Monster Hunter: World cooking: the best food to eat before a hunt

Bon Appetit

Guide by Dave Irwin Former Guides Writer

Published on Oct. 25, 2018

Some say that key to a hunter's success in Monster Hunter: World is what's in their stomach. The truth is that there are a lot of different factors to succeeding in your hunt, but the one that's most easy to forget is to eat before heading off. You could just go for any old dish and be done with it, but there are better choices to be had the more time you invest in learning about good cuisine. This guide will take you through how vital ingredients are to getting the best meal to eat before a hunt.

Monster Hunter: World cooking and canteen guide

Eating is one task that should be in your list of of tasks to do before venturing out on a hunt, as described in the Monster Hunter World guide. There are multiple places that have a canteen - namely the third and fourth floors of Astera. There's also a mini-canteen in each camp, so if you somehow forget to eat before starting your hunt, you can eat at every camp, though there will be some missions where the game throws you in the thick of it, so try to ensure you eat before you fly.

If you are looking for specifically Monster Hunter World Iceborne guides, then we have created a separate guide hub for just expansion stuff. Head over to our Monster Hunter World Iceborne guide to make your start.

What is the best meal at the Canteen in Monster Hunter: World?

Of course it's a lot better to have your meal at the canteen, but with such a huge selection, it can be daunting to work out what the best option is for your pre-hunt meal. The truthful answer is that there is no one best meal as certain meals give good buffs, but some pre-made meals are better when starting out. During the beginning, the Chef's choice platter is a good option in that it gives you some skills and buffs for you and your Palico, however he tends to use all fresh ingredients, meaning you may not get exactly what you want in terms of skills.

There are much better options available for you once you're further into the game and have a few more ingredients to use after doing quests for the chef. Custom platters soon become your best friend. How this works is that by putting two of the same type of food into a meal, you'll get a buff to your stats depending on the type of food selected, for example, if you stick in a Wyvern Thigh and Wyvern Skirt Steak, you'll get a small attack boost. Each different type of ingredient is collected during side quests. Using fresh ingredients will also boost your overall health.

Upgrading the canteen

Twice during the course of the campaign, you can upgrade the Canteen to provide a larger amount of food that the canteen can prepare at any given point. Each one will add two slots to any meal that can be prepared, up to a maximum of six.

What skills do ingredients give for meals in Monster Hunter: World?

Meat increases attack and fish increases defence, while vegetables give elemental resistances. Drinks increase the chance to get certain skills depending on your beverage of choice, but are able to be seen before putting them into your order. The freshness of your ingredients is also a key factor. Not only does it provide a small health boost, it also gives a higher chance of activating a particular food skill. The following table lists all the possible skills that you can get from food, which you can use the search functionality to filter down to the specific item of choice.

Food skill	Type of food consumed	Effect of food skill
Felyne Polisher	Courage food x2	Speeds up the time it takes to sharpen weapons.
Felyne Rider	Courage food x4	Makes it a little easier to mount monsters.
Felyne Slugger	Courage food x6	Monsters are easier to stun.
Felyne Acrobat	Resilience food x2	Recover quickly when hit and sent flying through the air.
Felyne Feet	Resilience food x4	Prevents you from being knocked down.
Felyne Moxie	Resilience food x6	Prevents you from fainting one time when the damage taken exceeds remaining health.
Felyne Riser (Hi)	Vigor food x2	Extends the invulnerability period when getting up from being knocked down.
Felyne Black Belt	Vigor food x4	Reduces stamina cost of dodging, blocking, and other certain actions.
Felyne Heroics	Vigor food x6	Increases greatly your attack when your health is low.
Felyne Groomer	Acumen food x2	Cuts the effect duration of Defence down in half and speeds up recovery from Blight.
Felyne Medic	Acumen food x4	Increases health recovery gained from items.
Felyne Specialist	Acumen food x6	Increases the potency of any abnormal status attacks you inflict.
Felyne Sharpshooter	Artillery food x2	Increases the power of normal arrows and normal shots.
Felyne Bombardier	Artillery food x4	Increases damage dealt via ballista, Gunlance shells, and sticky ammo.
Felyne Pyro	Artillery food x6	Upgrades your Large Barrel Bombs into Mega Barrel Bombs.
Felyne Iron Carver	Perception food x2	Prevents any knockback when mining for minerals.
Felyne Exchanger	Perception food x4	Increases the amount of research points received when finishing a quest.
Felyne Carver (Hi)	Perception food x6	Increases the number of times you can mine minerals.
Felyne Harvester	Fortune food x2	Reduces the time a gathering point takes to respawn.
Felyne Fat Cat	Fortune food x4	Increases the amount of Zenny received when finishing a quest.
Felyne Lucky Cat	Fortune food x6	Occasionally increasess the number of reward items you receive when finishing a quest.

