Non-meat health ingredients: or beans, please

theslynx

I know this is probably going to irritate some players, but I'm hoping that Zenimax will include some non-meat Health-boost ingredients. (Beans? Lentils?) They wouldn't even have to be as effective as current top recipes, or could be 'hybrid' ingredients - simply having the option would be nice.

This is not an attempt to make the game a 'safe space' or adhere to 'PC sensitivities' or whatever else seems to instantly (and somewhat ironically) rise the gorge of so many people today. This isn't about converting people to vegetarianism or injecting contemporary social issues into the game; I have other motives here.

First, it's inaccurate to suggest that meat is the sole ingredient capable of making people more robust, presumably because of protein content. Most vegetables, for instance, contain at least some quantity of all eight essential amino acids, with several being very good sources of protein, and the notion that they are incomplete is mythological but pernicious. RPGs often reinforce this belief, and it'd be nice to have a perfunctory nod towards how nutrition actually works.

Second, gathering ingredients while adventuring is fun. Gathering meat generally isn't. It either requires you to kill random creatures for no other reason, or waste a bunch of time fiddling with bait while fishing - and keep worms and raw guts in your already cluttered inventory. Having the option to find something like beans in random containers, then making that into a meal, would be a nice addition.

Third, lore reasons can plausibly support the notion of religious/philosophical beliefs with leanings towards avoiding meat.

Reman Cyrodiil, for instance, was claimed to have been born, quite literally, from the dirt with the Amulet of Kings in his fist, and named himself after the land he meant to save; his adherents had ties to beliefs about sacred animals, including bull-gods, and hoped to fulfill a promise to 'render this land alive again.' Other groups that have been suggested to have strong naturalistic beliefs, including the draconian and xenophobic Alessian Order, with its nature spirits and god-animals (which means you could play as vegetarian without the hippie connotations, if that bothered you).

Several races have nature-gods/spirits, such as Khenarthi (Khajiit wind-god, represented as an animal, usually a hawk), and Baan Dar (Khajiit spirit not 'man nor God... but a string of seeds sown upon the land and left to grow into a forest,' which some observers believe refers to a philosophy or way of life rather than a deity). Meanwhile, the Ehlnofey are worshipped by some elves and works towards preserving the land while taking on aspects of nature; in some cases, they formed themselves into 'Earth Bones,' effectively becoming laws of nature incarnate. This is only a quick survey of examples, and I'm sure many more could be provided by people who know this stuff better than I do.

This would also be more in line with past games that have had food with stats properties have not differentiated between meat or plant-based foods. For example, most player-made foods in Skyrim restore health as well as carrying other effects.

tl;dr - It'd be nice to have some non-meat health-boosting ingredients like beans. This is not part of a PC conspiracy, but because it makes sense based on lore, offers a better gathering experience, and corresponds with how real-life nutrition works.

Thanks for reading.

Abeille

Sure, why not.

But also make vegetable-free competitive meals for us who have Bosmer characters who follow the Green Pact. How can I be sure those vegetables didn't come from Valenwood?

FoolishHuman

In this game drinking alcohol helps you heal wounds...

Taylor_MB

This is one of those harmless RP suggestions that make sense and don't effect anyone else, I say go for it. Assigning meat = HP is a meaningless system anyway.

Enslaved

I can see why even ingame consumation of certain ingredients make some ppl feel uneasy. I am not vegetarian nor vegan, I guess I am just an ordinary person that eats what he can provide, but I see no issue in non meat health boost recipies being added into the game.

And I agree, for lore friendly reasons, Bosmer need more meat only recepies.

WillhelmBlack

TL;DR version -

I want beans on toast please.

Actually reality -

Steak has more protein.

That was some serious waffling btw OP. If you want to RP being a veggie in game, you should have to stick with the veggie foods. Respec your character to suit the veg food, so it's more realistic for you. I bet most would rather not have the devs wasting time on stuff like this when there are much more serious problems with this game. But good read none the less.

Mrs_Malaka

Oh sweet Hay Seuss...

FoolishHuman

[SNIp]

Yes, and based on lore, and real life nutrition nothing about provisioning in the game makes any sense, which was my point. This is a pure gameplay thing to have different food effects sorted in categories. Concerning the "better gathering experience", there are already so many recipies and most of them do the same, how many variations of food do we need? How many ingredients to fill up the inventory?

