Feeling hungry? Why not sate your tastebuds with some wonderful cardboard? In the world of board games, there’s so many great celebrations of food. From sushi-themed party games to family games featuring dim sum, there’s plenty that allow you to revel in the art of food creation. Board games let you run rival restaurants, collect ingredients, and indulge in fun recipes. They even let you fish and forage, and cook goodies beyond comprehension. For food-lovers, or just those who love gazing at mouth-watering meals, there’s a smorgasbord of options around.
Here’s our favourite food-themed board games to get you started.
Our Top Picks
Flamecraft
- Check out Flamecraft.
Flamecraft isn’t specifically about cooking food, but you will cook food in your travels through this board game. The basic premise here is that you’re a “Flamekeeper” (aka a dragon wrangler) trying to corral a group of dragons, and allow them to build their specialty skills. Some dragons have craft-themed abilities, but plenty have food-themed abilities that allow them to bake or cook, and create lovely meals for their towns.
With a colourful, cartoon art style, the creations of these dragons look very tantalising – and the quest to see more will drive you forward. And when you’re not vying to be the best Flamekeeper in the land, you can spend your time in Flamecraft marvelling at shops like the Critical Rolls bakery, or the Fogo de Char butchery. Each is populated by a range of lovely foods.
Sushi Go Party
- Check out Sushi Go Party.
Sushi Go Party is exactly what it says on the tin: a sushi-themed party game. Of all the games on this list, it might be the cutest one, as you’ll spend your time playing with little sushi rolls, prawns, and lots of wasabi with tiny, adorable faces. Your goal is to score points by making maki rolls, collecting ingredients to create winning combos.
Up to eight players can join in, so that it becomes a race around the conveyor belt to grab the most sushi, and the highest-scoring rolls. Between competitive play, you can spend your time appreciating just how colourful and fun the game’s artwork is.
For a more complex game with similar themes, you can also check out Sushi Boat. This board game is set on a conveyor belt, and tasks you with buying sushi and side dishes to maximise your points, as every other player also picks from the titular sushi boat.
Rival Restaurants
- Check out Rival Restaurants.
If you’re in the mood for a more intense, competition-focused board game experience, then Rival Restaurants is the game for you. In this game, you are the proprietor of a restaurant with a singular goal: to get 20 popularity points, and be crowned champion over your rivals. To achieve this goal, you’ll buy and trade ingredients, using them to cook delicious meals that will help turn heads.
Visit new locations and you’ll find fresh ingredients, and eventually you’ll be able to barter your way to victory by combining foods in just the right way. Once you’ve collected your ingredients, you’ll cook special meals, and then trade on their popularity. You and your rivals will largely work independently in this game, building up your popularity by minding your own business (literally) and making clever moves.
Stardew Valley: The Board Game
- Check out Stardew Valley: The Board Game.
Stardew Valley: The Board Game is a lovely translation of the video game on which it’s based, and just like the video game, it allows you to live a cosy life as a farmer. That means spending your days wandering through fields, foraging for special ingredients, raising animals, fishing, and crafting. Like Flamecraft, food isn’t the main theme of the Stardew Valley board game, but it’s well-integrated into gameplay, and you can spend a lot of time gathering ingredients for fun rewards.
Read: Stardew Valley: The Board Game review – perfect translation
When you’re not stocking your pantries in this game, you’ll be able to complete various quests, meet a range of villagers, and generally spend time relaxing in a wholesome world. Stardew Valley: The Board Game is an essential title whether you’re in it for its foodie themes, or just to have a peaceful time.
Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum
- Check out Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum.
Steam Up: A Feast of Dim Sum is a game themed solely around collecting special Dim Sum, with a focus on gathering the best dishes to score the highest points. This game is particularly novel for its experience-themed approach. Gameplay takes place around a rotating well, where stackable Dim Sum steamers rest. Each player takes an active role in the buying of Dim Sum, and everyone takes turns to share in their meals.
As you play, special Fate cards also come into play, triggering certain events that make these steamers harder or easier to nab. Final scores are based on how players fare with these many challenges, and whether they’re able to make specific combos with their steamers. For a simple, but visually intriguing tabletop experience, Steam Up feels perfect for friendly and family play.
Chai
- Check out Chai.
This entry comes with two caveats: tea is a drink, not a food, and Chai is usually very, very sold out. That shouldn’t dissuade you from trying to find a copy of this game.
In Chai, you are a tea merchant looking to discover the perfect blend of tea, by gathering ingredients and then listening to your customers. Some want very particular orders, so it’s up to you to work out exactly what they want, and how to achieve it with your ingredient blends.
In rounds of gameplay, players will compete to create the best and most exciting teas, advancing along a track until each player has served their chosen customers. At the end of the day, the best tea merchant will be the one with the most unique recipes, and the most satisfied customers.
Surrealist Dinner Party
- Check out Surrealist Dinner Party.
Surrealist Dinner Party is a lovely, weird board game all about serving dinner for history’s most famous surrealists. From Méret Oppenheim to Salvador Dalí, you’ll wine and dine them all, making sure to serve them based on their unique habits and tastes. While food is not the primary focus of this card-based game, its reverence for dinner as a social activity makes it worthy of inclusion on this list.
Read: 13 of the best board games for parties
It’s not only the game’s unique setting and dinner-themed mechanics that make it a marvellous time – the game also has a striking colour palette and illustrations, as well as novel mechanics you can’t really find in any other board game. Whether you love food, or you’re just very history-minded, Surrealist Dinner Party is an excellent option.
Ramen Fury
- Check out Ramen Fury.
Ramen Fury is a light, card-based party board game where you’ll compete against other players to collect ingredients for a delicious ramen. Combinations of different cards will score higher, so you’ll need to spend your time with this game making exactly the right moves to maximise your final score. In hilarious fashion, players can also throw chilis in your dish and steal food from your bowl, so you’ll need to watch out for deviants to ensure your ramen remains warm, wholesome, and edible.
Beyond being a great game for folks of all ages, thanks to very approachable gameplay, what is most appealing about Ramen Fury is its overall design. Gameplay is very refined, cards are simple and easy to understand, and more importantly – the entire game comes in a lovely plastic ramen packet. It’s the little things that count here.
Hibachi
- Check out Hibachi.
Hibachi is a gorgeous food-themed board game where you are a teppanyaki chef cooking food, while making sure you’re as stylish and enthralling as possible. To impress your customers, you’ll need to make eye-catching dishes, but this is determined by chance and flourish, as you’ll throw discs onto the board (dramatically, of course) to figure out what you can cook. You’ll need to “collect” the right ingredients to make your dream dishes a reality, so it’s best to plan carefully, and not get too distracted by the game’s delicious-looking artwork.
While Hibachi is fairly simplistic in concept, as it’s essentially a light party experience for friends, its occasional chaos adds layers – and it’s particularly fun to see your friends fumble their tokens at the last minute. Add that sense of fun to the game’s mouth-watering artwork, and you’ve got a great food-themed board game for everyone.
For more board game recommendations, check out the rest of the GamesHub favourites:
- The best story-based adventure board games
- The best tabletop games to bring out at a party
- The best co-op board games for two players
- The best solo board games for single players
- The 15 best board games for beginner players
- The best board games for couples on Valentine’s Day
- The best puzzle board games to play solo or with friends
- The most relaxing board games for quiet afternoons
- The 8 best dungeon crawler board games for adventurers
- The best spooky board games to play this Halloween
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