Like Fantasy Novels? Prove It at Dinner

Fantasy novels' focus on food has spawned a mini-industry—even if the recipes aren't always so appetizing. Last year saw the release of the Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, which has sold 150,000 copies; now there's a book of recipes taken from The Hunger Games and two Game of Thrones-inspired cookbooks on their way, the Wall Street Journal reports. But eating what the characters eat means chowing down on food that ranges from bizarre to downright disgusting.

On the tamer side, there's chicken and oranges in cream sauce, from the Hunger Games. It's "odd but definitely edible," says a reader of the Fictional Food blog, which garners 50,000 hits monthly. "It helps you relate to the character and understand how she was feeling." Perhaps less appealing is grilled snake and spiced honeyed locusts, from Game of Thrones; fans-turned-chefs mimic the latter using freeze-dried crickets. Now, "we're on the lookout for squirrel," says one cook. But "you kind of have to know someone." (More fantasy stories.)