Guide to Food in Minecraft

Food in Minecraft is as important as food in real life. If you are playing Minecraft Survival Mode, it is important that you avoid hunger and stay well-nourished in order to stay alive and be able to continue with the game.

Once you understand the basics of the food in Minecraft, you will be able to craft your own food.

Hunger Explained

When you play Survival mode your hunger will deplete over time unless you eat something to build up your strength. Hunger is shown by little drumstick icons. Each icon symbolises two hunger points so when you are in full health you have a total of twenty hunger points. Be wary if you are sprinting, as your hunger level will deplete quickly. Once you are below six hunger points, you won't be able to sprint at all. The speed in which your health diminishes depends on what difficulty level you are on. If you are on the easy level, your health will stop decreasing at fifteen, on normal level it stops decreasing at one and on the hard level it will continue to decrease until you die unless you stop it by eating. It is important to keep your hunger bar full if you want to perform at your best.

Each food provides the player with a different amount of hunger restoration. Fortunately, there are lots of different foods that can be eaten in the game. Let’s start with the basics.

Basic Food Supplies

Here are some of the basic supplies that you may find useful when preparing and cooking food.

·         Crafting table – 4 wooden planks placed in a square

·         Furnace- 8 cobblestones (place in all spaces apart from the centre)

·         Bowl- 3 wooden planks

·         Fishing Rod- 3 sticks placed diagonally + 2 pieces of string going down on the right

·         Boat- 5 wooden planks in the bottom two rows minus the very centre square

·         Fence- 4 wooden planks + 2 sticks

Meat

Meat is a great way to replenish your hunger bar. Many animals, mostly farm animals, are available to eat.

·         Beef is dropped from both cows and Mooshrooms. To cook steak, place the raw beef in a furnace. Each steak will restore 8 hunger points. Raw beef can be eaten, but will only restore 3 hunger points.

·         Pork chops are dropped by pigs when they are killed. Up to 3 pork chops can be dropped at any one time. Each porkchop will also restore 8 hunger points and raw pork chops only restore 3.

·         Chickens can drop up to 1 raw chicken when killed. Cooked chicken will be dropped when the chicken is killed on the fire. Each cooked chicken provides the player with 6 hunger. Although raw chicken can be eaten and will restore 2 hunger points, there is a 30% chance that it will give you food poisoning for 30 seconds.

·         Rabbits drop up to 1 raw rabbit when killed and the meat can be cooked in a furnace. 5 hunger points are restored for cooked rabbit, and 3 hunger restored from raw.

·         Sheep can drop up to 2 raw mutton when killed.

When animals drop meat, it will be raw unless the animal is killed on a fire. In these cases, the meat will be dropped already cooked.

Fish

Getting fish is pretty easy. Start by crafting a fishing rod and cast your line into the water. You can do this by the edge of the water or use a boat to travel further into the water. You’ll know you have caught something when you start to see bubbles emerge at the surface. Here are the fish that you can catch.

·         Standard Fish- raw fish will restore 2 hunger points. If you cook raw fish in a furnace you will get 5 hunger points.

·         Salmon- raw salmon will restore 2 hunger, while cooked salmon restoring 6

·         Clownfish- These fish are extremely rare and there is a really low chance of catching one. Each clownfish only restores 1 hunger

·         Pufferfish- These fish are a relatively common catch and restore 1 hunger but are toxic and will poison you for 1 minute. Therefore, these should only be eaten when truly necessary

Crops

There are plenty of foods available for those who are vegetarian or for when meat and fish are unavailable. Here are some of the main ones you will encounter in Minecraft

·         Carrot- You can find carrot in villages and they can be dropped by zombies sometimes. When eaten, they restore 3 hunger. You may also come across a gold carrot. These restore double the amount of hunger.

·         Potato- You can also find these in villages. Each potato restores 1 hunger when eaten raw, with baked potatoes restoring 5 hunger. When harvesting potato crops, you may come across a poisonous potato. These can be eaten and will restore 2 hunger points however there is a 60% chance of getting poisoned.

·         Melon- Only found in Jungle Biomes, melon restores 2 hunger points. Melon can also be broken to create melon slices.

·         Wheat- Although you cannot eat wheat on its own, you can use it to craft several other foods such as bread, cake and cookies.

·         Pumpkin- Pumpkins cannot be eaten raw and must be crafted into something else before being eaten. (e.g. a Pumpkin pie).

·         Sugarcane- Found near water, sugarcane cannot be eaten on its own. It must be crafted into sugar first

·         Mushrooms- Found in poorly lit areas under trees or underground. They are either red or brown in colour. You can shear Mooshrooms to get the red variety.

·         Cocoa Bean- Found in Jungle Biomes, the cocoa bean can only be used in crafted food as it is not edible raw.

·         Apple- these are common as they can appear when you cut down trees during crafting. Each apple restores 4 hunger.

These crops can be planted directly in order to grow more of them. Farming these crops is a great way to help keep your food stock levels high for the future.

Crafted Foods

Once you know the basics of the available food in Minecraft and how they work, you can start crafting your own food. Here are some of the things that can be crafted.

Types of Food In Minecraft

·         Bread- 3 pieces of wheat. Restores 5 hunger points

·         Cake- 3 buckets of milk + 3 wheat + 2 sugar + 1 egg . Restores 2 hunger points per slice

·         Cookie- 2 wheat + 1 cocoa bean. Restores 2 hunger points

·         Pumpkin Pie- Pumpkin + Sugar + Eggs. Restores 8 hunger points

·         Rabbit Stew. Restores 10 hunger points

·         Mushroom Stew. Restores 6 hunger

·         Beetroot Soup. Restores 6 hunger

Bad Foods

There are certain food in Minecraft that can have negative effects on the player. These include raw chicken, spider eyes, pufferfish and rotten flesh. Although they can be eaten, they may cause nausea and can even be poisonous. Therefore, these items should only be eaten if the player is desperate and is about to starve. Once eaten, the player can drink milk to clear the side effects these foods cause.

Rotten Flesh can be obtained by killing either a Zombie or Zombie Pigman. Whilst they both provide the player with 4 hunger points, there is an 80% chance of getting food poisoning, so these are best avoided unless the player has no alternative food source.

It is good to always be aware of what the types of food in Minecraft, where you can find them and how much hunger they will replenish. Knowing this vital information will help you be able to progress quicker and survive longer in the game.