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Overview
The cooking system in Outbound lets players prepare meals from ingredients they have grown in their gardens or foraged from the environment. Cooking turns raw ingredients into meals that provide better nourishment and health benefits than eating food raw.
How cooking works
A portable food processor is located at the van's crafting station. Players combine ingredients to produce meals. Confirmed items include tea (made with the food processor) and various dishes using foraged ingredients like berries and ginger.
Food effects
Different foods have different effects on the player's needs.
Berries: Satisfy hunger when eaten raw
Ginger: Replenishes lost health
Cooked meals: Provide improved nourishment compared to raw ingredients
Cooking and eating help players "stay healthy on the road" and refill their needs as part of the game's gentle survival mechanics.
Connection to farming
Cooking consumes the produce grown through gardening. Together, gardening and cooking form a farm-to-table loop: grow ingredients, harvest them, cook meals, eat to restore needs. The farming and cooking article covers the complete pipeline.