[Top 10] FF14 Best Food For Crafting

FF14 Best Food For Crafting
Yda is dreaming about lunch while her companion ponders the balance of the universe.


What are the best food options when crafting in Final Fantasy 14?

We all know how hard it can be to decide what we want to eat. We open the fridge, stand there for ten minutes looking at all the fresh fruit and vegetables just to throw in a pizza anyway. Pizza always boosts my stats.

In Final Fantasy choosing food may look complicated at first. In reality, it is a simple choice If you know what you are looking for.

All crafting works in a similar fashion so you do not need to eat one food to boost carpentry and different food to boost Culinarian. You simply need to decide what you are trying to make in creating the item. For example, some foods are better to create High-quality Items, others give you more steps to finish synthesising the item.

Here is a quick list to help you understand the fundamentals followed by a list of the best foods you can eat when crafting.

  • CP – Gives you more points on your CP bar. The higher the CP bar the more actions you can get into crafting your item.
  • Control – The higher your control, the more quality you will generate with touch steps. Higher control = High-quality items.
  • Craftmanship – The higher your craftmanship the more progress you are going to make with a single synthesis step. Very handy if you are crafting something above your level.

It is also worth noting that higher-quality foods will give you a slight increase in the regular stats.

10. Frumenty (For Low-Level Crafting)

Frumenty: A dish of wheat and cinnamon. Basically, a sweet porridge.

Wait! Hear me out. 

I know Frumenty is one of the lowest crafting foods out there, that is what makes it so accessible! 

When you are an early level crafter it is not the CP, craftmanship or even the control that is important. It’s the 3% exp boost! Frumenty is cheap and easily attainable to help you boost up to higher levels. 

  • Frumenty is available from the main food merchants in Ul'dah, Limsa and Gridania for only 7 Gil.
  • You can make Frumenty yourself as a level 4 culinarian with no trouble at all. All you need is 5 low-level items; Sunset Wheat, Raisins, Honey, Aldgoat Milk and Cinnamon.

Frumenty standard quality:

  • CP + 10% (max 10)
  • EXP + 3%

This quick and easy food should serve you until things get a little tougher in level 20 and above.

9. Chilled Popoto Soup (High Quality with more time to complete Synthesis)

Chilled Popoto soup: A french recipe that was once popular (Vichyssoise), cold potato and leek soup.

I know this sounds gross, it is cold potato soup, but it was once number one on this type of list. Then Heavensward came out.  

It is still a decent product for levelling crafters between 20 and 50 as it boosts two stats instead of one, the first food in the game to do so.

You can make these yourself, buy off a market board, or do the quest Recycling in Azys Lla to be rewarded with three bowls of popoto soup.

  • Available on the Market board.
  • Available as a quest reward.
  • Make it yourself as a level 50 Culinarian.
  • Boosts two stats instead of one.

Standard Chilled Popoto Soup:

  • Craftmanship + 10% (max 38)
  • CP + 4% (max 13)
  • 3% EXP boost

While it is not the easiest to get hold of on this list it is worth inclusion for being the first to boost two stats in food for crafting. Best used before level 50.

8. Cawl Cenin (For Early CP boost)

Cawl Cenin: A Welsh stew with meat and vegetables. Very hearty.

Traditionally a Welsh dish, the ingredients in Cawl Cennin Final Fantasy is close to what they make in Dolgellau, the only difference is that they use Lamb while Final Fantasy uses Chicken.

I know a Welsh player who used this soup exclusively just because it was a nod to his people.

  • Plentiful on the market board for less than 400 Gil a piece.
  • Make as a level 35 culinarian.
  • Great for St David’s Day!
  • Provides up to 24 extra CP, great for low-level crafting.

Standard Cawl Cennin Stats:

  • CP + 10% (Max 24)
  • 3% EXP boost

The Cawl Cenin is a great dish that will add the extra CP needed to knock out some crafts at a slightly higher level than you without much trouble.

7. Miso Soup With Tofu (For large craftmanship boost)

Miso & Tofu soup: A traditional Japanese soup made out of Miso paste. The flavour of the soup depends on the season.

Tofu in soup sounds awful but, like most awful dishes, it is good for you.  

While it sounds bad, it did get me out of a bind. You see, I was having a little trouble with the carpentry mission in Kugane. I needed better gear and didn’t have the Gil to do so at the time. The gear would get my craftmanship to a point where I could actually finish making the piece without failing the synthesis. 

