What’s Cookin’?: Battle Chef Brigade Advocates for Comfort in the Kitchen, and in Ourselves
In the past month or so, a lot has happened. My parents and I finally got moved and mostly settled into our new house, and despite some strife, it’s been pretty solid all things considered. One thing we have started to contend with, now that we’re pretty much here all the time, is meals, and who’s responsible for them.
My dad has always been a big cook, and I pretty much grew up in the kitchen with him. But now he has a disability that makes it harder for him to maneuver around, and I’m a non-stop workaholic. My mom is retired, so she’s around, but cooking tends to stress her out. Obviously, this put us at a bit of an impasse. Until I suggested we give a meal delivery service a try.
Originally, my mom wanted to go with one of the ones that are pre-made and ready to go, but those are expensive for multiple people, so we decided to go with one that sends pre-portioned ingredients and recipes instead. Cooking with my mom wasn’t the easiest at first, but by the time we had gotten to our third and final meal of the week, things were feeling easier, and for the first time in a while, I was able to feel the comfort of cooking again. Recapturing that sensation “irl” made me really long for cooking games to do more to capture that feeling.
Anyone reading this is no stranger to the fact that I love cooking games, but this is an element I think is really lacking from them across the board. Take for example the games I’ve covered for this column so far: Pokemon: Sword & Shield is all about campfire cooking, it’s cute and quaint but not really homey, same goes for Breath of the Wild. Kingdom Hearts 3 steps even further away by situating Sora and Remy in a fancy bistro looking to climb the culinary ranks.
The only game I’ve found that’s really been able to drive the cozy feeling of home-cooking well, home, has been Trinket Studios’ Battle Chef Brigade. Now, I know what you’re probably thinking, what else could I have to say about this game? After this realization, it turns out, plenty.
It’s no accident that Battle Chef Brigade starts in the kitchen of a homey, small town restaurant. The feeling this establishes from the start is key to what makes this game feel so good overall. Even though the small business setting doesn’t stick around for long, the food it inspires does.
Despite going to the biggest cooking competition in the continent, Mina doesn’t really change her approach to what she makes. It’s still mostly comfort foods, soups and the like. There are other competitors who take on a more high end approach, but they’re not framed as being any better than Mina. Everyone is viewed as more or less equal in their style, it’s all about how they perform in the Kitchen Coliseum.
Mina’s cooking style isn’t the point of the game. There’s no arc of her learning to ditch her small town roots to grow or excel in her chosen field. Where she came from is accepted immediately, and is expected to be a part of her future as well. Because of this, the sense of warmth and home that we’re introduced to in the game’s start continues to saturate Mina’s journey.
Sappy as it may be, it’s really heartwarming to see a game that not only embraces failure, but also ultimately says that you don’t have to change who you are or lose where you came from to be successful and worthy. The little things are what make us unique, and we can get so much farther, and create so much more comfort for ourselves and those around us if we can accept and celebrate that instead of giving into putting on airs. There’s a sincerity to the comfort BCB holds onto, and I want more games that push us in a direction of embracing ourselves and each other, instead of trying to squish into some generic mold that only works for a privileged few.
