Diets

Diets menu

About Diets

Diets is the fifth settings button from the left in the Settlement Interface.

To avoid Hunger, you and all of your settlers need to eat food regularly. There are three main classes of food set by Diets for each settler:

1. Simple Food
2. Fine Food
3. Gourmet Food

A Diet can be set for each settler, which may include any number of items within each food type. This page lists all of the food that can be selected as part of a diet, but only once that particular food item is available to the player. As well as how to set a default diet for all new settlers (which is highly recommended, as we will explain later), we will detail the advantages and disadvantages of setting each item for each particular type of settler NPC.

Consumable Food Types

Before we look at the diets that you set for each of your settlers, it is good to know a little about the Consumable food types that you choose items from when you Assign Storage for a Chest.

There are two Consumable food types that you (and your NPCs) can (mostly) eat:

• Raw Food
• Food

There is also one that nobody can even attempt to eat (raw):

• Common Fish

Here is a brief description of these food types and how they relate to the Food classes for setting Diets:

• The Consumable: Raw Food type is always a Simple Food class, if it is possible to attempt to eat an item included. Although most (but not all) Raw Food can be eaten (except things like Wheat), some items are healthy like fruit (e.g. Apples), whereas other Raw Food is not good for you (e.g. Raw Pork).

• The Consumable: Food type comprises cooked Food (but these also include some Drinks, e.g. Cappuccino ). Food of this type is in either the Fine or Gourmet food class.

• Consumable: Common Fish type can be grilled (as a Simple food class) or cooked as part of a Food (Fine or Gourmet food class).

Using Change Diet

When you click a Change Diet button, a dialog box will be displayed with (by default) all three food classes ticked, which means all possible food available can be eaten by your settlers. This is not a good idea, as we will explain later. Here is an example of the dialog box for showing three possible types of selection, for New Settlers:

• Yellow horizontal line - Some food in the class is included in the Diet.
• Green checkmark - All food in the class is included in the Diet.
• Red cross - No food in the class is included in the Diet.

Change Diet Dialog Box

Again, a selection like this for New Settlers is not a good idea as it is highly recommended to exclude some Fine Food items from the diet of all settlers; for example Bread is more valuable to be kept and used as an ingredient for cooking Gourmet food. It is best to drill down and individually check, or un-check, each food item that you have currently available. As with other settings in the Settlement Interface (such as those used for Assign Storage under Assign Work), you can Copy one set of Diet settings and Paste it for use by any number of other settlers.

Note: Raw food items like vegetables will only be available to be checked/unchecked once you have obtained some of them: either as grown vegetables, or after you have grown some from Seeds in Farmland and harvested them (e.g. Onion Seeds can be obtained in some underground locations).

It is highly recommended that you have a quick glance through the Diet food sections on this page, then read the #Advice on Setting Diets section thoroughly, before attempting to set Diets for your settlers.

Simple Food

There are two tiers of Simple Food:

• Tier 1 (Green) - Best Simple Food (Duration 4 minutes).
• Tier 2 (White) - Common Simple Food (Duration 4 minutes).

Tier 1 Simple food generally offers the best bonus attributes (Effect, as the Duration is always 4 minutes).

Fine Food Tiers

Name	Type	Tier	Main Origin	Remarks
Apple	Fruit	2	Apple Tree	*also Ingredient
Banana	Fruit	1	Banana Tree	*also Ingredient
Beef	Raw Meat	2	Animal Keeper - Cow - Beef	*mainly Ingredient
Blackberry	Fruit	2	Blackberry Bush	*also Ingredient
Blueberry	Fruit	2	Blueberry Bush	*also Ingredient
Cabbage	Vegetable	2	Cabbage Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Carrot	Vegetable	1	Carrot Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Chili Pepper	Vegetable	2	Chili Pepper Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Coconut	Fruit	2	Coconut Tree	*also Ingredient
Corn	Vegetable	2	Corn Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Duck Breast	Raw Meat	1	Hunter - Duck	*mainly Ingredient
Eggplant	Vegetable	2	Eggplant Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Frog Leg	Raw Meat	1	Hunter - Frog	*mainly Ingredient
Lemon	Fruit	1	Lemon Tree	*also Ingredient
Milk	Dairy	1	Animal Keeper - Cow - Milk	*mainly Ingredient
Onion	Vegetable	1	Onion Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Potato	Vegetable	2	Potato Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Pumpkin	Vegetable	1	Pumpkin Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient
Rabbit Leg	Raw Meat	1	Hunter - Rabbit	*mainly Ingredient
Raw Mutton	Raw Meat	2	Animal Keeper - Sheep - Raw Mutton	*mainly Ingredient
Raw Pork	Raw Meat	2	Animal Keeper - Cow - Raw Pork	*mainly Ingredient
Strawberry	Fruit	1	Strawberry Seeds in Farmland	*also Ingredient
Tomato	Vegetable	2	Tomato Seeds in Farmland	*mainly Ingredient

*Note: All items are also Ingredients (Crafting materials) used for cooking some Gourmet food. Although Fruit is good, how many people eat most raw vegetables (?), and it is not at all advisable to eat raw meat (although you may let your settlers do so, if you really must and they have acute Hunger)!

