It is actually pretty easy to stave off hunger and thirst in this game, but that's not really why you should be eating food. It's all about the extra effects food gives you, including being one of the most efficient ways to restore health, stamina, and mana! Done right, in this game keeping hunger away should just be a convenient side-effect of the food you're using for other things!

I'm not going to cover every thing you can cook here and what it does, especially rare and fancy meals. Instead, this guide is mostly focused on food that is relatively easy or cheap to get in the starting area of the game, and how efficient it is for what you need it for (healing, etc) compared to other options. It is intended for those that want to know what they should be doing with basic ingredients so as to not waste them, but aren't necessarily interested in delving deep into the cooking system and discovering every fancy dish they can make.

• You can cook single ingredients using any camp fire, but need a cooking pot or a kitchen to combine multiple ingredients.
  
  
• Your character does not need to know a recipe to cook it, if you yourself know. Just use the Manual Recipe feature. Once you've done it once your character will remember it. If you find any recipes you already personally know, you can sell them for cash instead of reading them!
  
  
• Food only decays while you are actively carrying it. Dropping it on the ground, leaving it in a pack that you aren't wearing, or putting it in your stash keeps it from rotting (or at least, it rots so incredibly slowly I couldn't see any difference after letting several days pass).
  
  
• In any recipe that lists things like "any meat" or "any fish", etc, then that also includes cooked items. So, there's no need to haul around Raw Meat, for example - go ahead and cook it over a camp fire to keep it longer (or to eat in an emergency), and you can still use it in a recipe next time you have access to a kitchen or cooking pot. If an ingredient is specifically mentioned by name though, it needs to be raw.
  
  
• Food effects of the same type (health recovery, stamina recovery, etc) do not stack. However, food DOES stack with things like Bandages, drinking Clean Water, and potions, and you can have different effect types from different food at the same time just fine (i.e. health regen from one food + stamina regen from another food simultaneously).
  
  
• Get as much Salt as you need for free by collecting Sea Water in your Waterskin and boiling it over a camp fire, which will give you 5 Salt each time. You can empty your Waterskin from the inventory menu rather than drinking it all and repeat to keep getting more. With a camp fire placed near a shore you can collect lots of Salt in just a few minutes. Sea water is only readily available in the first region though, so consider bringing a bunch with you when you travel to other regions as it is used for a lot of important recipes!

You gain Health from protein sources like meat, fish, and eggs. Even the most basic food with health recovery heals significantly more than Bandages do, though not necessarily as fast. Of course Bandages stop Bleeding and stack with food so you'll still went to keep a few on you.

• Bandages: Stop Bleeding, 0.50 health/second for 40 seconds (20 total health)
  
• Health Recovery 1: 0.20 health/second for 600 seconds (120 total health)
  
• Health Recovery 2: 0.25 health/second for 600 seconds (150 total health)
  
• Health Recovery 3: 0.30 health/second for 600 seconds (180 total health)
  
• Health Recovery 4: 0.40 health/second for 600 seconds (240 total health)
  
• Health Recovery 5: 0.50 health/second for 600 seconds (300 total health)

Cooked Meat - Any Meat
- Grants 150 food value and Health Recovery 2
- Good in an emergency, but given its potential value for both healing and for selling when used as an Ingredient, try to hang on to these until you can get to a cooking pot or kitchen. That said, you should still grill any Raw Meat you get as soon as possible. Just find a random tree, get some wood, make a camp fire, and grill up that meat. Any recipe that requires meat doesn't care if it is raw or already cooked, and the cooked version lasts longer and can be eaten safely in a pinch.

Meat Stew (3 servings) - Any Meat + Any Fruit/Vegetable + Salt
- Grants 275 food value and Health Recovery 3
- A very efficient healing food. If you just ate the (cooked) meat, you would get one dose of Health Recovery 2, but by combining it with a common Gaberry and Salt, you get 3 doses of Health Recovery 3. That's a total of 540 health compared to just 150 for the meat without the berry and salt!

Jerky (5 servings) - Any Meat x 2 + Salt x 2
- Grants 100 food value and Health Recovery 2
- Next best option for Raw Meat after Meat Stew. Salt is free and this way you get 5 portions instead of 2. As a bonus, Jerky also lasts a really long time.

