There may not be any dedicated hunger and thirst meters in Starfield, but having a few good food items ready is a practice that players should still be doing regardless. Food grants a number of time-limited buffs when eaten, and they can come in clutch with the various effects they provide.
Food can be purchased from vendors, picked up in human-occupied stations, or cooked from within the confines of the player's own ship. There are plenty of ways to get some good grub in Starfield, but not all of them are as valuable as some others. Here are some of the best food items in the game that we've found so far.
Best Food in Starfield
Before diving in, it's important to note that food is vastly inferior to med packs when it comes to healing. Meals heal for very little, and carrying a hundred sandwiches, for example, won't do a player's encumbrance load any favors. With that in mind, the following food items were selected based on the usefulness of the buffs they provide and not the health they restore (unless otherwise specified).
|
Item |
Effect |
|
Terrabrew Espresso |
Restores 3 Health; +20% O2 Recovery for 3m |
|
Tranquilitea Drinks |
Restores 3 Health; +2% XP Gains for 15m |
|
Sparkling Water |
Restores 3 Health; -20% O2 usage for 3m |
|
Chandra Port Wine |
+12% Persuasion chance for 5m; -15% O2 recover for 5m |
|
Alien Scramble |
Restores 5 Health; +75 Damage Resistance for 5m |
These are only a few of Starfield's extensive list of food and drinks, but the best part about them is that they are all accessible even to players who don't invest in the Gastronomy skill.
Advanced cooking recipes unlock better versions of these items. Barbacoa Wraps, which can be cooked after reaching Gastronomy Rank 3, are basically better versions of Alien Scramble that restore 20 HP and provide +100 Damage Resistance for 20m. The difference between the two items isn't that high, and players can expect the gaps between the items on the list and their advanced counterparts to be somewhat similar.
Chems and medical supplies provide significantly stronger buffs, and they are also much lighter than most food items. Generally, players who are looking for situational buffs will want to stock up on meds instead of food just to spare themselves the headache of inventory management. Also, they can always use their meals to decorate their homes and ships for a more believable and lived-in environment.
Starfield is available on PC and Xbox Series X/S.