Fine Food

There are two tiers of Fine Food:

• Tier 1 (Green) - Best Fine Food (Duration 8 minutes).
• Tier 2 (White) - Common Fine Food (Duration 4 minutes).

Tier 1 Fine food generally offers the best bonus attributes (Effect, as well as Duration).

Fine Food Tiers

Name	Type	Tier	Main Origin	Remarks
Bread	Cooked	1	Flour milled from Wheat	*also Ingredient
Candy Apple	Cooked	1	Apple Tree	Cooked Fruit
Cheese	Dairy	1	Animal Keeper - Cow - Milk	*also Ingredient
Donut	Cooked	1	Flour milled from Wheat	Cooked Pastry
Popcorn	Cooked	1	Corn	Cooked Snack
Roasted Duck Breast	Cooked	1	Hunter - Duck	Wild Meat
Roasted Fish	Cooked	1	Angler - Common Fish	Domestic Meat
Roasted Frog Leg	Cooked	1	Hunter - Frog	Wild Meat
Roasted Mutton	Cooked	2	Animal Keeper - Sheep	Domestic Meat
Roasted Pork	Cooked	2	Animal Keeper - Pig	Domestic Meat
Roasted Rabbit Leg	Cooked	1	Hunter - Rabbit	Wild Meat
Steak	Cooked	2	Animal Keeper - Cow	Domestic Meat

*Note: Bread and Cheese are also Ingredients (Crafting materials) used for cooking some Gourmet food.

Gourmet Food

There are three tiers of Gourmet Food:

1. Tier 1 (Purple) - Finest Gourmet Food (Duration 20 minutes).
2. Tier 2 (Yellow) - Great Gourmet Food (Duration 16 minutes).
3. Tier 3 (Blue) - Good Gourmet Food (Duration 12 minutes).

Tier 1 Gourmet food generally offers the best bonus attributes (Effect, as well as Duration).

Gourmet Food Tiers

The following table list all Gourmet Food. Here are some key points:

• All Gourmet food is a Food cooked in either a Cooking Pot or Cooking Station.
• No Gourmet food can act as an Ingredient for another cooked dish.
• The Dairy/Flour/Bread/Sugar column is provided to help you understand how difficult it may be for your settlers to regularly cook these dishes, bearing in mind that those ingredients need to be milked or pressed (Dairy: Milk, Cheese) or milled (Flour and Sugar) or produced from milled ingredient (Bread from Flour). Coffee is milled too, but that should be obvious for Black Coffee and Cappuccino. All other Gourmet food is easier for your settlers to cook regularly, provided that you grow a sufficient quantity of the plants/trees/bushes required for those ingredients and have Hunters, Animal Keepers and/or Anglers configured to obtain the meat or fish items for use in the relevant food types.
• The Tier column is more to give you an idea of how useful a particular food is for your own use, rather than use by your settlers. You may consider banning some items for settler Diet use (for example: Pork Tenderloin which can provide the maximum possible +80 Max Health).
• See Food to see a list of the Effects and Recipes for all Food items, or click any single item to see that information for a single one individually. Note: This information is not generally important when setting Settler Diets (except, possibly, with regard to defense against Raids).

Name	Type	Tier	Dairy/Flour/Bread/Sugar?	Remarks
Banana Pudding	Cooked	1	Milk	Pudding/Dessert
Beef Goulash	Cooked	1	No	Meat Dish
Black Coffee	Cooked	2	No	Drink
Blackberry Ice Cream	Cooked	3	Milk, Sugar	Pudding/Dessert
Blueberry Cake	Cooked	3	Milk, Sugar	Pudding/Dessert
Cappuccino	Cooked	1	Milk	Drink
Cheese Burger	Cooked	3	Cheese, Bread	Meat Dish
Eggplant Parmesan	Cooked	3	Cheese	Vegetarian Dish
Fish Taco	Cooked	3	No	Fish Dish
Fish and Chips	Cooked	2	Flour	Fish Dish
Fresh Potato Salad	Cooked	2	No	Vegetarian Dish
Fried Pork	Cooked	1	Milk	Meat Dish
Fruit Smoothie	Cooked	3	Milk, Sugar	Pudding/Dessert
Hotdog	Cooked	2	Bread	Meat Dish
Junior Burger	Cooked	3	No	Meat Dish
Lemon Tart	Cooked	1	Milk, Flour, Sugar	Pudding/Dessert
Meatballs	Cooked	3	Flour	Meat Dish
Miners Stew	Cooked	2	No	Vegetarian Dish
Nachos	Cooked	3	Cheese, Flour	Vegetarian Dish
Pork Tenderloin	Cooked	1	No	Meat Dish
Pumpkin Pie	Cooked	1	Milk, Flour, Sugar	Vegetarian Dish
Rice Pudding	Cooked	1	Milk, Sugar	Pudding/Dessert
Shish Kebab	Cooked	1	No	Meat Dish
Smoked Fillet	Cooked	3	No	Fish Dish
Spaghetti Bolognese	Cooked	1	Flour	Meat Dish
Strawberry Pie	Cooked	1	Milk, Flour, Sugar	Pudding/Dessert
Sushi Rolls	Cooked	1	No	Fish Dish
Sweet Lemonade	Cooked	2	Sugar	Drink
Tropical Stew	Cooked	2	No	Meat Dish

Advice on Setting Diets

Before attempting to set Diets for your settlers, there are some things that you need to be aware of including:

• Food Quality.
• Diet Variety.
• Optimising Settings for Settlers and Yourself.

