The New Flavors of Pokémon

Lately, there has been newly released information on the upcoming Sword and Shield games with a particular twist. Quite a bit of that information pertains to culinary aspects, specifically flavors. Food and cuisine is not often linked with Pokémon, but if they become so, the results may be considered neat, especially for a food fan like me. Such is the case with the recently released information, which shed some additional tidbits on the flavors found in the world of Pokémon.

The first tidbit concerns one of the newly discovered species of Pokémon, Alcremie. Alcremie is a new species that vaguely looks like a lump of cake frosted with a very generous amount of whipped cream, and its Gigantamax form (more on this soon enough) indeed simply resembles a multi-tiered birthday cake. According to its lore, Alcremie can produce whipped cream by itself with flavors according to its coloring and decorations, and at least 15 of these have been discovered, including two dubbed as "matcha" and "vanilla". Not only is Alcremie a spiritual successor to Vivillon, it also demonstrates a possibly wide range of flavors as well, and lots of sweet ones at that.

A second tidbit is related to a new feature introduced in the game, called Pokémon Camp. One thing that occurs here is the act of cooking, which involves a selection of ingredients being combined with a selection of Berries in order to cook... curries, and various selections of such based on the ingredients and Berries. It appears to be akin to the Berry blending feature found in a previous generation, and the resulting curry dishes have similar flavor tags. Curry seems to have become an official dish of sorts.

Both tidbits affirm something sweet and savory as part of the greater world of Pokémon. They may be considered one-dimensional (the same species of Pokémon, the same dish), but they can possess different flavors and tastes. It's quite inspiring to discern just what can result out of these elements for whoever would be tasting them. The possibilities of crafted flavors appear to be unique and diverse.

Due to the rare links of food and cuisine with Pokémon, it's often hard to tell about what might people there be tasting. The newly discovered information should shed light on that and inspire lots of Pokémon fans who are food fans to conceive new things based on them (and, needless to say, buy and play the games). I, for one, am as ready to get in the kitchen as I am to get out and train some Pokémon.

One year ago: Other Uses of Pokémon Go
Two years ago: Incubators in Pokémon Go