You gain Stamina regen from fruit, eggs, and of course, water. Remember that the water effect stacks with stamina recovery effects from food, but otherwise food is vastly superior to drinking water for this purpose.

• Water Effect: Cures Burning, 0.3 stamina/second + 10 hot weather defense for 180 seconds
  
• Stamina Recovery 1: 0.4 stamina/second for 900 seconds
  
• Stamina Recovery 2: 0.6 stamina/second for 900 seconds
  
• Stamina Recovery 3: 0.8 stamina/second for 900 seconds
  
• Stamina Recovery 4: 1.0 stamina/second for 900 seconds
  
• Stamina Recovery 5: 1.2 stamina/second for 900 seconds

Gaberries (or Boiled Gaberries)
- Grants 75 food value and Stamina Recovery 1
- May not seem like much but it is still superior in rate and duration than drinking water, and stacks with it. Probably not worth cooking them unless they are about to rot, since the raw form is needed for making jam. However, you may want to stockpile some in your stash for use in Meat Stew and Gaberry Jam/Tartine and Marshmelon Jelly/Tartine.

Gaberry Jam - Gaberries x 4
- Grants 150 food value and Stamina Recovery 2 + Cold Weather Def Up
- Gaberries are plentiful but there are other uses for them, like eating directly or making Meat Stew, so sacrificing 4 may be a bit much for just a little extra stamina regen and Cold Weather Def Up (gives +15 Cold Weather Defense for 240 seconds). This is more of a stepping stone to get to Gaberry Tartine or Marshmelon Jelly.

Gaberry Tartine (3 servings) - Any Bread, Gaberry Jam
- Grants 125 food value and Stamina Recovery 2 + Cold Weather Def Up
- Essentially the same as Gaberry Jam, but you get 3 portions by spreading it on some bread, thus getting much more out of those 4 Gaberries you initially used. Note that Bread isn't necessarily in infinite supply (I'm not sure how often vendors re-stock it) and both the bread and the jam are ingredients in other recipes, so don't rush to turn all your jam immediately into Tartine.

TK-Master says you can get Stamina Recovery 5 from Marshmelon Jelly (Marshmelons x 3 + Gaberry Jam) or Marshmelon Tartine (Marshmelon Jelly + Any Bread), but I haven't yet found any Marshmelons so I don't have all the details such as food value and relative cost of the food vs the ingredients in terms of selling for profit.

Miner's Omelette (3 servings) - Any Egg + Any Egg + Common Mushroom (raw)
- Grants 175 food value and Stamina Recovery 3 + Health Recovery 1
- If you really dig that stamina regen than this recipe is for you. Be warned, however, that there are potentially better uses for eggs (Pungent Paste) and Common Mushrooms (Poison Antidote via alchemy), depending on your needs.

Bouillon du Predateur (3 servings) - Predator Bones x 3 + Water
- Grants 250 food value and Stamina Recovery 4 + Physical Attack Up
- An obviously excellent meal for melee combat. Physical Attack Up gives +20% Weapon Physical Damage for 240 seconds. The problem is that Predator Bones are a rare-ish drop and used in the crafting of the excellent early-game Fang weapons and later Scaled Leather armor, can be used in traps, and are more valuable (8s) than this dish is (2s) for selling.

Despite those limitations, a great benefit of this dish is that none of the ingredients are perishable. Once you no longer need the bones for other crafting projects, it is not a bad idea to carry 3 bones and a Cooking Pot and Campfire Kit around with you when going on long journeys, especially to other regions where all your food takes a big hit when you change regions. This way you'll always be able to make a great emergency food whenever you need it.

You gain Mana from seafood and vegetables, so you'll probably want to keep a Fishing Harpoon on you at all times if you use magic.

