MareQuest – Complete Food Guide

Introduction

Mares love food! A trait shared by most humans, as evidenced by our taste buds & digestive system system.

In this guide, I will provide my expert opinion on pixel foods. With experience playing classical pixel graphic games, I found that the good pixel art of food can actually make you hungry! Which is a good thing 🙂

The purpose of this guide is to:

• Make you hungry
• Appreciate food
• Appreciate the fact that cute mares eating food is cute
• Appreciate fine art (your mileage may vary)
• Reduce your boredom
• Analyze pixels
• Analyze colours & how it affects gameplay
• Optimize trade of food
• Tips & tricks for free food
• Delicious recipe for ratatouille

This guide will NOT be covering red apples, green apples and sugarcubes since they’re not technically part of the grid below.

Please feel free to skip to the section you’re interested in!

Enjoy & bon appetite ~

All screenshots are taken from the game, with cropping & minimal edits
Please do not take this guide too seriously, it is written in good fun with no malice intended to the creators

Overanalysis of pixels – Part I

Let’s begin our analysis by looking at this lovely screenshot of pixel food (henceforth called mare food, since they’re safe for mare consumption) located in the inventory screen

You can tell the picture of mare food is good if it makes you hungry. At first glance, all is well and good but…. something is a bit off about it. Can’t really put a finger (or hoof) on it, it one of those situations you would say “this mare food is cute but not cute”. For simplicity, let us call it unaesthetic for now.

Worry not. This guide will solve the answer for you – and the first step is to look closely.

Let us take a closer inspection at the first line of pixel that make the top of each mare food, row by row. For clarity, I have added a single pixel red line across each row at the very top:

Aha! Looks like we found that

the top most part of the mare food touches the border of the grid, affecting the following mare food:

• Ice cream (pink)
• Cupcake (pink)
• Energy Drinks (blue)
• Chips (blue)
• Gingerbread Cookies (white)
• Apple Pie (orange)
• Peaches (orange)

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem. However, let’s take a closer look at the bottom of each mare food. Again, I’ve added thin red lines to see where it ends and how close it is to the border of the number:

Zounds! Looks like we identified the reason for the aesthetic issue (or should we say

unMAREsthestic) appearance of the mare food.

The overly large spacing at the bottom of all mare food items makes the entire grid misalignedand therefore less palatable. Unless there is a reason for the space, this makes mares with OCD sad, and they may just cry.

Whatever the case, let us continue on this journey of analyzing each of the 30 mare food items. We shall pay close attention to the colours of the background of the mare food. Commence the noms:

1) Cake (pink)

Lovely slice of cake ♥

Good pixels in the detail – looks filled with endless sweetness baked by mare

Cake frosting goes straight to your glutes

Rating: 9/10

2) Ice cream (pink)

Conetastic piece of sweetness, likely strawberry flavoured

Personally don’t prefer that flavour, but defininately mare worthy

Rating: 7/10

3) Candy (pink)

Absolute round pieces of mare food

Three pieces! With chocolate, peppermint and strawberry!

Can’t be biased with this rating

Rating: Candy/10 (maretastic)

4) Cupcakes (pink)

Overall looks average

Confusable with ice cream

Mistaken trade may result in sad mare

Rating: 4/10

5) Kumquats (pink)

Actually haven’t eaten one before

Couldn’t figure out how to chop the tree down in DotT

Genuinely confused as to why this is here and not some other dessert

Realized that it is also associated with chimmicherrychangas. Iseewhatyoudidthere.png

Rating: Fruit/10

(This also prompted the analysis of colour pairing, the next part of this guide)

Pink row overall: Mostly sweet, just like cute mares. Nuff said 🙂

6) Grass (purple)

Is literal grass

Have not eaten before

Nice 3 blades with shading

Known to be greener on the other side

Mares eat it

Rating: Touch/10

7) Oats (purple)

Raw looking, coufusable with biscuits (yellow)

Good for digestion

Mares eat it

Rating: 5/10

8) Pumpkin Spiced Latte (purple)

Hipster food

Eaten by purple mares with glasses

Cute pumpkin

Visually distinct from herbal tea

Rating: 7/10

9) Breadfruit (purple)

Tropical fruit

Looks like a balloon / avocado

Looks nothing like bread

Impressive that it is in MareQuest

Likely egghead food eaten by purple mares

Hopeful for more tropical fruits

Rating: 8/10

10) Avocado toast (purple)

Looks like moldy bread

Good intentions as health food / ‘super’ food, bad implications for my appetite

Mares eat it

Purple mares likely love it

Rating: 2/10

Purple row overall: It is purple – everyone loves purple, especially the smart ones. A daisy (or some other flower) sandwich would make more sense than the toast, but I’m not complaining

11) Energy drinks (blue)

Gotta go fast

Looks like a battery

Mostly considered junk food

Blue mares probably like it

Rating: 3/10

12) Fries (blue)

Also called chips, unless from AMAREica

Perfectly unlabeled, as it should be

Mostly considered junk food

Blue mares probably like it (?)