Food quality

Having settlers eat better quality food is perhaps the easiest way to increase their happiness.
Settlers will only eat from chests assigned as settlement storage (using Assign Storage under Assign Work of the Settlement Interface).

Food quality	Happiness
Simple	+10%
Fine	+20%
Gourmet	+35%

Diet Variety

Providing your villager with a wider variety of foods for them to eat will increase their happiness.

Name	Different Foods	Happiness
No Variety	0	+0%
Slightly Varied	2-4	+10%
Somewhat Varied	5-7	+20%
Nicely Varied	8-11	+30%
Extremely Varied	12+	+40%

Optimising Settings for Settlers and Yourself

As can be seen from the information above, Food quality and Diet Variety are important, but there are some other factors to consider too, including:

• How many settlers do you currently have?
• What foods are better not to be used in a diet due to their negative effects when eaten?
• What food is better used as ingredients for cooking better food (once they are able to use the Recipe)?
• Which settlers (if any) do you give a better diet to?
• How to ensure you keep a sufficient quantity of food you would like to use yourself?
• How many settlers should concentrate on doing the cooking and how many cooking stations?

This list is not comprehensive and may be added to later, but it includes some of the main points to consider.

How many settlers?

When a settlement is small (less than 5 settlers) it is considered Not Crowded and the Diet you set for them is not so important. Once you have over 24 settlers, then it is considered Extremely Crowded which is -40% happiness for each of them. At that point, giving them a selection of 12 or more Gourmet foods (and banning them from Simple and Fine foods) will give them the best happiness boost from their diet. See also Crowding information.

Ban food items?

As you will see from the table for Simple Food, some foods are best not eaten Raw due to the ill effects of doing so. These are the raw meat items: Beef, Frog Leg, Rabbit Leg, Raw Mutton and Raw Pork. It is recommended to ban those items from all diets.

Allow eating a food item or ban it from their diet?

Most of the items in the Simple Food list are used as ingredients to cook Fine Food and/or Gourmet Food, so (when possible) it is best to stop settlers eating them as part of their Diet, or they will not have enough left (if any) to create the better food.

When you have first started a settlement, it is generally fine to let them eat things like Fruit (Apples, Bananas, Blackberries, etc.) if you can grow them, as well as some Vegetables (Tomatoes, etc.), although it is recommended not to include Milk unless you really need to, or you or they will have none left of this vital ingredient to cook many dishes. Bear in mind, it is much easier to increase the amount of some food items by just growing more of them, but it is not so easy to produce a large quantity of Milk, even with a lot of Cows and several Animal Keepers.

As your settlement increases in size and you gain more settlers, then upgrade their diets to eat more Fine Food and Gourmet Food and ban them from eating Simple food when you can so that you can use this class of food entirely as ingredients. When possible, limit their diets to Gourmet Food completely.

Which settlers (if any) do you give a better diet to?

When you have limited food of different value available, you may like to consider giving certain settlers a better Diet than normal. As an example, when you have a Mage as one of your settlers, you may like to prioritize giving him/her a diet of only a good selection of Gourmet food (12 plus items) to maximize their Happiness, as doing so may provide you with better prices in Coin transactions that you make and he/she may offer you better Enchantments more often.

How to keep some of the best food for yourself?

This has been somewhat answered already and may be somewhat obvious. The best technique is to keep some storage chests in your room (not added to the settlement storage) to contain food that you do not want the settlers to eat. You can also get the settlers to cook a good Gourmet food item, but not include it in any of their diets so they will not touch the stock of that item once it is cooked.

How many Cooks and Cooking facilities do you need?

This is not an easy question to answer! But if you have a very large settlement (e.g. over 50 villagers), then managing them all becomes far more complex. Generally, you will need to use the Settlement Interface, Work priorities to dedicate sufficient settlers to Crafting. It is recommended to dedicate a number of Villagers to cooking, perhaps renaming them to Cook Christine, Cook Dave, etc. and restricting their area (using the Settlement Interface, Restrict) to the cook's room and their route to and from the cooking facilities they are going to use (Roasting Station, Cooking Pot and/or Cooking Station).

Regarding the number of cooking workstations, it is generally better to have at least as many of them as the settlers you wish to concentrate on cooking, plus at least one spare for use by occasional cooks, who may normally specialize in their main professional task (e.g. an Angler mainly concentrating on Fishing) but sometimes cook for themselves. It is better to have a number of cooking workstations with one (or a small number) of recipes added, rather than one cooking pot with a long list of recipes.