What’s Cookin’: Good Lookin’ Home Cookin’ Uses Holiday Pressure to Humanize Its Characters
Holidays often bring out sides of ourselves that generally remain hidden. After all, there’s usually a lot of pressure to get everything just right. Good Lookin’ Home Cookin’ from Toadhouse Games understands that perfectly, and uses the pressure of the holidays as a framework to reveal multiple aspects of its two main characters, and the town they live in.
GLHC is set in a town called Fernweh, at the start of this year’s Ramadan celebration. Our main characters, Jessica and Amira, are lifelong residents and the owners of the Good Lookin’ Home Cookin’ food truck park–a brand new eatery in Fernweh that’s completely halal. The two women are first-time business owners who are desperate to prove their dream can be a success in a town that hasn’t quite embraced them.
While the park has been open for a little while now, their big debut is actually providing the Muslim residents of Fernweh with their post-fast iftar meals during Ramadan. As the only completely halal food spot in town, the orders come in fast and the pressure to prove themselves and provide a perfect holiday experience starts to rise. When things like supply shortages and item mispacking come up, it only gets worse.
This pressure does most of the work to reveal who these characters are, and who they ultimately want to be. After a less-than-smooth first night, Jessica and Amira end up clashing. Amira is worried about reviews, and Jessica is hurt by Amira’s criticism. They have a big, fairly public fight, and their future as business partners and friends begins to come into question. The two crack under the weight of their first night, and both of them are forced to reckon with themselves and the worse parts of who they are.
Their conflict is hard, and rings true of any fight with a close friend on a project you both love, but much like these conflicts in real life, it allows for introspection. Both women take time to think about what happened, and the role each had to play. Amira has to come to terms with her at-times dangerous perfectionism, and Jessica has to acknowledge her temper and tendency to act without thinking can get in the way. Once they’ve done some much-needed reflection, Amira and Jessica are able to become a stronger team than ever, with a better connection to the community they’re trying to serve.
While pressure to succeed, especially for something like a holiday meal for your own community, can be stressful and push you to your limits, it can also put you on a better path if you’re willing to learn from it and be vulnerable with those around you. Good Lookin’ Home Cookin’ depicts that through a genuine and heartwarming story about friendship and community.
