We Need an Official Cyberpunk Cookbook RIGHT NOW December 10, 2025

Good morning, chooms, is anyone else getting hungry? I am, but I have no idea how to cook. That’s not much of a problem anymore, as the past decade has seen an incredible surge in popularity for publishing a wave of unique, themed cookbooks. Everyone has to eat, and while many believe that print books are in a decline (ED NOTE: I dispute that) official cookbooks filled with recipes inspired by major franchises are quite popular. As a writer, I know for a fact that nothing grounds a fantastical universe more than presenting the reader how a human being’s basic necessities are met in that universe, so don’t skimp on showing food and lodging. I’m not kidding, nearly every movie franchise, TV show and video game ranging from Fallout to Back to the Future actually has an officially-licensed cookbook on a shelf at your local bookstore.

Here’s just a limited look at my own collection:

Why are these cookbooks so popular? They’re a great way to bring a piece of the worlds we love into our world, and a fun way to liven up your holiday gathering or themed parties! Their art style and pictures also make the books themselves look FANTASTIC on a coffee table or bookshelf. If you want to know just how successful they are, three successful official cookbooks were published featuring food and drinks from the Dungeons and Dragons franchise, and many of the recipes from those books were featured in the game’s official cooking show, Heroes’ Feast, which you can watch on streaming services like Tubi or the official Dungeons and Dragons channel on Samsung TV+.

Did anyone else notice something missing from the shelves above? Where’s the Cyberpunk Cookbook? I will spoil that answer for all of you right now, there isn’t one. There has never been an official cookbook based on the Cyberpunk RPG franchise and for the life of me, I cannot comprehend why. Cyberpunk has literally years worth of lore to build upon, and details from its sourcebooks (and video game) has provided players every detail about where the food of the dark future comes from. But the game itself is just not enough, and I’ve personally desired to consume more material in the Cyberpunk world R. Talsorian Games created. For me, that’s included picking up many of the recent sourcebooks for the original pen-and-paper Role Playing Game Cyberpunk 2077 was based upon, and I know I’m not alone. In fact, food is so detailed in Night City, YouTube Channel Any Austin was recently able to 1-to-1 replicate an experience eating everything he needed alongside his character in Cyberpunk 2077. Who among us hasn’t wanted to know what human kibble from the Time of the Red or a Burrito XL tastes like straight out of a 2077 vending machine? I LOVE Japanese noodles and I can admit I will personally salivate every time my character walks past a noodle stand on the side of the road. This a world that has developed cybernetic prosthesis capable of improving upon human limbs, and the ability to plug your mind into a computer that (depending on your entry point, the game or the tabletop books) is either dealing with the immediate aftermath of a nuclear apocalypse, or showcasing how society continues to go on when a post-nuclear society has to produce massive quantities of food with limited access to fresh produce or livestock.

Naturally, many fictional worlds are known to have more than just their own street names or characters, the universe Cyberpunk exists in include entirely original brands, created by fictional companies with their own motivations which have been debated for the past forty years. This video, produced by YouTube Channel bandercoot, tries to explain where the people of Night City get their food.

So how can we eat this grub for ourselves? At this point, people are trying to make recipes of their own. Without an official cookbook, this can only reach a limited success, and hardly in a way that’s been officially sanctioned by the game’s original publisher. We just don’t know what these foods are supposed to taste like, but I want to give a shout out to some of the creators online that have attempted to speculate. The YouTube Channel MisoHungrie is popular for reviewing many of the published video game cookbooks we’ve talked about in this article (ED NOTE: He’s our source on what new cookbooks are out.). He was actually inspired to highlight many of Night City’s foods as seen in Cyberpunk 2077, and this video is one of the best examples I can provide on just how diverse the game’s food is.

And who could forget the drinks? Not me! A major site in the Cyberpunk lore is the Afterlife bar, where drinks are named after the most legendary of netrunners who passed on in the line of duty. In fact, people are still trying to replicate the newer drinks added in later game patches. YouTube Channel How to Drink has done his best at trying to replicate several of the drinks served at the Afterlife, as well as some new recipes he thinks should be served on a future Cyberpunk sequel. I don’t fully agree with all of his drink options, since we believe Morgan Blackhand is still alive (and therefore not yet deserving of a drink at the Afterlife), his videos have a fantastic production value! I had a bartender friend of mine try replicating some of the drink recipes featured in the game, and he believes they would be tremendously successful if he was able to get them served at something like a cyberpunk-themed bar. Take a look at this one and see if you like his recipe for a Johnny Silverhand:

Just look around you, and you can see that the world of Cyberpunk is surrounding all around us. The game Cyberpunk 2077 has seen tremendous success in the past few years since its 2.0 patch and official expansion Phantom Liberty launched. A new CCG, called Cyberpunk Legends, is expected to launch in the middle of next year! This Cyberpunk cookbook, if it were to be made, could be just as popular as the Heroes’ Feast books have become. The food would make for great consumables at a Cyberpunk-themed LARP, weekly tabletop game night, or eSport event! So I’m asking you, R. Talsorian Games, bring it to print! We’re literally starving for it!

Cyberpunk 2077 is out now for Switch 2, PC, Mac, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5.