Rating: 3/10

13) Potato chips (blue)

Chip is best brand for mare

Likely to be filled with mostly air

Mostly considered junk food

Blue mares probably like it (?)

Rating: 5/10

14) Protein powder (blue)

P-fuel sounds like rocket fuel

Sounds like a junk food

Is actually a health food

Looks like a tiny can of whey for small mares

Blue mares probably like it

Rating: Health/10

15) Rainbow coloured slushies (blue)

Looks like an afro

Four colours!

Mostly sugar

Great to have on a hot day

Rating: 6/10

Blue row overall: It’s mostly junk food. The artwork is distinct and easily discernible from all other mare food. Blue mares, lazy as they are known to be, actually prefer carbs and health food. Broccoli in particular comes to mind, but again, not complaining – we all indulge in some fast food from time to time.

Overanalysis of Pixels – Part II

16) Biscuits (yellow)

Looks like circular hay

Two pieces!

Simple yet cute

Great for tea parties

Rating: 8/10

17) Arugula (yellow)

Looks like kale

Two pieces!

Elegant vegetable

Are generally good for you

Rating: 7/10

18) Carrots (yellow)

Perfect vegetable for bunnies

Looks cooked

Yellow mares plant them in farm plots, sometimes beyond the garden

Supposedly good for your eyes

Rating: 7/10

19) Gingerbread cookies (yellow)

Mare shaped ♥

Cute

Very distinct amongst all mare foods

All mares love these

Rating: mare/10

20) Herbal tea (yellow)

Calming and soothing

May be confused with pumpkin spiced latte by the uninitiated

+ Tea leaf ♥

Rating: 9/10

Yellow row overall: Looks like a healthy balance of sweet things and vegetables – a tea party or a picnic table comes to mind! How gentle and sweet. Highest rating amongst all 6 rows by colour

21) Broiled asparagus (white)

Really thought these were DnD arrows / bolts at first

Really sharp and straight lines in the pixels

Generally expansive ‘super’ food found in restaurants

Delicious if you can afford it

Rating: 8/10

22) Rattatouille (white)

Poor translation of mare food into pixels

Makes more sense the longer you stare at it

Colours are correct, but not appetizing in pixel form

You may be familiar with it from a Disney / Pixar cartoon

Rating: 5/10

23) Caviar (white)

It is fish eggs – do not think too much about it in terms of mare food

High class food

Usually the black kind is a bit more salty

Looks like a can of shoe polish

Rating: 8/10

24) Eggplant Parmesan (white)

Actually delicious, served, cooked

Looks like a tomato painted purple

Looks like a fire burning inside – like a passion for mare is for care

Soft and lightly cheesed

Rating: 7/10

25) Omelette du Fromage (white)

Translates to ‘cheese omelette’ in French

You may be familiar with it from a Cartoon Network cartoon

Heavily cheesed with some green onions or green peppers

A bit too flat, maybe too thinned out

Rating: 7/10

Overall white row: These are actually not bad, if you can afford the price at restaurants. May be cheaper to cook these yourself – I’ll include a recipe for rattatouille at the end of this guide in case you’re feeling hungry (for food). They’re aesthetically pleasing to the eye (with the exception of rattatouille) and make sense for distinguished, classy, prim and proper white mares to partake in meals

26) Apple pie (orange)

A cute slice ♥

Not a mirror image of cake (pink) slice

Looks freshly baked from a farm setting

Rating 9/10

would eat

27) Hay (orange)

A square bale of compressed hay

Looks like a cardboard box / mail package recoloured

Can be confused for with biscuits (yellow) due to visual similarities

Would not eat

Mare would eat

Rating: mare/10

28) Peaches (orange)

Common emoji for ones’ posterior

Plain, simple and sweet fruit

Unable to determine if a pair or just one large peach

Rating: 8/10

29) Watermelon (orange)

Two slices

Has seeds

Disappointed to see slices cut in different portions

The cutter probably had 2 different watermelons

Also possible the front melon fell flat on the ground

Still sloppy and unappetizing if that is the case

Remains a mystery if the fruit is as big as a mare’s cute head

Rating: 2/10

The actual fruit is nice tho ♥30) Burgers (orange)

Has the most ingredients of all the mare foods

Single patty looks like meat – assume not to be the case because mare food

+ lettuce

+ tomato

+ cheese

+ sesame bun

Hopefully did not forget onion rings as a side

Rating: 6/10

, 8/10 if hungry

Overall orange row: With the exception of the burgers, all these food seem simple and easy to prepare, making for a homey cozy feeling. The watermelon is correctly coloured and shaded, but placed so unappetizingly that it’s a travesty against all orange mares.

