, but I really love watermelon and it sounded nice and refreshing. The first taste wasn’t super great, but after it sat in the fridge overnight, the flavor changed and improved a lot, and I found that I really enjoyed it! Word of warning to folks who might have texture aversions: The watermelon is mushed up and left fairly chunky, so you less “drink” it than “eat” it.

I am definitely planning on trying out the pelmeni and momo recipes; I love a good dumpling. There isn’t a lack delicious-sounding foods here! It’s a good cookbook not just for Tomb Raider fans but for anybody interested in taking a culinary journey around the world.

The flavor of the otai was the best after an overnight chill in the fridge.

Have a favorite recipe from the official Tomb Raider cookbook? Or is there another geeky cookbook you want to see reviewed? Let us know in the comments!