Food & Water

Food is a consumable item crafted from materials and caught creatures using the Fabricator. It is only available in Survival and Hardcore mode.

Nutrients, gained through food consumption, are required to maintain the players food and water (H2O) levels or risk dying from malnutrition (note that it is nutrition as hunger not how full you are )(starvation or dehydration).

While some food can be eaten raw, this action dehydrates the player and yields significantly less food than when it is cooked. The player can also choose to cure fish instead of cooking them, so as to make them immune to decay. Cured fish has the same food values as cooked fish, but dehydrates the player by -2 H2O.

If too many food items are eaten at once, the AI announces blood loss detected and the player' s food and water will decrease.

To consume food items the player can l eft-click on the item in the Inventory / PDA.

Rot and Decay
Cooked food may raise the player's H2O levels, but it also prone to rotting and decomposing. Curing fish instead of cooking them solves this problem but decreases hydration. Still, this is a preferable alternative for dealing with hunger when far from base or local fish are sparse, as cured fish are the only kind of food with any sort of long-term storage.

Cooked food slowly starts to lose its food and water value leading to Decomposition. The level will go as low as -25 H2O and -25 food. During decomposition the food amount lowers slowly; but when it reaches a certain level the food becomes Ripe; Ripe food eventually becomes rotten when it reaches -1 food. It is recommended to eat the food while you can during the early stages of decomposition as you will still lose some hunger.

Stages of decomposition (Cooked Fish): It is possible to store live fish in storage containers that will not rot until the player is ready to cook them. However, stored cooked fish will still rot regardless.
 * 1) Starts after: ~2-3 min.
 * 2) Decomposing: ~2-3 min.
 * 3) Ripe: ~13-18 min.
 * 4) Rotting: ~27-33 min.

Note that decomposition also applies to plant foods as well, and it is not possible to cook or cure them. While this renders them useless as food, they can still be used for planting, or in the case of creepvine, fabrication.

Cooked
Cooking food requires: Cooked food can be obtained using a Thermoblade or a Fabricator
 * 1x Raw Food Item

Cured
Crafting cured food requires:
 * 1x Raw Food Item
 * 1x Salt Deposit