Daily Skills

At the beginning of each quest, the daily skills will change. These are overridden by the ingredient activated skills as shown above, but below are all the possible skills that you can obtain when having a cooked meal.

Skill name	Skill effect
Felyne Cliffhanger	Reduces any stamina depletion when evading attacks while climbing on walls or ivy.
Felyne Fur Coating	Prevents or reduces the effects of Blight and environmental damage.
Felyne Booster	Temporarily increases your attack and defence at the start of a quest.
Felynebacker	Prevents knock back while transporting any item.
Felyne Provoker	Draws a monsters' attention and increases the likelihood you'll be being targeted.
Felyne Researcher	Unlocks investigations more easily while on expeditions.
Felyne Defender (Lo)	Sometimes decreases damage taken when hit.
Felyne Defender (Hi)	Often decreases damage taken when hit.
Felyne Temper	Increases damage dealt by bowguns, as well as recoil.
Felyne Escape Artist	Decreases the amount of stamina depleted while fleeing from large monsters.
Felyne Weakener	Large monsters encountered while on quests have a chance of being weaker than they normally are.
Felyne Insurance	Prevents your group from being penalised the first time a member faints during a quest.
Felyne Deflector	Your weapon retains its sharpness whenever an attack is deflected.
Felyne Bulldozer	Increases your attack power when striking after an attack is deflected.
Felyne Trainer	Speeds up your Palico's growth.
Felyne Fisher	Increases the chance that fish will bite while fishing.
Cool Cat	Upon using the Kick Back gesture, you gain a temporary attack boost.
Felyne Sprinter	While holding an item, your stamina falls slower when dashing.
Felyne Gripper	Prevents some attacks from knocking you off of walls or ivy you are climbing.

How to use the BBQ in Monster Hunter: World

There may be times when you need a quick pick-me-up in the middle of a hunt, namely when a monster has made you faint, and you're nowhere near your camp to visit the canteen. Rations from the chest when you start out help, but the meals you get while using the BBQ spit are much more succulent and provide a bigger bonus.

In order to use it, you'll need some Raw Meat. This can be found on some of the fauna around each of the maps. Once you have the ingredients you need, activate the BBQ spit to set up your little cooking station. A little tune will play as you're cooking and you must time removing the meat from the fire with the end of the track. Not long enough and you'll produce Rare Steak, which is good, but not the best. Too long and you'll burn it, but cook it just right for Well-cooked Steak.

The benefit to doing this in advance is that your maximum possible stamina will go down as your hunt goes on, meaning you won't be able to run after your quarry for long. Eating rations can be good in a pinch, but your own BBQ'd hunks of meat give a much better boost to your overall stamina.

So now you've filled your stomach with delicious food, it's time to get out there and see the world. Check out our Monster Hunter: World ecological research guide for learning all about the various meats and fish you can gather for your kitchen, as well as the Monster Hunter: World botanical research guide for tips on cultivating plants and bugs.