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Street Fighter cookbook's Dan Dan Noodles, Salmon Onigiri offer perfect way to celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
Capcom’s Street Fighter is one of Japan’s most successful martial arts fighting game franchises of all time since it first punched its way onto the video arcade scene way back in 1987.
With its colorful collection of combatants like Chun-Li, Ryu, Akuma, Sakura, M. Bison, Ken Masters, and Cammy, it's remained a multi-billion dollar institution that's blossomed into an entertainment empire which includes comics, board games, movies, anime series, trading cards, and apparel.
Now Insight Editions is publishing a deluxe new cookbook inspired by the charismatic characters and exotic flavors of Street Fighter — and SYFY WIRE has an exclusive preview of its tasty Asian-accented meals, snacks, and desserts just in time to salute Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
Street Fighter: The Official Street Food Cookbook arrives on June 1 written by Victoria Rosenthal (Fallout: The Vault Dweller's Official Cookbook, Destiny: The Official Cookbook). It’s a fortifying level-up for your appetite with more than 80 easy-to-prepare recipes based on the iconic fighting game.
This kickass new cookbook follows Sakura Kasugano, a high school student, martial artist, and world traveler who embarks on a trek around the globe to train, fight, and sample cuisine you’d discover served in food stalls on the streets of Japan. Stories of her encounters with other fighters and their favorite recipes from their hometowns around the world adds just the right spice for ambitious cooks of every nationality.
"A very important aspect with all of my cookbooks is to set them within the game world itself, telling a story from a character’s perspective to make them a true lorebook,” Rosenthal tells SYFY WIRE. “It was difficult trying to figure out which character would work best but after a bit of back and forth with Capcom, we decided Sakura was perfect. She has interacted with many of the Street Fighter cast and she is a fan favorite.
“I wanted to be sure the most popular characters were included, but I also made sure there was a good international spread so I could show off as many different cultures as I could. The book ended up highlighting 49 different characters. One of the hardest parts with this project was the huge variety of voices and personalities that had to be highlighted. This required a lot of reading and getting into the minds of each of the characters while understanding how Sakura would interact with each of them.”
“After the character list was finalized, I began looking at each character's story, their likes and dislikes, and started building up a recipe list," she adds. "For example, Sakura was extremely easy because she listed white rice as a like. Onigiri were a perfect way to highlight rice, especially for someone who is always on the move, they are perfect travel snacks. She ended up with two different onigiri, a savory salmon version and a sweet red bean version. I decided to include a red bean one to tie her friendship with Ryu, since he loves Mizu Yokan (which is made from red bean paste) so much.”
Now check out what's on the menu in our exclusive peek inside Street Fighter: The Official Street Food Cookbook (June 1) in the full gallery below.
