Food

Don't Starve

DST

“What deliciousness shall you yield?”

–Warly

See also: Food Value

Food can be obtained by foraging, trapping, farming or hunting mobs. Food refills Hunger and may restore some Health along with Sanity, depending on the quality of the food eaten. Eating some foods, such as Monster Meat or Durians, can damage the player's health instead of restoring it. Some foods, such as raw Meat or Morsels, will damage a player's sanity if eaten. Mushrooms have varying effects on Health and Sanity depending on their color. Some special food items, such as Glow Berry, have additional effects when eaten.

Almost all raw food can be Cooked on a Campfire to increase the amount of Health/Hunger/Sanity restored or reduced, and sometimes remove Health/Sanity penalties from eating it. Some raw food items, most notably Meats, can be dried on a Drying Rack to produce long lasting food items with increased Health/Hunger/Sanity values. Additionally, a Crock Pot can be used for making foods that have additional benefits.

Food items also have other uses than eating them directly. Meat can be used as bait for carnivores, for the recruitment of Pigs, and as an offering to the Pig King for Gold Nuggets. A renewable way to gain Eggs is by giving meats to birds housed in Bird Cages. Meat is also a requirement to construct the Meat Effigy. Bunnymen can be befriended using Carrots and will become hostile if meat is in the player's inventory. Vegetables and Fruits can be used as bait for herbivores and given to Pigs to obtain Manure. Seeds can be used to bait Bird Traps.

Being of the most important items in the game, (and part of the game's namesake, to not starve) food is typically very valuable in any world; however, given the layouts of different maps and what spawns in them, food availability can vary from being abundant, to dangerously short. Food is affected by the seasons, which likely encourages the player to take advantages of seasonal diets and also take advantages of the food's shelf life.

With the introduction of Overheating mechanic in the Reign of Giants DLC (and carried over to Don't Starve Together and the Shipwrecked DLC), some foods are classified as hot or cold, providing an alternative way to combat Freezing and Overheating, respectively.

When players eat Foods that count as Meats, they will have a chewing animation and are not able to perform other actions for a relatively long duration. When eating Foods that are not Meats, they will just put it into their mouth very fast.

For Information on Food values and Priority, see the Crock Pot page.

Categories

There are several Food categories:

• Meats —
• Fishes —
• Vegetables —
• Fruits —
• Eggs —
• Crock Pot meals —
• Other —

Perish Times

Most food and some non-edible items have a perish time, eventually turning into Rot, turning into another food or item, or disappearing completely.

Stage	Effect
Green (50-100% Fresh)	Restores the full amount of , and for a given food.
Yellow (21-49% Stale)	Restores 2/3 of , 1/3 of for a given food and doesn't restore any .
Red (0-20% Spoiled)	Restores 1/2 of for a given food, doesn't restore any and decreases by 10.

Container	Spoilage Rate (higher = spoils faster)	Notes
	0	Several items cannot be put inside, such as itself and Chester's Eye Bone.
	0	Only Honeys and Nectars can be put inside.
	0 / 0.25	Only Birds can be put inside.
	0.5 / -0.33	-0.33 only applies to/.
	0.5
	0.5
	0.5 / 0	0 only applies to .
	0.5 / 0.75
In player's inventory, Chests, etc	1
	1.5 / 3	3 only applies when poisoned ().
Player with ///equipped	1.5	Include items in inventory and equipment slots.
On ground, Ocean	1.5
Poisoned	3

In addition to above modifiers, the same items can be affected by some other modifiers if any of the condition below is true:

Condition	Spoilage Rate (higher = spoils faster)	Notes
When in inventory	0.25 0.0125 (//)
World temperature below 0	0.75 / 0	Mostly in Winter, 0 only applies to /.
World temperature above 70	1.25	Mostly in Summer or Dry Season .
Wet state	1.3	Most food floating on Ocean is wet until picked up and dried off.
Aporkalypse	1.5
Melting near Heat Source	30	Only applies to /.

For example, according to tables above during winter, when temperature is below 0°, Soggy perishable items in the Ice Box or Snow Chester will spoil at 0.5 × 0.75 × 1.3 = 0.4875 rate.