• Mana Recovery 1: 0.15 mana/second for 600 seconds (90 total mana)
  
• Mana Recovery 2: 0.2 mana/second for 600 seconds (120 total mana)
  
• Mana Recovery 3: 0.25 mana/second for 600 seconds (150 total mana)

Grilled Salmon - Raw Salmon
- Grants 125 food value, Health Recovery 1, and Mana Recovery 1
- Like Raw vs Cooked Meat for Health, good in an emergency, but given its potential value for both healing and for selling when used as an Ingredient, try to hang on to these until you can get to a cooking pot or kitchen. That said, you should still grill any Raw Salmon you get as soon as possible. Any recipe that requires fish doesn't care if it is raw or already cooked, and the cooked version lasts longer and can be eaten safely in a pinch. Don't grill Raw Rainbow Trout if you can help it though, since you need the raw form for recipes!

Pot-au-Dey du Pirate (3 servings) - Any Fish x 3 + Salt
- Grants 325! food value, Health Recovery 2, and Mana Recovery 3
- This adds a lot of value to your salmon. You used 3 fish (even already-grilled fish) and got 3 servings back, but each serving now grants significantly more health and mana! Avoid using Rainbow Trout for this though, and if you have Larva Eggs or other eggs like Bird Eggs available, you may want to use your salmon for Ocean Fricassee or Pungent Paste instead.

Boiled Azure Shrimp - Azure Shrimp
- Grants 75 food value and Mana Recovery 3
- Azure Shrimp are fairly rare and can also be used for Luxe Lichette instead if you value Health and Stamina regen over Mana regen, so this is not always the best use for these (keep them in raw form if you don't plan to eat them directly).

Turmmip Potage - Turmmip x 3 + Salt
- Grants 250 food value and Mana Recovery 3, plus cures colds (over time)
- Turmmips are a bit uncommon and are also used to make Astral Potions via Alchemy which instantly restores Mana. I'm guessing you'll get more Mana overall this way but it is over time, so you will want to carefully consider how many to use for food vs potions. Either is better than eating them directly, since you'll get the same number of doses but an increased amount of Mana just for adding salt (eaten directly they give you Mana Recovery 2 instead of Mana Recovery 3).

When you use stamina your max stamina is reduced, which the game refers to as "burnt" stamina. The same applies to max health when you take damage. Both are restored naturally by sleeping. Mana works in the opposite way, increasing the max when you use it and being burnt when you sleep. These foods can be used as an alternate means to restore burnt stats, especially for heavy users of Mana which have difficulty keeping all stats at max due to Mana working in reverse.


Pungent Paste - Any Egg + Any Fish + Ochre Spice Beetle
- Cures Infection and restores 20 Burnt Health & Stamina (plus 125 food value)
- Arguably the best use for both eggs and Ochre Spice Beetles (and fish if you don't have Mana, for that matter), it is a good idea to keep one of these on you for the Infection cure alone. It is also a boon to mages trying to stay awake to keep their mana high (you even gain a mana regeneration buff from lack of sleep!), but even non-mages can find it helpful to go just a bit longer without needing to stop to sleep.

Bitter Spicy Tea - Water + Ochre Spice Beetle
- Cures Infection, restores 15 Burnt Stamina, and grants Cold Weather Defense Up
- Not as good as Pungent Paste but less ingredients and does give Cold Weather Def Up (+15 Cold Weather Defense for 240 seconds) so worth considering in cold weather conditions or if have an Infection and the other ingredients aren't available. May want to consider just buying this tea directly though and save your beetles for Pungent Paste.

Soothing Tea - Water + Seaweed
- Cures a Cold (eventually) plus restores some Burnt Mana
- I'm guessing it is 15 Mana restored since that's how the other teas work, but I haven't confirmed this. This could be used as an alternate to Pungent Paste for a mage that wants to sleep regularly but keep their max mana high. Seaweed is not exactly rare, per se, but it does have multiple uses for a mage so think about what best to do with it.

Mineral Tea - Water + Gravel Beetle
-Cures Indigestion (eventually), restores 15 Burnt Health and grants Impact Resistance Up
- Sounds good and all but I actually think this is a waste of a Gravel Beetle, which is used to make Life Potions with alchemy. Plus, if you are cooking properly and boiling un-clean water, you'll never need to cure indigestion. Impact Resistance Up gives +25% for 240 seconds.