[Edited for removed post]

lolo_01b16_ESO

I like the current system as it follows a logic in itself. Every dish contains out of something neutral (saltrice, cheese,...) and the ingredients for the stat increase (fruits for magicka, vegetables for stamina and meat for hp).
Sure, that can't be exactly translated to RL, but I prefer if a game follows it's own logic rather than some random mechanics just to make it look a bit more like RL.

Waseem

yeah we need some vegan-friendly recipes

makeyurself

From a RP perspective I totally understand what you mean? It is something I have thought about as well. Veg/non-veg aside, some of the meals sound so gross I can't picture some of my characters eating them. I'm just not sure this would be a priority for ZOS, or most other players sadly. Cheers to hoping, and happy gaming!

RavenRoxie

theslynx wrote: »

I know this is probably going to irritate some players, but I'm hoping that Zenimax will include some non-meat Health-boost ingredients. (Beans? Lentils?) They wouldn't even have to be as effective as current top recipes, or could be 'hybrid' ingredients - simply having the option would be nice.

This is not an attempt to make the game a 'safe space' or adhere to 'PC sensitivities' or whatever else seems to instantly (and somewhat ironically) rise the gorge of so many people today. This isn't about converting people to vegetarianism or injecting contemporary social issues into the game; I have other motives here.

First, it's inaccurate to suggest that meat is the sole ingredient capable of making people more robust, presumably because of protein content. Most vegetables, for instance, contain at least some quantity of all eight essential amino acids, with several being very good sources of protein, and the notion that they are incomplete is mythological but pernicious. RPGs often reinforce this belief, and it'd be nice to have a perfunctory nod towards how nutrition actually works.

Second, gathering ingredients while adventuring is fun. Gathering meat generally isn't. It either requires you to kill random creatures for no other reason, or waste a bunch of time fiddling with bait while fishing - and keep worms and raw guts in your already cluttered inventory. Having the option to find something like beans in random containers, then making that into a meal, would be a nice addition.

Third, lore reasons can plausibly support the notion of religious/philosophical beliefs with leanings towards avoiding meat.

Reman Cyrodiil, for instance, was claimed to have been born, quite literally, from the dirt with the Amulet of Kings in his fist, and named himself after the land he meant to save; his adherents had ties to beliefs about sacred animals, including bull-gods, and hoped to fulfill a promise to 'render this land alive again.' Other groups that have been suggested to have strong naturalistic beliefs, including the draconian and xenophobic Alessian Order, with its nature spirits and god-animals (which means you could play as vegetarian without the hippie connotations, if that bothered you).

Several races have nature-gods/spirits, such as Khenarthi (Khajiit wind-god, represented as an animal, usually a hawk), and Baan Dar (Khajiit spirit not 'man nor God... but a string of seeds sown upon the land and left to grow into a forest,' which some observers believe refers to a philosophy or way of life rather than a deity). Meanwhile, the Ehlnofey are worshipped by some elves and works towards preserving the land while taking on aspects of nature; in some cases, they formed themselves into 'Earth Bones,' effectively becoming laws of nature incarnate. This is only a quick survey of examples, and I'm sure many more could be provided by people who know this stuff better than I do.

This would also be more in line with past games that have had food with stats properties have not differentiated between meat or plant-based foods. For example, most player-made foods in Skyrim restore health as well as carrying other effects.

tl;dr - It'd be nice to have some non-meat health-boosting ingredients like beans. This is not part of a PC conspiracy, but because it makes sense based on lore, offers a better gathering experience, and corresponds with how real-life nutrition works.

Thanks for reading.

It is a gaaaaameeeee!!! Oh, my deer baby jezurzz..... I'm sorry, but like seriously.........


I feel that you are taking "roleplaying" to like a whole new level bro.... To like... A zenith level. Please, go outside, and get some air.

TheImperfect

More veggie options great, I'm a veggie and like that. There's plenty already in game like firsthold fruit and cheese etc.

Brrrofski

This is a game.

[SNIP]. Fantasy heroes would never be a veggie.

