Foods (or Foodstuffs as considered by the Creative inventory) are consumable items that when eaten restore hunger points and sometimes cause status effects. They are essential to the player's survival, as going without them will eventually starve the player to death in Hard and Hardcore mode, and in Easy and Normal modes, severely damage the player.
Most foods are eaten by holding use item while having the food item selected in the hotbar or in the off hand. Cake cannot be eaten this way, and must instead be placed on a surface before being eaten. The player must eat food regularly, or they will begin losing health and die soon after.
With the exception of chorus fruit, golden apples and milk, food may not be eaten when the hunger bar is completely full, or on peaceful mode. Except for milk, rabbit stew, mushroom stew and beetroot soup, food items and ingredients can be stacked in inventory slots.
Hunger and Saturation
Raw (left) and cooked (right) chicken. Eating raw chicken can give you food poisoning.
Players have two different food statistics, only one of which is visible: The hunger level is visible, and the saturation level is not.
Saturation is the first statistic to decrease when a player performs energy-intensive actions, and it must be completely depleted before the visible hunger meter begins decreasing. Although the current saturation level is generally hidden, you can tell that your saturation level is completely depleted if the visible hunger meter begins displaying a jittering effect.
Eating a food item replenishes a fixed number of hunger points and saturation points, based on the item. Some foods have a better ratio of saturation to hunger points replenished than others. Overeating the hunger bar does not overflow to saturation.
A player's current saturation level can never exceed their current hunger level. A player at a hunger level of 5, for example, can only be at a maximum of 5 saturation. This is important to remember when choosing which foods to eat for the most efficient use of food: Highly saturating foods/low hunger-restoring foods should be eaten when the hunger bar is more full, especially when the bar has begun jittering. If you eat highly saturating foods when the bar is low, saturation points are likely wasted, since saturation level can never exceed hunger level.
The "nourishment" table below can help by categorizing foods by their saturation-to-hunger restoration ratios. See the more detailed Foods table for the exact hunger and saturation statistics of each food.
Nourishment value
Nourishment is defined as the ratio of saturation to hunger points restored. Foods with higher nourishment values should be eaten when the hunger bar is more full.
| Nourishment | Value | Food |
|---|---|---|
| Supernatural | 2.4 | |
| Good | 1.6 | |
| Normal | 1.2 | |
| Low | 0.6 | |
| Poor | 0.2 |
Foods
| Name | Icon | Food points | Saturation restored | Effective quality [note 1] |
Saturation ratio | Effect(s) | Source(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple | 4 ( |
2.4 | 6.4 | 0.6 | None | ||
| Baked Potato | 5 ( |
6 | 11 | 1.2 | None | Cooking a potato in a furnace, smoker, or campfire | |
| Beetroot | 1 ( |
1.2 | 2.2 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Beetroot Soup | 6 ( |
7.2 | 13.2 | 1.2 | None | ||
| Bread | 5 ( |
6 | 11 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Cake (slice) | 2 ( |
0.4 | 2.4 | 0.2 | None | Consume one slice of cake | |