Dry Mushroom Bar (5 servings) - Common Mushroom (raw) x 4
- Restores 5 Burnt Health (plus 100 food value)
- Although it is nice you get 5 servings for a total of 25 burnt health restored, and Common Mushrooms are, well, common, they are also used in alchemy for Poison Antidote and to make Miner's Omelette.

These recipes can be somewhat questionable in their value, as they often need rare ingredients and you don't always need to restore multiple stats at once, but if you happen to have those ingredients on hand it may be worth it for the all-in-one solution (or to sell for profit, as explained in the later Cooking for Cash section).

Cierzo Ceviche (3 servings) - Raw Rainbow Trout + Seaweed + Salt
- Grants 200 food value, Health Recovery 3, Mana Recovery 2, and Elemental Resistance
- This impressive food has multiple useful effects, but unfortunately Rainbow Trout is much less common than Salmon from fishing spots and costs 15 silver to buy directly. Seaweed is relatively easy to get but is also useful in lots of ways, including making Ice Rags, so you might need to comb beaches often for it. Elemental Resistance adds 25% resistance to all elements for 240 seconds, as well.

Ocean Fricassee (3 servings) - Larva Egg (raw) + Any Fish + Seaweed
- Grants 275 food value, Health Recover 2, Stamina Recovery 3, and Mana Recovery 2
- Only food in this guide that restores all 3 stats, but again, Larva Eggs are rare (or require a dangerous fight) and you may prefer to use them for Luxe Lichette instead if you don't need the mana regen. Note that a chef in the starting town will give you 4 of these in exchange for 1 Cierzo Ceviche as a quest, which renews every few days or so.

Luxe Lichette (3 servings) - Azure Shrimp (raw) + Raw Rainbow Trout + Larva Egg (raw) + Seaweed
- Grants 300! food value, Health Recovery 5!, and Stamina Recovery 3
- Every ingredient of this gourmet dish is fairly valuable, but this does grant the fastest health recovery you can get plus Stamina recovery at the same time. At least you get 3 servings of it for the price...

You need these to travel to other regions.

Travel Ration (1 to 3 servings, depending) - Any "Ration Ingredient" x 2 + Salt
- Grants 150 food value and allows travel to other regions

- Worth mentioning that you get 3 servings if you prepare this in a Kitchen or Cooking Pot, but only 1 if you make it with Survival Crafting directly. You can often get even more by converting ingredients into multi-portion foods first and then turning those into Travel Rations. For example, with the same 4 Raw Meat and a bunch of free Salt (and maybe some berries) you could get as few as 2 Travel Rations (directly craft the meat and salt via the Survival Menu) or as many as 15/18 (by cooking them into Jerky/Meat Stew first and then converting those into Travel Rations using a Cooking Pot or Kitchen).

- The above means that often converting cooked food into Travel Rations is much more profitable for selling than either the cooked food or the raw ingredients are, assuming you can get the required Salt for free.

- Not all food counts as a "Ration Ingredient" though, it seems limited to foods you can sell, so you can't just use Gaberries, for instance.

- These keep for a long time, but otherwise should only be used for traveling or for selling for profit, since while they do grant food value you'd probably got more out of the ingredients you used anyway, not to mention beneficial side effects!

If your need for silver outweighs your need for useful food and you intend to sell the ingredients, in most cases cooking recipes with those ingredients will net you more profit than selling the ingredients directly. The exception I've found is recipes that involve beetles or predator bones, which sell for less than if you just sold the beetles/bones directly.


Azure Shrimp (9s) + Raw Rainbow Trout (4s) + Larva Egg (4s) + Seaweed (1s) = 18s
Result: Luxe Lichette (9s) x 3, 27s total or 9s (1.5x) profit

Larva Egg (4s) + Raw Salmon (1s) + Seaweed (1s) = 6s
Result: Ocean Fricassee (4s) x 3, 12s total or 6s (2x) profit

Raw Rainbow Trout (4s) + Seaweed (1s) + Salt (0s) = 5s
Result: Cierzo Ceviche (4s) x3, 12s total or 7s (2.4x) profit

