Highlights

  • The dungeon is a place full of life and can provide plenty of healthy and delicious food if you know where to look. It is more sustainable to find food in the dungeon than to bring it from outside.
  • Maintaining a balanced diet is crucial for adventurers to survive and perform at their best in the dungeon. Beef jerky and stale bread may be fulfilling, but they are not a healthy diet.
  • The division of labor is important not only in fighting, but also in cooking. Each party member contributes their specific skills and knowledge to ensure the success of the cookout and the survival of the group in the dangerous dungeon.

Warning: The following contains spoilers for Delicious in Dungeon Episode 2, "Roast Basilisk/Omelet/Kakiage”, now streaming on Netflix.

Our heroes continue their journey in the dangerous yet beautiful and fulfilling dungeon. The objective is to save Falin who was devoured by the vicious red dragon a couple of days earlier. Unfortunately, they keep getting sidetracked by hunting and cooking the delicious monsters around them.

From Marcille trying to farm a screaming Mandrake by tying it up to a giant Bat Monster to Senshi asking Chilchuk to use the traps as cooking appliances, there are lots of interesting things happening in episode 2 of Delicious in Dungeon. However, there is one particular thing that we’d like to focus on in this article, which is the three important lessons that our heroes learned about adventuring in a dungeon.

The Dungeon Will Provide

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Since the first episode, there are two things that Delicious in Dungeon tries to convey to the viewers. Perspective and Sustainability. To most people, a dungeon is a scary place that you only visit out of necessity. Any adventurer must create solid plans and careful preparation, especially when it comes to food, before even thinking of setting foot in this mysterious place. After all, no matter how strong you are, you won’t be able to continue if you don’t have any food left to eat.

Through Laios and friends, however, the author tries to tell the viewers that everything is a matter of perspective. A dungeon doesn’t have to be a scary place. Once you pay attention to everything around you, you’ll quickly realize that a dungeon is a place full of life. The roots of certain trees can be a great addition to your soup. The fruits of man-eating plants are actually quite sweet and juicy. The meat of bats and scorpions can be highly nutritious and delicious as well. In a way, the dungeon is similar to a bountiful rainforest.

If you know where to look, the dungeon will provide plenty of healthy and delicious foods for you. Not only that, but for those who plan to conduct a long-term expedition, like Laios and friends, it is actually much more sustainable to find food from the dungeons, rather than bringing food from the outside.

After all, there’s only so much beef jerky and stale bread that you can bring with you. That’s why although eating slimes and screaming mandrake might seem like a ridiculous idea at first, it is actually the most logical and sustainable option for those who want to explore a dungeon. This is the first lesson.

Maintaining a Balanced Diet is a Must

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The reason why beef jerky and stale bread are mentioned in the previous section is because those are the preferred foods for adventurers who want to explore the dungeon, as we’ve seen in episode 2. After all, they can last quite a long time and with a bit of fire and salt, they can be quite delicious as well.

However, as Senshi mentions in this episode, beef jerky and bread may be quite delicious and fulfilling, but it is far from a healthy diet. To survive in this dungeon, one needs to keep their body in the best condition possible. That requires eating a balanced diet with the proper amount of meat, carbs, and of course, vegetables.

This is the one area that is often neglected by anybody who wants to venture into the unknown. The body requires various types of nutrients and if an adventurer, no matter how strong they might be, fails to fulfill what is required by his body, then he won’t be able to perform at his full potential. In a dangerous and tricky place like a dungeon, that can be the difference between life and death. This is the second lesson.

The Importance of the Division of Labor

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Just like how the foods need to be balanced, the composition of an adventurer’s party needs to be balanced as well. There needs to be a vanguard and a supporter, a hard hitter and a tank, a healer and a scout, just to name a few. Each party member contributes their specific skill sets and knowledge to ensure the party will be able to tackle any situation that they might encounter. They assume specific roles and responsibilities and do their part when the needs arise. A division of labor, if you will.

But as we’ve seen in this episode, the division of labor is not only relevant during a fight but also during a cookout. Senshi might be the best monster chef in the world, but he can’t do it alone. He needs help from the other members of the party. The best fighter, Laios, helps him hunt the monsters. The scout, Chilchuck, helps Senshi reverse engineer the death traps and turn them into cooking appliances. And Marcille, well, when it comes to cooking she is the perfect audience.

If anybody wants to survive in such a dangerous dungeon, then they have to pick their companions carefully. Because with a proper division of labor, it is possible to thrive in a dungeon. This is the third and last lesson that our heroes learned in this episode.