Nightingale - How To Cook Food And Manage Hunger

Nightingale is an open-world survival game. We should emphasize the word "survival" since there's one particular mechanic that can cause hassles to no end, leading to unexpected character deaths. Here's our guide on how to cook food and manage hunger in Nightingale.

How to cook food and manage hunger in Nightingale

You can cook food by collecting ingredients and placing them in a Campfire. Here's a quick summary:

• You can easily gather ingredients like Berries and Mushrooms by pressing the "E" key when you're right beside the resource. You won't need tools at all.
• Likewise, if you kill wild animals, you can skin them for hide, leather, and meat, too.
• It's even possible to catch fish while you're near bodies of water.
• As for the Campfire, just open the build menu and place it in a proper location. You only need 6x Rocks to build one.
• Note that a Campfire, similar to other workbenches, gains bonuses based on environmental factors. As such, it's ideal to place one inside a tent (i.e. sheltered bonus) and on rock-solid ground or stone foundations (i.e. grit bonus).

The basics of cooking

Once you have a Campfire, you should be able to cook food in Nightingale by adding sticks, plant fiber, or wood as fuel. You should see a few recipes, though others can be unlocked by purchasing them from Essence Traders or obtained as random rewards from Hope Echoes/Bastille Challenges. Here are some examples of early-game cooking recipes:

• Healing Salve - 1x Bones and 1x Fiber.
• Mixed Plants - 2x any type of plant, fungi, or vegetable (i.e. Raw Mushrooms).
• Roasted Berries - 1x any type of Berry.
• Roasted Meat - 1x any type of Meat.

Once you have a food item, make sure it's assigned to a hotkey. It will then be equipped in your offhand, and you can eat it by pressing the "F" key. Since food is counted as an offhand item, you may still use a one-handed weapon in your main hand.

The hunger meter

Hunger in Nightingale is one of the most problematic mechanics. Here's why:

• Your HP is gradually restored over time, as long as you're not taking damage. You can use Healing Salves, too.
• The rest meter, meanwhile, is replenished when you interact with a sleeping bag or any type of bed to do a short rest or long rest.
• The hunger meter, however, is depleted constantly, even if you're not doing anything. You need to keep eating various kinds of food to have your fill.

Boons to alleviate hunger

In any case, this is how you cook food and manage hunger in Nightingale. If hunger is becoming an issue during your runs, we recommend buying the Feast Card, which comes from an Abeyance Essence Trader. When active, it prolongs the effects of meals, allows you to replenish your HP faster, and slows down the effects of hunger. You can learn more in our Realm Card crafting guide and Realmic Transmuter guide.