| Cake (whole) | 14 ( |
2.8 | 16.8 | 0.2 | None |
| |
| Carrot | 3 ( |
3.6 | 6.6 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Chorus Fruit | 4 ( |
2.4 | 6.4 | 0.6 | The player may be teleported randomly, as described at Enderman#Teleportation. | Breaking chorus plants. Found in The End. | |
| Cooked Chicken | 6 ( |
7.2 | 13.2 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Cooked Cod | 5 ( |
6 | 11 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Cooked Mutton | 6 ( |
9.6 | 15.6 | 1.6 | None |
| |
| Cooked Porkchop | 8 ( |
12.8 | 20.8 | 1.6 | None | ||
| Cooked Rabbit | 5 ( |
6 | 11 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Cooked Salmon | 6 ( |
9.6 | 15.6 | 1.6 | None |
| |
| Cookie | 2 ( |
0.4 | 2.4 | 0.2 | None | ||
| Dried Kelp | 1 ( |
0.6[JE only] 0.2[BE only] |
1.6[JE only] 1.2[BE only] |
0.6[JE only] 0.2[BE only] |
None |
| |
| Enchanted Golden Apple | 4 ( |
9.6 | 13.6 | 2.4 | * Regeneration II for 20 seconds[Java Edition only]
|
| |
| Golden Apple | 4 ( |
9.6 | 13.6 | 2.4 | * Regeneration II for 5 seconds
|
| |
| Glow Berries | 2 ( |
0.4 | 2.4 | 0.2 | None |
| |
| Golden Carrot | 6 ( |
14.4 | 20.4 | 2.4 | None | ||
| Honey Bottle | 6 ( |
1.2 | 7.2 | 0.2 | Clears Poison |
| |
| Melon Slice | 2 ( |
1.2 | 3.2 | 0.6 | None |
| |
| Mushroom Stew | 6 ( |
7.2 | 13.2 | 1.2 | None | ||
| Poisonous Potato | 2 ( |
1.2 | 3.2 | 0.6 | Poison for 5 seconds (60% chance) |
| |
| Potato | 1 ( |
0.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | None |
| |
| Pufferfish | 1 ( |
0.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 (−4.8)[note 2] |
* Hunger III for 15 seconds |
| |
| Pumpkin Pie | 8 ( |
4.8 | 12.8 | 0.6 | None | ||
| Rabbit Stew | 10 ( |
12 | 22 | 1.2 | None |
| |
| Raw Beef | 3 ( |
1.8 | 4.8 | 0.6 | None |
| |
| Raw Chicken | 2 ( |
1.2 | 3.2 | 0.6 (-2.075)[note 2] |
Hunger for 30 seconds (30% chance) | ||
| Raw Cod | 2 ( |
0.4 | 2.4 | 0.2 | None |
| |
| Raw Mutton | 2 ( |
1.2 | 3.2 | 0.6 | None | ||
| Raw Porkchop | 3 ( |
1.8 | 4.8 | 0.6 | None | ||
| Raw Rabbit | 3 ( |
1.8 | 4.8 | 0.6 | None |
| |
| Raw Salmon | 2 ( |
0.4 | 2.4 | 0.2 | None |
| |
| Rotten Flesh | 4 ( |
0.8 | 4.8 | 0.2 (-1.8)[note 2] |
Hunger for 30 seconds (80% chance) |
| |
| Spider Eye | 2 ( |
3.2 | 5.2 | 1.6 (-2.2)[note 3] |
Poison for 5 seconds |
| |
| Steak | 8 ( |
12.8 | 20.8 | 1.6 | None |
| |
| Suspicious Stew | 6 ( |
7.2 | 13.2 | 1.2 | The following for 3-11 seconds, depending on the flower used: |
| |
| Suspicious Stew (Together with Saturation) | 13 ( |
21.2 | 34.2 | 1.6307692307692 | Effect of Saturation already added to total points restored |
| |
| Sweet Berries | 2 ( |
0.4[JE only] 1.2[BE only] |
2.4[JE only] 3.2[BE only] |
0.2[JE only] 0.6[BE only] |
None |
| |
| Tropical Fish | 1 ( |
0.2 | 1.2 | 0.2 | None |
|
- ↑ Food Points + Saturation, which gives roughly how long the food can last. See hunger for details. This value is reduced if the player is near the food or saturation cap, as excess points of either type are wasted.
- ↑ a b c Average expected food quality if food poisoning isn't cured. Food poisoning lasts 30 seconds from the last food that inflicted it, and drains nearly 2 shanks of hunger over that duration. The loss comes from saturation before visible hunger.
- ↑ Food quality if poison isn't cured; healing the damage from poison quickly drains the hunger bar.
Ingredients
The following items cannot be eaten on their own. Instead, they are used to craft consumable food items.