Seaweed (1s) + Water (0s) = 1s
Result: Soothing Tea (2s), 2s total or 1s (2x) profit

Convert all other recipes from this guide into Travel Rations (x3) at a Kitchen or Cooking Pot (you only get 1x from the Survival Crafting menu!) and sell the Travel Rations instead for even more profit (but convert Jam into Tartine using Bread first). Comparing to the sell value of the raw ingredients, this method multiplies the sell value as follows: Turmmip Potage (3x), Pot-au-Dey du Pirate (3x), Miner's Omelette (4.5x), Jerky (7.5x), and Meat Stew (9x!!). In cases where the raw ingredients aren't worth anything to sell, converting the final food into Travel Rations still nets extra profit in the case of Gaberry Tartine (1.5x) and Dry Mushroom Bar (3x).

This is just my personal opinion on what to do with each base ingredient you find on your travels.

Azure Shrimp
- If a mage, boil it and use it for Mana regeneration
- Otherwise leave raw and eventually make Luxe Lichette, even if just to sell for profit

Bird Egg
- If have no Cooking Pot, cook it over fire to be on the safe side ASAP
- Use for Pungent Paste at first, then Miner's Omelette if have excess

Blood Mushroom
- Save for use in Healing Potions via Alchemy

Bread
- Extend Gaberry Jam or Marshmelon Jelly into 3 portions instead of 1 by making Tartine

Common Mushroom
- Do not cook unless it is about to rot away
- Save for use in Poison Antidote via Alchemy
- Otherwise use for Dry Mushroom Bars or Miner's Omelettes depending on your needs

Gaberries
- Do not cook unless it is about to rot away
- Use for Meat Stew with any Raw Meat you have
- For cold weather make Jam/Tartine with leftovers, or just eat directly for stamina

Gravel Beetle
- Save for use in Healing Potions via Alchemy, unless need Tea for indigestion

Larva Egg
- If have Azure Shrimp you don't want for Mana Regen, make Luxe Lichette with it
- If just want to sell it or want a 3-in-1 food make Ocean Fricassee with it
- If low on Bird Eggs can use it to make Pungent Paste or Miner's Omelette
- Can also use it for Bolt Rags if you like those

Marshmelon
- Make into Marshmelon Jelly/Tartine

Ochre Spice Beetle
- Use for Pungent Paste or Bitter Spicy Tea

Predator Bones
- Use for Fang weapons early and Scaled Leather armor later
- Can also be used in traps or to sell directly for profit
- If have plenty to spare or are a melee combatant with a tough fight ahead, make the Bouillon

Raw Meat
- If have no Cooking Pot, cook it over fire to be on the safe side ASAP
- Make Meat Stew as your primary health regen food
- If low on Gaberries or want something that will rot slower, make Jerky instead
- If have plenty to spare, convert the Stew/Jerky into Travel Rations (at Cooking Pot/Kitchen so you get 3x as much) and sell them for 7.5x - 9x as much as selling the meat directly!

Raw Rainbow Trout
- Avoid grilling unless you really want that Mana Regen 2 + Elemental Resistance
- If have Azure Shrimp you don't want for Mana Regen, make Luxe Lichette with it
- Otherwise Cierzo Ceviche is better for profit margin or for Mana regen or Elemental Resistance
- Remember that Cierzo Ceviche can be used for a repeatable quest in starting town

Raw Salmon
- If have no Cooking Pot, cook it over fire to be on the safe side ASAP
- Use for Pungent Paste at first
- Use up any Larva Eggs you don't want to make Ocean Fricassee to sell or eat
- If a mage, make any extra into Pot-au-Dey du Pirate for Mana regen

Seaweed
- If have Larva Eggs, Azure Shrimp, and/or Rainbow Trout, use it for cooking
- Use for Soothing Tea if you are a mage, or Ice Rags for a melee buff

Star Mushroom
- Save for use in Astral Potion via Alchemy (even if just to sell them for easy money)

Turmmip
- Use for Astral Potions if have Star Mushrooms (even if just to sell them)
- Make into Turmmip Potage for either Mana Regen or profit
- Can use in place of Gaberries for Meat Stew if have no Mana anyway