Gastronomy

Gastronomy
"Access to brand new worlds means access to brand new ingredients, and there is almost no limit to the delicious foods and drinks a talented chef can prepare."
Skill Tree	Social
Skill Tier	Novice (1)
Primary Utility	Crafting
Secondary Utilities	Research
Related Backgrounds	Beast Hunter, Chef, Pilgrim

Gastronomy is a Novice Social Skill. It allows the Spacefarer to craft food and drink items, and research additional recipes.

Ranks

Rank	Challenge	Bonuses
1	Create 5 food or drink items.	You can craft specialty food and drinks, and research additional recipes at a Research Lab.
2	Create 25 food and drink items.	You can research and craft gourmet food and drinks.
3	Create 50 food and drink items.	You can research and craft food and drink delicacies.
4	N/A	Crafting food and drinks occasionally doesn't use up resources. You can research and craft exotic recipes.

Progression and Strategy

Gastronomy can be challenging to level, as the player may not have immediate access to crafting ingredients. As the player must unlock many of the recipes via research, this can suck up a lot of crafting materials. The alternative is to powerlevel Gastronomy by mass-producing weak items. Even so, the player will probably have to prioritize Gastronomy to level it.

Gastronomy is usually viewed as a relatively weak ability. While it is available immediately, the player will often have other skill options that will be more useful. Most food items simply aren't that strong. Still, it can be used to offset the player's need for relatively expensive medical items. Alternatively, a handful of food items give some very useful and exotic buffs.

Gastronomy partners well with Nutrition to get the most out of each food item, and Research Methods can help the player make a lot more food items.