• Any kind of cooked meat lasts longer than any raw meat, but any kind of raw vegetable lasts longer than any cooked vegetable. The exceptions are Popcorn, which lasts longer than raw Corn; Mushrooms, which last the same amount of time whether cooked or raw; and Seaweed in Shipwrecked which lasts longer when cooked.
• Cooking food on fire or in a Crock Pot halves the current spoilage of the food (e.g. if a food were at 80% freshness when raw (thus 20% spoiled), it would convert to 90% freshness after being cooked (10% spoiled)).
• Monster meat is the only meat in the game that lasts longer overall the earlier it is cooked (i.e. monster meat will last 15 days total if cooked at 100% freshness, but will last 14.25 days total (3 days raw + 11.25 days cooked) if cooked at 50% freshness)
• Being near the Spore Bomb of a Toadstool will accelerate spoiling rapidly.
• Foods spoil 25% faster during the Summer.
• The negative effects characters get from eating stale and spoiled food do not apply to WX-78.
• The effects of eating stale or spoiled food are worse when playing as Wickerbottom. Stale food will only give 1/3 of the hunger and 1/4 of health. Spoiled food will restore only 1/6 of the hunger. The rest of the values are the same as other characters.
• Tallbird Eggs, Mandrakes (raw and cooked), the Deerclops Eyeball, Guardian's Horn, (Glommer's Goop , Jellybeans ) and ("Ballphin Free" Tuna , which gives one Fish Steak when used) are the only Food items which don't spoil (despite Honey being the only food in real life that does not spoil).
• Food cooked in the Crock Pot and meat dried on the Drying Rack do not begin to spoil until picked up. This was changed in the Reign of Giants DLC.
• Spoiled Eggs become Rotten Eggs instead of Rot.
• Spoiled Tea instead becomes Iced Tea, which can then turn into Rot.

Food Temperature

A food with a defined temperature effect will increase/decrease the player's perceived temperature by 40°, for varying lengths of time. This effect is not directly related to, or affected by the food's freshness.

Cold foods preserve their full effect until they rot.

Hot foods, however, will cool off over time (shortening the duration of the increased temperature effect, rather than decreasing in temperature) after being made (all hot foods are Crock Pot dishes). Hot foods will cool off four times as fast if put inside a functioning Ice Box. This cool-off increase will also happen inside Snow Chester. The Insulated Pack, Sea Sack, Chef Pouch and the Bundling Wrap will preserve the temperature effect indefinitely.

Splitting a stack of hot food will reset the temperature duration of the new stack, and combining stacks will set the duration to the same as the stack that is being added to.

An exception to the cooling-down effect of hot foods are several non-perishable food items available during Winter's Feast in Don't Starve Together. These foods will keep a long-lasting hot effect indefinitely, making them a great item to keep around static resurrection structures, especially during Winter:

