A sampling of geek-themed cookbooks 

It's fascinating to watch or read about our favorite fictional worlds and salivate about all of the exotic flavors they might have in those distant places. It's one of those times where you feel cursed to be trapped on Earth in this time and place, unable to travel to the taverns of Dungeons & Dragons, or into all of the far-off lands of Star Wars. Well, that latter part wasn't exactly true; I did spend a weekend on a space cruiser for my wedding in Star Wars, but sadly, they're no longer booking voyages on the Halcyon.

There is one way we can allow our taste buds to visit our favorite fandoms, though—and it's becoming more and more popular. Cookbooks from the worlds of geekdom have proliferated over the last decade, and I'll admit that I've been cooking out of them to get a taste of my favorite universes at my table and in my stomach.

What's so great about the sorts of cookbooks they have now is that they don't just give you foods that look like they might come from your favorite nerdy interests; they include lore and history from those worlds, too. They fit inside the universe, and give you the feeling that you're inside of it, one bite at a time.

My favorite such cookbook might be Heroes' Feast (Dungeons & Dragons): The Official D&D Cookbook by Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson and Michael Witwer. It delves deep into the dungeon of the in-universe history of Dungeons & Dragons, featuring all kinds of recipes from each different region and a variety of denizens from the different lands of its world. My favorite recipe in the book might be the Halfling's Everything Stew. Halflings—which are essentially the hobbits from J.R.R. Tolkien's works—are bound to be dropped in on by visitors at any time, and this recipe encourages variations for whatever you might have in your pantry at any given time. It's become a favorite in my house. Between the well-written lore and the impossibly tasty recipes, this book gets a lot of use, and you'd do well to get it.

Additionally, they've released a waterproof card deck of the book's best recipes and lore, called The Deck of Many Morsels. You don't have to worry about having the book cracked open and getting Halfling Stew spilled all over such an expensive cookbook.

Another favorite worth looking out for is Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook. Not only are the recipes pretty uniformly delicious, there's a pretty fascinating story told through the cookbook, to the point where you can sit down and read it almost as though it were a short story anthology. It's collected through the eyes of Cookie "Strono" Tuggs, a character who appeared briefly in The Force Awakens as the cook at Maz Kanata's castle. Later, he became the chef at Black Spire Outpost, which most folks might recognize as Galaxy's Edge, the Disney theme park land where they can still get a taste of Star Wars.

If you want a taste of the park at home, Cookie "wrote" a second book of excellent recipes directly inspired by the food offerings there. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook replicates most of the best recipes from the park, particularly the Ronto Wrap—which, if you haven't already tried one, you really need to. Who could have ever guessed those giant pack animals from the Star Wars: Special Edition would have been so delicious?

Another cookbook that I view as geeky, but isn't specifically from a universe like these, is worth checking out nonetheless: Cooking Price-Wise: A Culinary Legacy. The late Vincent Price himself qualifies as a legend of horror and nerdery, and I don't think people realize how into gourmet food he was. He wanted to bring gourmet cooking to the masses with common ingredients—he even had his own cooking show—and this tome collects his favorite recipes. The best part is that it's impossible to read them and not hear them in Price's spookiest voice. Put on Thriller or his reading of a classic Lovecraft short story and get to cooking; there's not much better in life.