#what's also kind of odd to me is that DnD borrows so much from LotR EXCEPT for the food

[classyhatsvt]

Watching Dungeon Meshi makes me wish there was a reason to care about food in Dungeons and Dragons. There's mechanics for it, but I remember that my group just kind of handwaved everything involving it in the campaigns I've been in, which is a shame.

The Dungeoneer's Kit that I started with had 10 days of rations, but what exactly is it? The item description says that a day's worth of rations is 2 pounds, and consists of jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts. So that's 20 pounds of beef jerky, crackers, and trail mix. Could you imagine only eating that for 10 days??? Not only that, but adventurers expend a lot of energy on a day to day basis, between walking, running, climbing, fighting, and god knows what else. Also, imagine what a diet like that would do to your morale! It's very easy to underestimate how much a hot, filling meal could make you feel.

I might be missing something, like is there any expanded rules or resources for food in Dungeons and Dragons? I can only find the general Food and Water mechanics, the rations item, and the Chef feat. I guess it doesn't necessarily have to have a mechanical benefit and can just be roleplayed out, but it also feels silly to put so much thought into food when you get the same benefits by just eating a ration... or a goodberry. There's the Chef feat, but it also doesn't really specify what ingredients you need for a meal, like do you just make them out of the rations, or does the dungeon master need to find that out?