Coffee Talk #38: Gamer Food

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Gamer stereotypes are pretty amusing. If they were true, we’d all be 30-something males living in our mothers’ basements. One gaming stereotype that always amused me is that gamers are fueled by a diet of Mountain Dew and Doritos — as if that’s all we ever eat. Certainly I’ve had my share of Mountain Dew (especially Diet Code Red) and Doritos, but I wouldn’t call it gamer food by any means.

Warcraft Mountain Dew

In fact, I rarely eat when I play. I usually can’t be bothered by trivial things like sustenance when I’m saving the world, beating up the bad guys, or leveling up my latest RPG character. Often it’s hard to remember to even drink water when I play games. The one good thing about load times is that I can take a few seconds to sip some water, coffee, or iced tea.

Today I wanted to learn about your dietary habits. What do you eat and drink when you play games? Are you a Mountain Dew and Doritos guy/gal? Or can you not be bothered to eat and drink during your precious game time?

Author: RPadTV

https://rpad.tv

43 thoughts on “Coffee Talk #38: Gamer Food”

  1. i make paninis when i play my games, served with some hot coco or coffee. but if i get lazy too prepare one, i either go buy some costco pizza, or just heat up some philly cheesesteaks.

  2. I didn't train to be a chef to eat crap like that.

    Mostly I don't eat when I game either. I'm not going to risk jacking up a controller with grease and other things. I take a break when I'm ready to eat. Usually if I'm having a drink I'll have a beer or some whiskey on ice.

  3. I would like to say that Mountain Dew drinking is just a stereotype… but it's not. That was the favored drink of choice at many D&D/LAN parties growing up.

    PC/Tabletop gaming food for me would be a bag of Totino's Pizza Rolls (Pepperoni) and some sort of Pepsi/Dew. I don't like eating while I play console games cause the remote gets all gunky depending upon what I am eating (oil, and such). I would rather take a break and then come back when I can focus all my attention on it.

  4. Hummus and pita bread are a standby for me.

    Coffee is my usual drink of choice, but I'm more in to Dr. Pepper than Mt. Dew.

  5. i dont eat when im playing games, but i have a horrible diet, considering the old lady isnt much of a cook

    if God dwells inside us, like some people say, i sure hope he likes freschetta pizzas, cause thats what hes getting!!

  6. Ramen is my official gamer fuel of choice. Cheap (Moe money for games!), quick to make (on a good stove top), and easy to eat in-between matches. However, pizza has moved in of late since my current stove top takes forever to boil water.

  7. ill tell you a food related purchase that im not sure i could do without after having used it

    one of those "pizz-azz" pizza makers…..that thing is AWESOME, its virtually impossible to burn pizzas with it

  8. @ Thundercracker

    Being as how I'm the only person who eats it in my house, I can always rely on it being there.

    Sooner or later, I'll upgrade to babaganoosh. (I love me some terrorist food)

    * funny side note

    The only word my spell check brought up for babaganoosh was "Reaganomics". :lol:

  9. I have a horrible addiction to diet coke and vodka on the rocks while I am glued to a game.

    Typically with food I stop for a few minutes so I can go eat. I don't want to gunk up my controllers or keyboard. This serves an additional purpose though, I hang out with my gf for a bit. This way she can't say that I only played games instead of talking to her. Works real well if you do this for both

    lunch and dinner.

  10. i drink mountain dew. but its hard to call that a stereotype of just gamers, thats a stereotype of a lot of demographics. in the past my friends and i did fall under the classic doritos and mountain dew stereotype for a mix of movies and gaming, but we also grilled a lot afterwords and had pizzas too.

    now though i dont eat during play time, either before or after. i hate having a dirty, smeared, greasy controller. i dont let anyone use my controllers either if they have just been eating. as far as drinks during playing. scotch on the rocks for me, or guinness.

  11. I'm surprised that a few of you drink alcohol while playing games. I suppose it doesn't matter for an RPG, but there's no way I could play a shooter optimally while buzzed. Drunken Mario Kart is fun though, I have to admit.

  12. Alcohol made raiding so much better. Made BC and Lich King raids bearable.

    Also if I'm playing a shooter online, the drink is helpful.

    Oddly enough I don't drink alcohol playing offline single player.

  13. @Rpad – haha, I've almost never gotten drunk when I play but it's nice to get a buzz on for certain games. A little liquid courage can help out at times.

    I've always found I was a tad bit better at Guitar Hero when I was about 2-3 beers in. Same with bowling

    As far as actually drunk I could play a sandbox game like GTA for a while. I don't accomplish much but it can be fun to drive around all crazy and cause some general mayhem.

  14. I have no interest in video games when I'm drunk. Or movies.

    I tried watching Total Recall while drunk once….felt like a 4 hour epic. A sober friend insists that he wasn't rewinding the movie ( yes a VHS) to this day. I still don't believe him.

  15. Gatorade or milk… but not both at the same time. That's just gross.

    -M

    … or is it? Excuse me.

  16. @N8R – When you said “Reaganomics” it makes me think of the Family Guy epidode that has Reagan punching the fast food joint. "Reagan smash! Reagan smaaashh".

