Welcome back to Ganiming, it’s time for another Minecraft Monday! By now you’ve probably selected your favorite seed and set up some mods to make your game special. Well before you start building and grinding for enchantments, you MUST have enough food on hand. If not, you’re just asking to get unalived by the most random thing possible. Today we will cover everything about food in Minecraft. That includes what hunger actually does for you, what you can eat in the game, and how to create different types of food.
Quick note: everything I will show you today is from the world played by me and 2 of my friends. We were using the Minecraft Realms feature which does not allow mods, so everything is vanilla. Everything on this server was built just before the cave update, which means version 1.17. We recently started playing on this Realm again, and we are currently in the process of updating the world with all the recent additions. Even though the world is quite old, all the mechanics regarding food in Minecraft still work to this day.
What is Food in Minecraft?
It is always necessary you carry enough food with you in Minecraft. I made a habit of ALWAYS carrying at least one full stack of food in my inventory. I can’t tell you how many times I didn’t pay attention to my hunger bar, and then couldn’t survive a creeper gank squad in the mines.
You all know what food is. It’s the stuff you eat that gives you energy so your body can function. Just like you can’t live without food, you can’t survive without food in Minecraft. Food takes care that your hunger bar does not deplete.
You can find your hunger bar on the bottom right part of your screen, just above your inventory. If that bar completely drains, you will start losing health until you reach half a heart. You will also lose the ability to sprint once your hunger bar falls to 3 drumsticks or less. You can refill that bar by eating food. But be careful, some foods have special effects which can either help you or hurt you.
What is Food Saturation in Minecraft?
One of the most important factors about food in Minecraft is not shown on the hunger bar. It’s called food saturation, which controls the decrease of the hunger bar. There is also a food exhaustion value that controls the decrease of the food saturation level.
Food saturation is always dependent on the food level you had when eating and which food you last ate. For example, if you had one drum of huger missing and you ate a high-level food, such as a steak, your hunger bar will decrease later than if you ate a low-level food such as carrots.
The exhaustion level is dependent on your actions in-game. Regenerating your health, sprinting, jumping, and swimming are the best examples of exhausting your hunger bar.
What is the Best Food in Minecraft?
There is a huge variety of food in Minecraft – but that shouldn’t mean you should eat all of them. I am actually a huge supporter of revamping the food system in Minecraft. I would love for more of the different foods to be useful, as I usually never eat more than 3-4 different kinds of food in Minecraft. Different types of food should have more unique effects on you (mushroom stew should give you cold protection for a short while) and maybe even a thirst bar should be added.
Meat-Based Food
In my playthroughs, I usually end up eating only animal foods. A quick animal farm where you can breed cows and pigs is not very hard to make in the early stages of the game and it serves you well before you get to automatize your food production.
The best 5 types of meat in the game based on the saturation level are:
- Cooked porkchop (12.8 saturation restored)
- Steak (12.8 saturation restored)
- Rabbit Stew (12 saturation restored)
- Cooked Mutton (9.6 saturation restored)
- Cooked Salmon (9.6 saturation restored)
Plant-Based Food
I rarely craft food from vegetables in Minecraft. I usually do make huge farms, but they are mostly used for trading with villagers, or to breed villagers and animals. One of the few exceptions is the early game. When I first spawn into the game, I usually look for a village immediately. There I steal all their hay bales, which I then use to craft a couple of stacks of bread, which usually lasts me enough before I set up my food production in the game.
The best 5 types of vegetables in the game based on the saturation level are.
- Beetroot Soup (7.2 saturation restored)
- Mushroom Stew (7.2 saturation restored)
- Baked Potato (6 saturation restored)
- Bread (6 saturation restored)
- Pumpkin Pie (4.8 saturation restored)
Magical Food
There are certain types of food in Minecraft that have special effects when you eat them. These are always the best choices to have when you want to fill yourself up for some time, while also gaining some added bonuses. The downside of these meals is that you can’t stack some of them, or they can be pretty demanding to create.
The best magical foods in Minecraft based on the saturation level are:
- Suspicious Stew (21.2 saturation restored, with the effect of saturation)
- Golden Carrot (14.4 saturation restored)
- Enchanted Golden Apple (9.6 saturation restored, with the added effects of Regeneration II for 20 seconds, Absorption IV for 2 minutes, Resistance for 5 minutes, Fire Resistance for 5 minutes)
- Golden Apple (9.6 saturation restored, with the added effects of Regeneration II for 5 seconds and Absorption for 2 minutes
Quick note: Suspicious stew is only good if you know exactly what is inside of it. If you craft it with the right ingredients, it can be the best food in Minecraft. But if you just happen to find it out in the Overworld, DO NOT touch it. It is a special dish that is featured both on the best list of foods and the most dangerous!
Dangerous Food in Minecraft
Just as there are some awesome magical foods that can give you bonus stats, there are some dangerous foods that can hurt you. These are the meals you usually want to avoid.
The worst food in Minecraft based on the saturation level:
- Suspicious Stew (7.2 saturation restored, can give you the effects of Poison, Wither, Weakness, or Blindness if you’re not careful)
- Spider Eye (3.2 saturation restored, the added effect of Poison for 5 seconds)
- Poisonous Potato (1.2 saturation restored, has a 60% chance to apply the effect of Poison for 5 seconds)
- Raw Chicken (1.2 saturation restored, has a 30% chance to apply the effect of Hunger for 30 seconds.
- Rotten Flesh (0.8 saturation restored, has an 80% chance to apply the effect of hunger for 30 seconds)
- Pufferfish (0.2 saturation restored, applies the effects of Hunger III for 15 seconds, Nausea for 15 seconds, and Poison II for 60 seconds)
Well, there you have it, this is everything you need to know about food in Minecraft! There are a lot more different types of food in Minecraft that I did not specifically mention, these are just the most important. What is your favorite food item in the game? What would you like to read about in the next Minecraft Monday? Let us know in the comments below!