[Edited for bait]

skiptomyluau

Seems like a decent enough idea. I'm an Orc, I'd eat trash if it boosted my stats

Rouven

Beans are so dangerous for the environment, think of all the gas emissions.

Seriously though, I steal my meat from bandits and hagraven - they know how to cure it right. Then I put it under my horses saddle, makes yummy beef jerky.

Ok, I'm fine with beans under one two conditions - there also has to be a recipe with beans for a nice alcoholic beverage and one to make jelly beans!

TequilaFire

Beans, beans, the magical fruit
The more you eat, the more you toot
The more you toot, the better you feel
So we have beans at every meal!

LMar

There used to be different recipes and provisioning materials in the early versions of the game but that was a source of inventory issues and a lot of recipes did the same thing (just named differently because they were found in a different alliance). They removed that system because it was a big pile of confusion and you had to keep a ton of provisioning materials.

The current system has made recipes a bit more logical and reduced the amount of clutter/food material that did the same thing in inventories
Saying that, a lot of the recipes were fun to collect and made for interesting reading.

Zyrudin

Cavarka

Not sure how my Bosmer feels about all this bean eating talk. Going to go make him a monkey, walrus and miniature mammoth stew.

Rosveen

I find it interesting that you use lore as an argument for yet another overhaul of the Provisioning system, but failed to mention the one Tamrielic religion that explicitly forbids eating anything but meat.

BlackEar

I agree with OP. Everyone here is just jealous because he/she has original ideas

Milvan

Why people hating on such a minor issue? Really guys, don't 4chan or 9gag plz.

I'm +1 for it. It's all about immersion, if eating meat free meals will increase players immersion I'm totally pro it.

Sigtric

Dev labor hours for something that is proposed to be less powerful versions of what we have already? What's the point of spending time working to put it in the game at that point?

I see zero value here.

ookami007

First, I don't approve of the politics of vegetarianism.

That said, there is plenty of historical evidence that many of the common folk ate very little meat, as animals were expensive back then. They had no where near the access to meat that we do today, with the exception of farmers, fishing communities and heavy rural areas where hunting was the prime source of meat.

Even then, a person couldn't apply their trade (blacksmithing, running an inn, etc) if they were out all day hunting - with the potential of bringing back nothing.

Thus, there was usually some sort of barter system, where a few men in the village or community hunted and then traded meat and pelts for things they needed - ale, vegetables, worked items, etc.

Of course, it REALLY depends on exactly what era we're talking about: early Middle Ages (think shortly after the fall of the Roman Empire) where things were more rural or later Middle Ages (right before the Renaissance) where urban centers dominated the political landscape.

So, despite my disdain of the injection of vegetarianism into the game, there is historical precedent for it. Although, in all honestly, VERY few people back in the middle ages or early renaissance ate a balanced diet - cabbage soup was actually not an uncommon meal for many days. There's a reason the life expectancy was so low back then.

anitajoneb17_ESO

ookami007 wrote: »

So, despite my disdain of the injection of vegetarianism into the game, there is historical precedent for it.

The game already has a very important "lifestyle" component in terms of eating habits : The Bosmer. It's not vegetarianism, admittedly, but it's very close to it by being its exact opposite.

Karius_Imalthar

I can see this being a harmless addition for RP or for people who don't like having to kill animals. I don't think the OP is trying to make a political statement. I think they just want another option in game. I've known people who were uncomfortable killing some animals in MMOs like elephants and wolves.

thawks

I'm in favour. I'd also like to see more Meat Mandate-friendly recipes. There is also currently an abundance of Imperial-, Khajiit-, Dunmeri-, and Redguard-style recipes, but nearly no Altmeri, Bosmeri, Argonian, or Orcish dishes.

Hateanthem

Out of all the things that need attention in this game, this is at the bottom of the list, and simply put, its silly.

And who eats pure health food anyway?

Nivinfarr

Sorry, but what about Nirn Warming? All those greenhouse gasses!

Rouven

Hateanthem wrote: »

Out of all the things that need attention in this game, this is at the bottom of the list, and simply put, its silly.

And who eats pure health food anyway?

The people who can do all the fighting stuff in real life I think. Don't look at me, I'm eating a muffin.

Aside from priorities everyone here is aware of the potential backlash and uproar, inventory space issues and no proper containers to store beans for housing. Outrageous.