Analysis of colours & how it affects gameplay

The teal deer… *ahem*. TL;DR version of the overalaysis as follows:

-Pink: Cake, Ice Cream, Candy, Cupcakes, Kumquats

-Purple: Grass, Oats, Pumpkin Spiced Latte, Breadfruit, Avacado Toast

-Blue: Energy Drinks, Fries, Potato Chips, Protein Shakes, Rainbow Colored Slushies

-Yellow: Biscuits, Arugula, Carrots, Gingerbread Cookies, Herbal Tea

-White: Broiled Asparagus, Rattatouille, Caviar, Eggplant Parmasean, Omelette du Fromage

-Orange: Apple Pie, Hay, Peaches, Watermelon, Burgers

This is public information available in the game description, however there is actually much more to it – aside from the loose connection to personalities by colour. It is not perfect (read: loose) and it does not have to, but let me introduce to you the following colour pairing chart by adding a green bar to separate them by pairs:

The food trade system in the game (by gifting a mare) works in the following pairs:

• Pink & Purple
• Blue & Yellow
• White & Orange

Mares with a pink background during dialogue will favourite one of six of the pink foods, and give you 2-3 purple food of a single type

Example: You gift Sweet Ice a cake, which is her favourite food item and she give you 2 oatsMares with a purple background during dialogue will favourite one of six of the purple foods, and give you 2-3 pink food of a single type

Example: You gift Happy Trails a breadfruit, which is her favourite food item and she gives you 3 Ice CreamThe same will be the case for any blue & yellow, white and orange pairs. These can be called ‘paried foods’ henceforth.

Paired foods will fall into one of 3 categories: liked (one of which will be favourite), neutral, disliked

Mare will gift the following if:

• you gift her favourite food: 2-3 of the paired food + 5 red apples + 5 green apples + 5 sugarcubes + her ♥♥FRIENDSHIP♥♥
• you gift her liked paired food (any of the coloured food that is not her favourite): 5 red apples + 5 green apples + 5 sugarcubes + her ♥♥FRIENDSHIP♥♥
• you gift her neutral paired food: 1 of each red apple, green apple and sugarcube

Mare will become sad and won’t talk to you if you gift her any disliked paired food

Optimize trade for food

Based on the previous section, the fastest way to get more food is by always giving mare her favourite food! You always have a net positive if you trade a mare’s favourite food: you give one type of food away, and you’re guranteed to get 2, sometimes 3 of the paired food back.

You can find out what it is by talking to her multiple times until she tells you one of the following:

• That she makes really great food (it will be a paired food) if you can exchange with her favourite food
• What her favourite food is
• Mixing X with Y is delicious / yummy / outstanding / maretastic / insert good pronoun here! (in this case, X is always her favourite food)

Do be careful, as she might be talking about her disliked paired food instead

Using the knowledge of paired foods, you can also guess which is her favourite one – your chances are 1 in 6, or 16.67%

Tips & tricks for free food

All is well and good to know, but where do we start getting the food? You have many options:

• Explore caves & open chests (there should be 3 in each cave, the more elegant looking the chest the more food you’ll find)
• Win the minigame with the Anonymous Egg Mare once for some Omelette du Fromage. How many you get will depend on how well you did
• Win the minigame with the Anonymous Pink Mare (found in the snow biome up north) after beating it once for 10 oats
• Win the minigame with the Anonymous Green Mare for the first time (found in the grass biome where you start) for 5 fries and 5 chips
• Win the minigame with the Anonymous Green Mare after beating it once for one of each type of food item
• Idle cuddle with your mare friends in The Hub for 100seconds for your 1 of her paired food. Requires that you win the minigame with the Anonymous Green Mare once with your current mare. (Slowest method, but you can enjoy the music and do other work)

Conclusion

And with that, you’re now an expert in mare food! Hope you found this interesting, feel free to enjoy the game and the food with your newfound knowledge.

It is entirely possible that the colour pairings was intentional – whatever the case is, I approve of all 3 choices: Yellow and blue, pink and purple, white and orange.

Have a recipe for delicious rattatouille for your time.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 4 garlic cloves (minced)
• 1/2 small onion (chopped)
• 1/3 cup carrot (shredded)
• 14 oz crushed tomatoes
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 small eggplant (sliced 1/8 inch thick circles)
• 2 small zucchini (sliced 1/8 inch thick circles)
• 3 Roma tomatoes (sliced 1/8 inch thick circles)
• salt (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 190C

In a large non-stick pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat

Add in the onion, garlic, and carrot and cook until tender, about 5 minutes

Add in the crushed tomatoes and seasonings and simmer for 15 minutes

Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper

Once the sauce has thickened, pour into a baking dish

Arrange the sliced vegetables in a circular pattern standing upright in the dish over the sauce

Brush with the remaining olive oil

Cover and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake until vegetables are tender

Serve immediately