The Sims 4 is celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month with a range of new in-game freebies

It's currently Hispanic Heritage Month in the US, and The Sims 4 is celebrating with a bunch of colourful, culturally inspired free in-game items, including recipes, clothing, and outdoor decor.

Introducing the free new update on the official Sims 4 website, EA explained that its latest additions are the result of a brainstorming session by SOMOS EA, an employee resource group focussed on "advancing EA's diversity and inclusion by ensuring a culture where Hispanic/Latinx employees can thrive."

The result of this brainstorming, says EA, was a list of items members of the group felt best represented them, their families, and their various cultures - and a selection of these are now available in-game for players to utilise in their day-to-day activities and designs.

For starters, there's a chiminea grill, plus eight accompanying grilled food recipes inspired by cuisine from the likes of Mexico, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic: asado, grilled plantains, churrasco, pinchos, choripan, chimis, chimichurri skewers, elotes, and pollo a la brasa. Incidentally, should you like to experience some of that flavour firsthand, EA has provided a chimi recipe as part of its latest blog post.

Elsewhere, Sims can enjoy the expanded food selection beneath the new bougainvillea-clad pergola while seated at a colourful new table and chair set surrounded by a selection of vibrant new murals. Additional outdoor decor includes pottery and paintings, and there're new clothing items inspired by tattoo artist Mr. Cartoon.

All of the above is available now as part of The Sims 4's latest free update, which also includes preliminary improvements to the game's skin tones. This is the first step in a reach for greater representation and inclusivity that will continues with a patch in December, introducing around a hundred new skin tones for characters.