Dining at a Live Action Roleplaying Event, a catering guide for larping. Regardless of the length of the event you’re going to, there’s no doubt you need to eat and drink. Here are the different options players choose when participating in a live-action roleplaying weekend and a few thoughts on them.
Fast
“It’s only a two-day event; I don’t have to eat a proper meal.” This type of role player will usually stop at a garage or convenience store on their way to the event and buy a bag of pre-made sandwiches, chips, pies, and chocolate. This works well for players who for some reason can’t find time to sort food before the event. However, a live-action role-playing event is usually grueling and can often last late into the night. Not eating right for even a few days can affect your sleep patterns, your health and therefore your enjoyment of the larping weekend event.
Fast food
Some of the larger live-action role-playing events have burger vans and other catering facilities similar to what you might find at a music festival. Some people find larping takes enough time to organize their gear, and being able to buy all the food locally leaves more time for the play itself. The downside here is that fast food, in most cases, is everything else than is healthy, and queues and delays can mean you miss out on the adventure you are paying for. Money can also be an issue for many people who go larping and local prices can be quite high.
The player who has everything
In every club and at every event there are people who simply bring everything with them when they go larping; including the kitchen sink. These people can build themselves a full English breakfast or even a three course meal from the comfort of their tent or car. The main advantage of this approach is that you can feed yourself well at a live action roleplaying event on a small budget. The main disadvantages are the space required in the car, which can mean leaving equipment behind, and also the time it takes to cook and clean up when you could participate in the activities you paid for.
Hosting an event as a group
This is a popular approach taken by many people these days when exiting larps. You get a group of people playing live-action RPGs all together, and everyone brings different things to feed everyone in the group for a series of meals. This can prove to be a relatively inexpensive option and means you’re only helping out at one meal but eating out at many. However, this does require some organization and as in any area of life not everyone in the hobby is capable of doing this well and people can get quite upset when there is no milk for their tea etc.
Catering by the organizers of the event.
This is probably the best option if you are at an event. Leave it to the people who run the event, who have hired more professionals and offer a healthy, filling range of food at a reasonable price. Many of the larger events across the UK now offer a catering option. When in doubt, contact them and see what’s available.
Thanks to Marc Roberts
