There are video games in all sorts of themes. There are adventure games, puzzles, sports, and more. And they’re all trying to win our attention through addictive gameplay and bright graphics. With a history that dates back multiple decades, it isn’t uncommon for video games to reflect sci-fi sagas and fantasy worlds. It also isn’t uncommon for video games to reflect today’s careers. There are games themes around military service, city planning, piloting, hospital surgery, and, of course, restaurants. There are many, many games centered around restaurants.
Food and entertainment, in general, have long enjoyed a fruitful relationship. And the relationship between video games and restaurants dates back further than you might think, with early games developers understanding the relationship between food and entertainment and capitalizing on it. When you think about it, gaming and restaurants go hand-in-hand. We see gaming in pubs, and it only makes sense that they also appear in a number of restaurants.

Food and Casino Games
The casino game has an ongoing love affair with food. From kitchen-based puzzles to games about becoming a chef and creating your own kitchen, there are plenty of ways to combine a love of food with a passion for gaming. Today, casino games have made great strides in technology, creating even more fun, food-based gaming opportunities. Right now, for example, you can play actual live casino games. Then there are interactive technologies, such as VR and AR. So don’t be surprised if we see some exciting interactive food-based games coming our way in the near future.
Each country has its own unique cuisine, with different preparation methods, products, and spices. And casino game providers were quick to capitalize on that fact, developing games representing food from all over the world. Not that we don’t have some tasty options in the likes of Vancouver, of course.
Of course, Chinese cuisine remains extremely popular. So Playtech went ahead and developed a slot machine based on this very theme. “Chinese kitchen” takes you to a Chinese restaurant where you work alongside a funny boss. These slots make you drool as you spin the reel and feast your eyes on the tasty slots. What’s great about games like this is that you can virtually visit different countries and study the individual qualities of food on different continents.
The Evolution of Kitchen-Inspired Video Games
Those Arcade Years
The early years of video games saw the development of numerous simple and yet innovative games played with buttons and joysticks. They featured challenging gameplay, tiny sounds, and primitive graphics. Yes, even from the dawn of video games, developers have turned to food as a theme for video game entertainment.
Platforming Adventures
With advances in technology, we later saw the development of the home console market, presenting a new way for people to explore video games. Just like they did in the arcade era, developers created games with storylines based around food, and yet more inventive platform video games themed around restaurants.
Mobile Games
The powerful combination of the Internet and the smartphone have led to a field as vast as it’s ever been, both for developers and players. Without expensive consoles or bulky hardware, mobile gamers can sneak in some playtime on their favourite restaurant-themed games on their lunch break at work, on their morning commute, or even in the line at the grocery store.
A Branded Love Affair
But it isn’t just video games themselves that illustrate the kitchen’s influence on the gaming industry. Sometimes it’s the relationships between brands that know just how well these two industries go together. Some brands have even become BFFs when it comes to the food and beverage industry teaming up with gaming giants. Taco Bell, for example, enjoys a close working relationship with one well-known console. The two giants have established a tasty partnership revolving around giveaways via instant wins and sweepstakes.
Wrap Up
Today, with healthy diets being all the rage and a plethora of cookery shows to watch, the kitchen’s influence on popular culture may be greater than ever. That remains true when it comes to video games, with many of today’s hot titles still influenced by the kitchen.
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