• Hot Cocoa
• Apple Cider

Food Types

Icon	Food	DLC					Effect	Value
	Aloe		+9.375	0	+8	10		×1.0
	Cooked Aloe		+12.5	0	+3	15		×1.0
	Asparagus		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0
	Cooked Asparagus		+25	0	+3	3		×1.0
	Batilisk Wing		+12.5	-10	+3	6		×0.5
	Cooked Batilisk Wing		+18.75	0	+8	10		×0.5
	Bean Bugs		+9.375	-10	0	40		×1.0
	Cooked Bean Bugs		+12.5	-5	+1	10		×1.0
	Berries		+9.375	0	0	6		×0.5
	Roasted Berries		+12.5	0	+1	3		×0.5
	Bile-Covered Slop		-10	0	-1	Never
	Roasted Birchnut		+9.375	0	+1	6		×1.0
	Blooming Tuber		+12.5	0	+10	20
	Fried Blooming Tuber		+18.75	+5	+3	6
	Blubber		+10	0	+10	10
	Brainy Matter		+10	+50	-10	1
	Bramble Bulb		+9.375	0	+1	20
	Butter		+25	0	+40	40		×1.0
	Butterfly Wings		+9.375	0	+8	6		×1.0
	Cactus Flesh		+12.5	-5	-3	10		×1.0
	Cooked Cactus Flesh		+12.5	+15	+1	10		×1.0
	Cactus Flower		+12.5	+5	+8	10		×0.5
	Carrot		+12.5	0	+1	10		×1.0
	Roasted Carrot		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0
	Banana		+12.5	0	+1	10		×1.0
	Cooked Banana		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0
	Clippings		+4.6875	0	+1	Never
	Halved Coconut		+4.6875	0	+1	10		×1.0
	Roasted Coconut		+9.375	0	+1	10		×1.0
	Coffee Beans		+9.375	0	0	6		×0.5
	Roasted Coffee Beans		+9.375	-5	0	15		×1.0
	Corn		+25	0	+3	10		×1.0
	Popcorn		+12.5	0	+3	15		×1.0
	Dead Dogfish		+25	0	+1	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Dead Jellyfish		+10	0	+10	6		×1.0 ×1.0
	Cooked Jellyfish		+18.75	0	+10	10		×1.0 ×1.0
	Dried Jellyfish		+18.75	0	+10	20		×1.0 ×1.0
	Dead Rainbow Jellyfish		+10	0	+10	6
	Cooked Rainbow Jellyfish		+18.75	0	+10	10
	Dead Swordfish		+25	0	+1	6
	Dead Wobster		+12.5	0	+1	3
	Delicious Wobster		+12.5	0	+1	6
	Deerclops Eyeball		+75	-15	+60	Never
	Doydoy Egg		+25	0	+3	10		×1.0
	Fried Doydoy Egg		+37.5	0	0	6		×1.0
	Dragoon Heart		+25	-10	+11	10
	Dragon Fruit		+9.375	0	+3	6		×1.0
	Prepared Dragon Fruit		+12.5	0	+20	3		×1.0
	Drumstick		+12.5	-10	0	6		×0.5
	Fried Drumstick		+12.5	0	+1	10		×0.5
	Durian		+25	-5	-3	10		×1.0 ×1.0
	Extra Smelly Durian		+25	-5	0	6		×1.0 ×1.0
	Eel		+9.375	0	+3	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Cooked Eel		+12.5	0	+8	10		×1.0 ×0.5
	Electric Milk		+12.5	+5	+3	6		×1.0
	Egg		+9.375	0	0	10		×1.0
	Cooked Egg		+12.5	0	0	6		×1.0
	Eggplant		+25	0	+8	10		×1.0
	Braised Eggplant		+25	0	+20	6		×1.0
	Eye of the Tiger Shark		+75	-15	+60	Never
	Fish		+12.5	0	+1	3		×1.0 ×0.5
	Cooked Fish		+12.5	0	+1	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Fish Morsel		+12.5	0	+1	3		×0.5
	Cooked Fish Morsel		+12.5	0	+1	6		×0.5
	Flytrap Stalk		+12.5	-10	0	6
	Foliage		0	0	+1	6		×1.0 ( only)
	Frog Legs		+12.5	-10	0	6		×0.5
	Cooked Frog Legs		+12.5	0	+1	10		×0.5
	Gears ( only)		+75	+50	+60	Never
	Glommer's Goop		+9.375	-50	+40	Never
	Glow Berry		+25	-10	+10	10	Light/90	×1 ( only)
	Guardian's Horn		+75	-15	+60	Never
	Gummy Slug		+9.375	-10	0	40		×1.0
	Cooked Gummy Slug		+12.5	-5	+1	10		×1.0
	Honey		+9.375	0	+3	40		×1.0
	Ice		+2.3	0	+0.5	3	Cold/7.5	×1.0
	Koalefant Trunk		+37.5	0	+30	6
	Winter Koalefant Trunk		+37.5	0	+30	6
	Koalefant Trunk Steak		+75	0	+40	15
