Kenshi has a ton of different systems within. The game is a post-apocalyptic hellscape, but also tons of fun. There’s a bunch of crafting and base-building, but that’s basic. If you’re looking for an immersive and incredibly rich storytelling experience, this game might be for you. If you’ve ever wanted Dwarf Fortress as a survival game, here it is. There’s stats and levels to improve, which can allow you to become a god of the wasteland.
All that challenge means you need to keep track of a lot of details. In Kenshi, your character needs to survive. That means they need a steady supply of food and water. It might seem obvious, but the ability to eat food in Kenshi is kind of obtuse. Like many things in this game, there’s a learning curve involved.
How to eat food in Kenshi
The majority of eating in the game is done automatically. When looking at your party will show various stats, including Hunger. The lower this stat is, the more food the character needs. Characters automatically consume some food when their hunger gets below 250, unless the only types of food they have are edible ingredients. In that case, they will not eat until they get below 200. If they drop below 200, the stat impacts begin.
Whenever you mouse over the Hunger stat of a character, the hunger stats should show up. You can see the rates at which your character is losing Hunger. You will also see their stat impact go up as they grow more hungry. The longer you go without food, the more negative the impact on your stats.
And you don’t need to constantly waste time managing the inventory of your characters. if you have a hauler character in your party, load up their backpack with food. The other members of your party will automatically feed themselves from that backpack as long as they’re near that character. Also, keep in mind that animals and prisoners also need food. You can select a held prisoner or animal to check their hunger level. Putting food manually into the inventory will allow them to feed themselves.
And speaking of your party, it’s a good idea to use the automation system to dedicate a character to growing food and or hunting. Getting a constant supply of meat and vegetables will be key to keeping your base members fed. From there, they can also raise their cooking skill. This will both increase the recipes they can use, and the impact their food can have on stats in a positive way. You can also just head over to any vendor in the settlement Bars to buy food items. They also tend to be a great source of basic weapons, materials and even Blueprints for crafting. You can hover over an food item to see how well it will do at helping keep hunger under control.
All Food in Kenshi
There are many types of food items in Kenshi, here’s a list.
- Ancient Nutritions
- Chew Sticks
- Cooked Vegetables
- Dried Fish
- Dried Meat
- Dustwich
- FoodCube
- Foul Raw Meat
- Gohan
- Grand Fish
- Meatwrap
- Rationpack
- Rice Bowl
- Thin fish
Aside from the cooked food ingredients, you also have a few basic ingredients, some of which are also edible. It’s important to prefer the cooked meals, as they won’t poison you like some uncooked items might.
Edible Ingredients:
- Raw Meat
- Bread
Non-Edible Ingredients:
- Cactus
- Green fruit
- Riceweed
- Strawflour
- Water
- Wheatstraw
That’s all you need to know about food and how to eat food in Kenshi.
There are many other things to learn about this game. You could help yourself get started in base-building by buying a house. There are also lots of factions to interact with. Players could join up with the Holy Nation or the Shek Kingdom. And there are so many more branching stories in the game as well. If you’re a brand new player, maybe learning the basics of Kenshi can help you out a bit.
