Jurassic Park Made Me Do It: How Epic Eats Became My Favorite Cookbook to Make

Every cookbook I have made started with a feeling. The Magical Dinner and a Movie started with a spaghetti joke. Once Upon a Dinner and a Movie started with A Goofy Movie sitting in my notes refusing to leave.

Epic Eats started with a dinosaur.

Jurassic Park is my all-time favorite movie. It has been since I was a kid. And for years, every time I watched it, some part of my brain was quietly filing away the idea that this movie deserved a dinner and a movie night. The problem was that Jurassic Park is not Disney. And for the first several years of The Fairytale Foodie, everything I made was Disney. That was the lane. That was the brand. That was what I knew how to do.

But Jurassic Park kept coming back. And eventually I stopped arguing with it.

Once I gave myself permission to go outside the Disney world, the rest of the list came together fast. Hook, because every kid who grew up in the nineties spent a significant portion of their childhood wishing that imaginary food fight was real. Mean Girls, because it is Wednesday and you know exactly what that means. The Sandlot, because Scotty Smalls deserved a proper dinner. Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, The Princess Diaries. Movies that shaped a generation of kids who are now adults who like to cook dinner and watch movies on Saturday nights.

My husband had a noticeably good time with this one. He is always a willing taste tester, and he has been a genuinely good sport through every Disney cookbook I have made. But I will say he was getting a little tired of all Disney all the time. Bringing in Jurassic Park and Hook and The Sandlot gave the whole kitchen a different energy. He was engaged in a way that felt new. During the Hook development he threw a piece of pie at me, which was fully in the spirit of the film and something I did not entirely hate. The imaginary food fight has always been the scene. Every kid who watched that movie wanted to be in that room.

Epic Eats: Dinner and a Movie Cookbook was the first time I stepped fully outside the Disney world and trusted that the audience would follow. They did. And making it reminded me why I started doing this in the first place. These are the movies we grew up with. They deserve a real dinner.

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Ready to cook your way through the best movies of your childhood? Grab Epic Eats here.

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What Is Inside Epic Eats

Twelve movie nights built around the films that defined a generation. Every chapter includes a signature cocktail, a mocktail, an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert, plus a beautifully designed printable menu for each night. Same complete experience as every Fairytale Foodie cookbook, applied to the movies that made us who we are.

Here is every movie night inside the cookbook:

The Princess Diaries — Genovian Pear Sparkle cocktail, the Peach Glazed Chicken Shut Up main course, and the Sorry Pizza Cookie for dessert. This chapter has the energy of someone who just found out she is a princess and is handling it extremely well. Read the full Princess Diaries dinner post.

Mean Girls — It is Wednesday. There is pink food. That is all I will say. This chapter fully commits to the bit and I am not sorry about it. Read the full Mean Girls dinner post.

Harry Potter — Golden Snitch Mac and Cheese Balls for the appetizer, a Welcome to Hogwarts Feast for the main, and Butterbeer for the drink. This chapter is the one for anyone who is still waiting on their letter. Read the full Harry Potter dinner post.

Jurassic Park — The Fossilized Dino Nest. I need you to understand that this dish is my favorite thing I have ever made. Out of over 100 meals across ten cookbooks, this is the one. It looks exactly like what you are imagining and it tastes even better. Life found a way and so did this recipe. Read the full Jurassic Park dinner post.

The Sandlot — Scotty’s First S’mores for dessert, a full summer-cookout-coded menu, and the kind of food that makes you feel like you are nine years old in the best possible way. You’re killing me, Smalls. Read the full Sandlot dinner post.

Indiana Jones — Why’d it Have to Be Snake Breadsticks for the appetizer, bold adventurous flavors throughout, and a menu that moves as fast as the man himself. Read the full Indiana Jones dinner post.

Hook — The imaginary food fight made real. Colorful, chaotic, and one of the most joyful chapters in the whole cookbook to develop. My husband threw pie at me during testing and I stand by the decision to let that happen. Read the full Hook dinner post.

Star Wars — (Full dinner post coming very soon.)

The Parent Trap — (Full dinner post coming soon.)

Pirates of the Caribbean — (Full dinner post coming soon.)

Saving Mr. Banks — (Full dinner post coming soon.)

Avatar — (Full dinner post coming soon.)

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What Makes This Cookbook Different

Every Fairy Tale Foodie cookbook is built on the same belief: movie night should be more than takeout on the couch. But Epic Eats is different from the Disney cookbooks in one specific way. These are the movies that were not designed with dinner in mind. Nobody built a theme park around Jurassic Park’s kitchen. There is no official Princess Diaries merchandise at a restaurant somewhere. I had to build these menus from scratch using nothing but the films themselves.

That is actually my favorite way to work. You watch the movie. You pay attention to the world it creates, the colors, the culture, the specific details that make it feel alive. And then you ask: what does this world taste like?

Jurassic Park tastes like something prehistoric and impressive that took real effort to pull off. Hook tastes like color and chaos and the specific joy of a food fight you are allowed to have. The Sandlot tastes like summer and s’mores and being a kid who does not yet know how fast it all goes.

That is what every recipe in this cookbook is trying to do. Not just feed you, but put you back in the theater where you first saw these films and felt the way only movies can make you feel.

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Get the Cookbook

Epic Eats: Dinner and a Movie Cookbook is a digital download, $25, available instantly. Twelve complete movie nights with full menus, cocktails, mocktails, desserts, and printable table menus included.

If you want everything at once, the Epic Bundle has all ten of my cookbooks in one download. Over 100 movie nights spanning Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Halloween, Christmas, and the movies that shaped a childhood.

Grab Epic Eats — $25

Get the Epic Bundle (All 10 Cookbooks) — $149

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The Epic Bundle

All ten Fairy Tale Foodie cookbooks in one instant download: The Magical Dinner and a Movie, Once Upon a Dinner and a Movie, Just Keep Cooking, Try Everything on the Menu, Eat Like a Hero, The Spooky Dinner and a Movie, Bloody Good Dinners, A Magical Christmas Dinner and a Movie, Rewind and Dine, and Epic Eats.

Over 100 movie nights. Disney classics, Disney deep cuts, Pixar, Marvel, Halloween family-friendly, Halloween scary, Christmas, and the blockbusters that made us who we are. One bundle, endless Saturday nights.