	Leafy Meat		+12.5	-10	0	6		( )
	Cooked Leafy Meat		+18.75	0	+1	10		( )
	Lichen		+12.5	-5	+3	2		×1.0
	Light Bulb		0	0	+1	6
	Limpets		+12.5	-10	0	6		×0.5
	Cooked Limpets		+12.5	0	+1	10		×0.5
	Lotus Flower		+12.5	+5	+1	10
	Cooked Lotus Root		+12.5	+15	+1	10
	Magic Water		+450	+150	+300	Never
	Mandrake		+75	0	+60	Never	Sleep	×1.0
	Cooked Mandrake		+150	0	+100	Never	Sleep
	Meat		+25	-10	+1	6		×1.0
	Cooked Meat		+25	0	+3	10		×1.0
	Jerky		+25	+15	+20	20		×1.0
	Monster Meat		+18.75	-15	-20	6		×1.0 ×1.0
	Cooked Monster Meat		+18.75	-10	-3	15		×1.0 ×1.0
	Monster Jerky		+18.75	-5	-3	20		×1.0 ×1.0
	Morsel		+12.5	-10	0	6		×0.5
	Cooked Morsel		+12.5	0	+1	10		×0.5
	Small Jerky		+12.5	+10	+8	20		×0.5
	Mussel		+12.5	-15	0	3		×0.5
	Cooked Mussel		+12.5	0	+1	10		×0.5
	Blue Cap		+12.5	-15	+20	10		×0.5
	Cooked Blue Cap		0	+10	-3	10		×0.5
	Green Cap		+12.5	-50	0	10		×0.5
	Cooked Green Cap		0	+15	-1	10		×0.5
	Red Cap		+12.5	0	-20	10		×0.5
	Cooked Red Cap		0	-10	+1	10		×0.5
	Nectar		+9.375	0	+3	40
	Neon Quattro		+12.5	0	+1	10		×1.0 ×0.5
	Cooked Neon Quattro		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Nettle		+10	0	+10	Never
	Petals		0	0	+1	6
	Dark Petals		0	-5	0	6
	Pierrot Fish		+12.5	0	+1	10		×1.0 ×0.5
	Cooked Pierrot Fish		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Phlegm		+12.5	-15	0	Never
	Poison Dartfrog Legs		+12.5	-10	-3	6
	Cooked Dartfrog Legs		+12.5	0	-1	10
	Pomegranate		+9.375	0	+3	6		×1.0
	Sliced Pomegranate		+12.5	0	+20	3		×1.0
	Pumpkin		+37.5	0	+3	10		×1.0
	Hot Pumpkin		+37.5	0	+8	6		×1.0
	Purple Grouper		+12.5	0	+1	10		×1.0 ×0.5
	Cooked Purple Grouper		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Radish		+12.5	0	+1	15		×1.0
	Cooked Radish		+12.5	0	+3	10		×1.0
	Raw Fish		+25	0	+1	3		×1.0 ×0.5
	Fish Steak		+25	0	+20	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Roe		+4.6875	0	+1	3		×1.0 ×0.5
	Cooked Roe		+4.6875	0	0	10		×1.0 ×0.5
	Rot		-10	0	-1	Never
	Rotten Egg		-10	0	-1	Never
	Seaweed		+9.375	-10	+1	6		×1.0
	Roasted Seaweed		+12.5	0	+3	10		×1.0
	Dried Seaweed		+12.5	0	+3	20		×1.0
	Seed Pod		+9.375	0	+1	20
	Cooked Seed Pod		+9.375	0	+3	6
	Seeds		+4.6875	0	0	40
	Toasted Seeds		+4.6875	0	+1	10
	Crop Seeds		+9.375	0	+0.5	40
	Shark Fin		+25	-15	+20	6		×1.0 ×0.5
	Sweet Potato		+12.5	0	+1	10		×1.0
	Cooked Sweet Potato		+12.5	0	+3	6		×1.0
	Tallbird Egg		+25	0	+3	Never		×4.0
	Hatching Tallbird Egg		+25	0	+3	Never
	Fried Tallbird Egg		+37.5	0	0	6		×4.0
	Tropical Fish		+12.5	0	+1	3		×1.0 ×0.5
	Tuber		+12.5	0	+8	20
	Fried Tuber		+18.75	0	+3	6
	Watermelon		+12.5	+5	+3	8	Cold/5	×1.0
	Grilled Watermelon		+12.5	+7.5	+1	3		×1.0
	Asparagus Soup		+18.75	+5	+20	15
	Bacon and Eggs		+75	+5	+20	20
	Banana Pop		+12.5	+33	+20	10	Cold/10
	Bisque		+18.75	+5	+60	20
	Butter Muffin		+37.5	+5	+20	15
	California Roll		+37.5	+10	+20	10
	Caviar		+12.5	+33	+3	10
	Ceviche		+25	+5	+20	10	Cold/10
	Coffee		+9.375	-5	+3	10
	Dragonpie		+75	+5	+40	15	Hot/10
	Feijoada		+75	+15	+20	8
	Fish Tacos		+37.5	+5	+20	6
	Fishsticks		+37.5	+5	+40	10
	Fist Full of Jam		+37.5	+5	+3	15
	Flower Salad		+12.5	+5	+40	6
	Fresh Fruit Crepes		+150	+15	+60	10