    @topic – Meh I couldn't drink alcohol while doing HNM's or exping in FFXI. Raids in WoW were a different story, I'd toss a few beers while doing w/e. But that's just mmo's.

    I typically won't eat often while gaming, cause I hate getting something on my controller, or having to put it down while eating. So I try to seperate the two. That and I prefer actual meals > snacks. But if I do, it used to be Doritos and Mt. Dew. Ha! Now it's Ramen and lipton green tea lol. Or pretzels, they're less messy lol.

  17. I usually drink either Gatorade or water and eat bananas and yogurt when I'm gaming.

    I try and avoid foods that will get my hands either sticky or oily, because no one wants to use a control with food residue all over it.

  18. I drink mountain dew. I ant bother eating, cuxz then I gotta make sure my hands are clean and thats more work then I want to do when I am closing Oblivion gates.

  19. @shockwave. I agree about gta while drunk, it's tons of fun!

    @rpad. It takes quite a bit to get me drunk, so there's not really too much of a buzz during those fps games. Mario kart 64 or Mario party 2 buzzed is probably the ulimate best for me.

  20. I don't drink alcohol, period. I used to smoke alot of weed though (legally thanks to CA medicinal laws) while gaming, but now it's just coffee and cigarettes (thank you Otis Redding).

    My wife is a hella cook and an even better baker. I never ate as well until I got with her. I'm also pretty meticulous about gunk on the controller.

  21. @N8R

    My wife is a great cook also. She has a small baking business on the side. She sold over ten cakes last week. She makes this Key Lime cake that everyone loves. It's her best seller.

  22. @ RROD

    I love me some Key Lime pie. There's only one state worth getting it in though.

    My wife makes the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had (granted, I've never tried your wife's). She also makes AWESOME apple pies with the crust and everything from scratch.

    I swear, I had no idea she could cook like that when i first moved in with her either.

  23. @ R Pad

    Last year for my birthday, I tried to push my wife to the limit and requested Chicken Vindaloo and poppadoms…. god damn if she didn't come through.

    It was awesome too. This year I was thinking about asking for General Tso's from scratch.

  24. @ R Pad

    I agree… now that you mention lamb, I haven't had a gyro in ages. Maybe gyros should be my birthday request.

    I might have to find the cucumber sauce for her though.

  25. @N8R – My wife makes an awesome cucumber (szaziki sp?) sauce. We make it all the time for Lamb Meatballs and Falafel.

  26. @ Larcenous

    If you could send me a recipe, I'd be greatly appreciative. I think you have my email (how many issues of Preacher did you get by the way?), if not, it's on the "About" page.

  27. @N8R I'll have my friend ask his mom. In fact, I'll do it like Chris Jericho when he has an opponent in a submission hold. "Ask her! ASK HER!!!"

    I have all the Preacher trade paperbacks, but I have no idea where they are. I think my original issues are at my parents' house.

  28. i don't make desserts.

    i cook alot of seafood. i love boiling crawfish, crabs, and shrimp.

    mmm…..can't wait for sunday.

  29. @N8R – will do on the receipe. I'll drop a reminder on my phone so I remember to ask my woman to write it down. I downloaded the Preacher stuff from my email on to the home comp, but I haven't gotten a chance to sit down with them yet. Looking forward to it though, time just hasn't been on myside (and I've been working the business end of a hidden blade the two weeks lol).

  30. Mountain Dew isn't in MY top 10 drinks of any sort, but I do confess that our D&D group used to always have a few cases of it at hand in addition to lesser quantities of other sodas.

    I've eaten my fair share of Doritos too, but almost never while gaming. Just too messy too game with and I'm too focused on other stuff to bother with any food interruption less than a full meal…

    If the Mountain Dew Game Fuel is still the same crap they had for Halo 3, then BLEH.

    The only good Mountain Dews are Baja Blast*, Voltage and Amp.

    *(Baja Blast is best employed in a concoction I refer to as "Neon Green". 40% Sierra Mist, 30% Reg. Mountain Dew, 30% Baja Blast.

    Mmmmmmmm…. Tasty, but still not as good as Voltage or Amp.)

  31. I need a gaming food. I think I will get a jug of trail mix from Wal-Mart or something. That isn't messy. Who doesn't like the combo of apricots, raisins, salted peanuts, M&Ms, and cashews??

    You can keep the vindaloo…tonight is softshell crab and gumbo night. It has taken me all day to cook the damn gumbo.

  32. on a different note…i spent alot of time today online tethering my phone to my laptop. it was pretty nice. however i don't see the need to pay an extra $30 dollar per month if it were offered for my device (hint hint). Simply put…I already pay $30 per month for 5x less the 3G coverage, why can't I use that data however I want? Why should I pay a grand total of $60 per month just to use it on my Mac?

  33. @Smartguy I saw that from a different source. Right now, I just see it as analyst speculation. A lot hinges on the new chip Qualcomm is developing and if Apple chooses to use it. They companies are in talks already.

  34. @Ray

    Speculating is fun though. I love all the speculations before CES, MacWorld, E3, etc.

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