Putting Food on the Table

It’s called having a table for a reason. Technology and Covid-19 have made it more common for people to meet online from all over the world to play Dungeons and Dragons, but at its core, it is a group based, in-person activity. Friends come together at a table and play a game that can take you anywhere. What better way to bring those friends closer together than to provide a great meal.

Tables don’t just hold our dice, notes and terrain. They are where people bond over shared meals and snacks. At our table, we make meals that are themed sometimes to fit in with our Dungeons and Dragons experience. We have made a variety of dishes from the official Dungeons and Dragons Cookbook: Arkhan’s Halfling Chili, Hand Pies, and Miner’s Pie. We also put on a full taco and nacho bar every now and then and we provide a variety of snacks for the table.

For snacks we get a variety of brand name and off brand chips for everyone including tortilla chips for those who love salsa. We also provide fresh fruit or veggies depending on the day, We try to alternate them so we don’t stagnate the table with the same food all the time. We bring a selection of sodas too and, for our more discerning individuals, we provide special sodas made with our Soda Stream machine.

I understand that not all of use have a lot of money to put on an event when hosting a game or get together. We started out table by putting in an important house rule. Anyone who comes over needs to bring at least one thing to share with the group. It can be a bag of chips, a bottle of soda or some dip, just bring something. This helps everyone feel like they are a part of the group and contributing. We also started out by buying the generic snacks and not the brand name. You’d be surprised at how good they are and sometimes they taste better than the brand names!

Sharing food with friends is amazing. It seems to bring people closer together and helps create lifelong bonds. However, there are a few food taboos that you should avoid committing while at another person’s home. There are those people who will just go through your refrigerator or pantry looking for food. It sucks to have something saved away for yourself only to find it missing after a session because someone grabbed it without asking. Don’t be those people. It is specifically why my husband and I set everything up before the session. The only time people go into our fridge is to get their drinks.

Avoid taking more than anybody else. I have had friends and my husband still has friends who treat all group activities as a means to get theirs. They think that because there are, say four people, at the table that they need to get exactly one fourth of the food and drink. Misers like this make the rest of the table no fun for anyone and it makes others resent you. Don’t be a miser, just eat what you’d like and don’t worry about getting exactly enough. That just can’t be fun for the person either.

Whether it’s just a few bags of chips and bottles of soda or a full course meal, food brings people together. It could be something from a cookbook or some pizza from the nearest Domino’s. You’d be surprised at how inexpensive it is to make a good meal for a few people. So grab the cheapest or the best things you can and get out there, make friends, bring existing friends closer, and play some D&D!