	Froggle Bunwich		+37.5	+5	+20	15
	Fruit Medley		+25	+5	+20	6	Cold/5
	Gummy Cake		+150	-5	-3	20
	Hard Shell Tacos		+37.5	+5	+20	20
	Honey Ham		+75	+5	+30	15	Hot/10
	Honey Nuggets		+37.5	+5	+20	15
	Ice Cream		+25	+50	0	3	Cold/15
	Iced Tea		+12.5	+33	+3	6	Cold/10
	Jelly-O Pop		+12.5	0	+20	10	Cold/10
	Kabobs		+37.5	+5	+3	15	Hot/15
	Mandrake Soup		+150	+5	+100	6	Sleep
	Meatballs		+62.5	+5	+3	10
	Meaty Stew		+150	+5	+12	10	Hot/15
	Melonsicle		+12.5	+20	+3	3	Cold/10
	Monster Lasagna		+37.5	-20	-20	10
	Monster Tartare		+37.5 +62.5 ()	+10 -20 ()	+3 -20 ()	10
	Mussel Bouillabaise		+37.5	+15	+20	10
	Nettle Rolls		+25	+5	+20	6
	Pierogi		+37.5	+5	+40	20
	Powdercake		0	0	-3	18750
	Pumpkin Cookies		+37.5	+15	0	10
	Ratatouille		+25	+5	+3	15
	Seafood Gumbo		+37.5	+20	+40	10
	Shark Fin Soup		+12.5	-10	+40	10
	Snake Bone Soup		+25	+10	+40	10
	Spicy Chili		+37.5	0	+20	9	Hot/15
	Spicy Vegetable Stinger		+25	+33	+3	15
	Steamed Ham Sandwich		+37.5	+15	+40	6
	Stuffed Eggplant		+37.5	+5	+3	15	Hot/5
	Surf 'n' Turf		+37.5	+33	+60	10
	Sweet Potato Souffle		+37.5	+15	+20	10
	Taffy		+25	+15	-3	15
	Tea		+12.5	+33	+3	1	Hot/15
	Trail Mix		+12.5	+5	+30	15
	Tropical Bouillabaisse		+37.5	+15	+20	10
	Turkey Dinner		+75	+5	+20	6	Hot/10
	Unagi		+18.75	+5	+20	10
	Waffles		+37.5	+5	+60	6
	Wet Goop		0	0	0	6
	Wobster Bisque		+25	+10	+60	10
	Wobster Dinner		+25	+50	+60	10
	Pig Skin (Non-survival food)		+10	0	+10	1
	Bunny Puff (Non-survival food)		+10	0	+10	1
	Slurper Pelt (Non-survival food)		+10	0	+10	1
	Twigs (Non-survival food)		+0.5	0	+9.4	Never		×1.0
	Dorsal Fin (Not a food)		None	None	None	Never		×1.0
	Dorsal Fin (Not a food)		None	None	None	Never		×1.0
	Cut Grass (Non-survival food)		+4.7	0	+1	Never
	Cut Reeds (Non-survival food)		+4.7	0	+1	Never
	Rocks (Non-survival food)		+1	0	+10	Never
	Nitre (Non-survival food)		+1	0	+10	Never
	Gold Nugget (Non-survival food)		+2	0	+10	Never
	Thulecite (Non-survival food)		+3	0	+10	Never
	Thulecite Fragments (Non-survival food)		+1	0	+10	Never
	Gems (Non-survival food)		+5	0	+10	Never
	Ashes (Non-survival food)		+20	0	+20	Never
	Charcoal (Non-survival food)		+20	0	+20	Never

Tips

• Meatballs should be prioritized for most characters excluding those unable to consume meat during the early game as a decent way of dealing with hunger before moving down the list with more elaborated food, such as Honey Ham.
• In order to maximize the endurance of a food item, the player can cook it in a suitable time. Taking into account the difference of spoil rate of the cooked version and the raw version of a certain food can be useful to the player to know whether it's best to cook it or not.
• When cooking sanity restoring food, one should be wary of their freshness, as when they turn stale, they no longer restore sanity. Since most sanity restoring food items require specific ingredients, it's recommended to consume them as soon as possible in order to benefit from the sanity gain without wasting expensive ingredients for small amounts of hunger and little to no health gains.

External links

• Don't Starve Food Guide