Achievements
| Icon | Achievement | In-game description | Actual requirements (if different) | Gamerscore earned | Trophy type (PS4) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PS4 | Other | |||||
| Overpowered | Eat an Enchanted Apple | Eat an enchanted apple. | 30G | Silver | ||
| Pork Chop | Cook and eat a pork chop. | — | 10G | Bronze | ||
| Iron Belly | Stop starvation using Rotten Flesh. | Eat a piece of rotten flesh while starving (zero hunger points). | 20G | Bronze | ||
| Rabbit Season | Cook and Eat Rabbit Meat | — | 15G | Bronze | ||
Advancements
| Icon | Advancement | In-game description | Parent | Actual requirements (if different) | Resource location |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Husbandry | The world is full of friends and food | — | Consume anything that can be consumed. | husbandry/root
|
![]() | A Balanced Diet | Eat everything that is edible, even if it's not good for you | A Seedy Place | Eat each of these 40 foods:
| husbandry/balanced_diet
|
Video
Food/video
History
| classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.24_SURVIVAL_TEST | Mushrooms are now edible, making them the first food to be added in the game. At this point, food restores health instead of hunger. | ||||
| indev | |||||
| 0.31 | Mushrooms are no longer edible. | ||||
| Added apples and mushroom stew. | |||||
| ? | Added wheat and bread. | ||||
| Added furnace block, which cooks raw food. | |||||
| Pigs now drop raw porkchops, which can be cooked to become cooked porkchops. | |||||
| infdev | |||||
| February 27, 2010 | Added golden apples. At this point, they were crafted with blocks of gold, and restored 20 health points, or 10 hearts. | ||||
| alpha | |||||
| 1.0.8 | Added milk, which was at this point unobtainable and the player could not use it in any way. | ||||
| 1.0.11 | Milk can now be obtained in the game, by milking a cow with an empty bucket. | ||||
| 1.0.14 | With the addition of chickens, eggs are now in the game, but have no use. Chickens do not drop raw chicken at this point in time. | ||||
| 1.2.0 | Added pumpkins, but not pumpkin seeds. | ||||
| Added raw fish and cooked fish, obtainable through fishing. | |||||
| 1.2.3 | Eating food now functions correctly in multiplayer. | ||||
| beta | |||||
| 1.2 | Added sugar and cake. | ||||
| 1.4 | Cocoa beans now appear naturally in the game; since Beta 1.2, they were only available through inventory editors. | ||||
| Added cookies. | |||||
| 1.8 | Added melons, melon seeds, and pumpkin seeds. | ||||
| Added raw chicken as a drop from chickens, which can be smelted into cooked chicken. | |||||
| Added raw beef as a drop from cows, which can be smelted into steak. | |||||
| Added rotten flesh as a new drop from zombies. | |||||
| Added an eating animation, instead of food simply disappearing from the player's hand as if a block had been placed. | |||||
| Added hunger bar; now food restores hunger instead of health. | |||||
| Food now stacks in the inventory, with the exception of cake, mushroom stew, and milk. | |||||
| Huge mushrooms were added as a new source for mushrooms. | |||||
| With the addition of the hunger bar, golden apples now restore 10 hunger points, or 5 drumsticks, and give 30 seconds of regeneration, but do not heal health directly anymore. | |||||
| release | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9-pre2 | Mushrooms can now be obtained from the mushroom island biome, via the huge mushrooms, random scattered mushrooms, or the new mooshrooms. | |||
| Milk can be used to nullify the effects of potions and poisons. | |||||
| Spiders now drop eyes. | |||||
| 1.1 | Golden apples are now made with gold nuggets instead of blocks of gold, restore 4 hunger points, or 2 drumsticks, and give 4 seconds of regeneration. | ||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w21a | Added enchanted golden apples, which functioned like golden apples prior to 1.1, but enchanted golden apples also give the player resistance and fire resistance for 5 minutes each. | |||
| Cocoa Beans are now a crop, making all food items a renewable resource. | |||||
| 1.4.2 | 12w34a | Potatoes and carrots can be obtainable from zombies (rare drop) or harvested. | |||
| Potatoes can be cooked to make baked potatoes | |||||
| Harvesting potatoes may give 0–2 poisonous potatoes. | |||||
| Carrots can be crafted into golden carrots. | |||||
| Pumpkins are now a food ingredient, being used to craft a new food, pumpkin pies are added to the game. | |||||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | Added clownfish, raw and cooked salmon, and pufferfish. | |||
| 1.8 | 14w02a | Baked potatoes now restore 5 ( | |||
| Carrots now restore 3 ( | |||||
| 14w27a | Added raw and cooked mutton, raw and cooked rabbit, and rabbit stew | ||||
| 1.9 | 15w31a | Added chorus fruit, beetroot and beetroot soup. | |||
| upcoming | |||||
| 1.13 | 18w07a | Added dried kelp, which is edible. | |||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.12.1 | build 1 | Eating food now restores hunger. | |||
| 0.13.0 | build 1 | Hunger restored by food now matches Minecraft PC. | |||
Trivia
- Every type of food is fully renewable (with the exception of enchanted golden apples[Java Edition only]).
- It is impossible to damage another entity while eating.
- The player cannot consume anything in Creative mode except milk, normal and enchanted golden apples, chorus fruit and potions.

