Monster Hunter Wilds is a monster hit for Capcom, with an incredible 1.3 million concurrent players on Steam alone. And amid indie developers saying its launch stopped sales of their games and Palworld developer Pocketpair giving staff the day off to play, it seems Monster Hunter Wilds has caused an unlikely surge in sales of cheese naan.
As reported by Automaton, Monster Hunter Wilds’ release has caused fans to rush out to Nepalese restaurants to buy cheese naan.
But why cheese naan in particular? It’s because of one cutscene in the game that revolves around the cooking and eating of cheese naan. It shows it in great detail, complete with steaming hot melted cheese, as the player character and their companions sit down for a meal in Kunafa Village.
As you progress through the story in the Windward Plains, your hunter will be invited to a meal in the village of Kunafa, where those who live in the desert reside. These villagers who know nothing of hunting and haven’t even seen weapons before treat you to a dish that resembles a freshly baked cheese naan. As you bite into its crispy surface with charred spots, both steam and melted cheese come pouring out. The meal is an unbelievable feast for a hunter from the outside world, making it a scene that shows just how much you’re welcomed by these villagers.
Automaton translated a number of social media posts from fans who were so inspired by the Monster Hunter Wilds cutscene that they sought out cheese naan in real life. A Nepalese restaurant in Tokyo called Salam Namaste also got in on the fun, tweeting: “Salam Namaste when we get 99 cheese naan orders at midnight.”
深夜にチーズナン99個注文が入った時のサラムナマステ
pic.twitter.com/WA7E2pYlNP— サラムナマステ Salam Namaste Tokyo सलाम नमस्ते👂🥘🌕🍗🥃 (@salamnamaste01) March 2, 2025
“The cheese naan is too popular,” the restaurant added. “Even though I had a lot of cheese, I started to run out so I had to go to the supermarket to buy more. Thank you, Monster Hunter!”
In an interview with IGN, Kaname Fujioka, Executive Director and Art Director for Wilds as well as the Director of the first Monster Hunter game, explained how Capcom filled this short yet memorable food scene with attention to detail.
“We spent quite a lot of time coming up with what those villagers eat,” Fujioka said. “Since they aren’t a hunting people, what could they normally be eating? When we thought about how they get animal-based nutrients, we decided that they must raise livestock and eat dairy-based foods. You’re able to get a grain similar to wheat when you go out to a more wide-open part of the map, right? So maybe they make something like naan using that grain. On top of that, we wanted it to be something made from simple ingredients, and not too complicated. We thought that a dish like cheese naan would be simple yet possible to depict in a delicious way, and so we put a good amount of effort into that.”
So while it may appear to be a casual dining scene, it seems that a lot of labor went into showing this dish similar to one that exists in real life, cheese naan, in a delicious and meaningful way.
“It’s actually incredibly difficult to depict something that’s crispy on the surface but springy on the inside using CG,” added Fujioka. “We’d been making attempts at the food scene in Kunafa from early on in development, even at the prototype stage, and we just couldn’t get it to look the way we wanted. Still, the Wilds development team is incredibly talented, and I was shocked to see them ultimately reach the way it looks in the released version after a lot of trial and error. It really does look tasty…”
Monster Hunter Wilds Weapons Tier List
Monster Hunter Wilds Weapons Tier List
To help get your Monster Hunter Wilds adventure started, take a look at what Monster Hunter Wilds doesn’t tell you, and a guide to all 14 weapon types in the game. We’ve also got a detailed Monster Hunter Wilds walkthrough in progress, a Monster Hunter Wilds multiplayer guide to explain how to play with friends, and if you’ve played one of the open betas, here’s how to transfer your Monster Hunter Wilds Beta character over.
IGN’s Monster Hunter Wilds review returned an 8/10. We said: “Monster Hunter Wilds continues to smooth off the rougher corners of the series in smart ways, making for some extremely fun fights but also lacking any real challenge.”
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