This soup is for sale in Kugane. 

Its massive craftmanship boost saved me a lot of trouble.

  • An NPC called Kurogai sells this in the Kugane marketplace for 2162 Gil.
  • You can make this yourself as a culinarian, recipe level 64.
  • Big craftmanship boost, very useful.

Standard Miso Soup with Tofu stats:

  • Craftsmanship +10% (Max 104)
  • Control +4% (Max 39)
  • 3% EXP boost

With the big boost to craftmanship and the smaller, but still useful, boost to control, this is a cheap way to alleviate discrepancies between your gear and what you’re trying to make.

6.Heavensegg Soup (Boost All Stats)

Heavensegg soup: In China, this would be called Egg Drop Soup. 

You’ve heard me get excited about a dish that boosted two stats. By Heavensward that was commonplace, but then Heavensward threw this at us. A dish that boosts all three stats!

It can be difficult to get, it is not sold in NPC markets, but there are still ways to get this one. It is also one of the few dishes’ that is worth making for Gil on the market board. 4000 Gil each generally and never many for sale.

  • Make yourself with a master culinarian IV book.
  • The first food to boost all three stats.
  • Find for sale on market board, but may not be cheap.

Standard Heavensegg Soup Stats:

  • Control + 7% (max 62)
  • Craftmanship + 5% (max 42)
  • CP + 3% (max 8)
  • 3% boost to EXP

A great all-rounder for levelling up to level 60!

5. Warrior’s Stew (For excellent control)

Warriors Stew: That proper beef stew that your mother used to make in winter.

Found on the Azim Steppe, this hearty dish should come as no surprise. After all, if a warrior is to expertly wield his weapon he needs to learn control. He also needs a lot of hearty stew to keep him healthy.  

This dish can take your control up to 99 points higher than it should be. High-quality items here we come!

  • Can buy on the Azim Steppe from the steppe cook in the marketplace, 2185 Gil.
  • Massive boost to control.
  • Get this hearty dish in the side quest Sacred Sweeping, also on the Azim Steppe.

Standard Warrior’s Stew stats:

  • Control + 10% (max 99)
  • Craftmanship + 4% (max 42)
  • 3% EXP boost

Easy to access, not too expensive, and a great boost f you are trying to make a high-quality piece.

4. Tempura Platter (For good synthesis when completing the journal)

Tempura Platter: A best seller in Tokyo Tokyo. A Japanese fast food restaurant.

Another handy dish in Kugane, like the Miso but a bit more expensive and definitely more appealing. This dish gives you a more even craftmanship and CP, in so doing they push you closer to making a high-quality piece as you try to complete the synthesis. That extra CP means you can afford the extra touch or two while filling that bar. 

Those extra stats are also very useful when completing collectables, you do want them to be the best quality as a finished piece after all.

  • You can buy from Kurogai the NPC merchant in the Kugane Marketplace for 2186 Gil.
  • The balanced skillset enables a decent synthesis of crafts you may have struggled with otherwise.
  • Proven to be useful in making collectables.(I used exclusively for collectables during the Stormblood pack.)
  • Make yourself at Level 66 Culinarian.
  • Pick up as a reward in the side quest He ain’t Piggy, he’s my brother in Idyllshire.

Standard Tempura Platter stats:

  • CP + 12% (max 43)
  • Craftmanship + 4% (max 42)
  • 3% EXP boost.

Worth the Gil from the NPC in Kugane if you are trying to get the right stats to make something in a hurry and need a little boost.

3. Blood Tomato Salad (For Completing Synthesis)

Blood Tomato Salad. Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.

Some items have a really high recommended craftmanship. If your craftmanship is not high enough, you’ll struggle to complete the synthesis no matter how you use your skills. 

This is a food that can even the odds.

The craftmanship on this one is superior to others, but you can only buy it cheaply if you have access to the Crystarium. Of course, you can also make it.

  • Buy at the rotunda in the Crystarium Marketplace for 3548 Gil or you can purchase from the Viis Culinarian in the Greatwood.
  • The high craftsmanship coupled with CP gives you the opportunity to make something decently above your level. Good for EXP points.
  • Oh beehive yourself Side-quest in Eulmore offers this as a reward.

Standard Blood Tomato Salad stats:

  • Craftmanship + 7% (max 122)
  • CP + 8% (max 22)
  • 3% EXP bonus

A dish that’s easy to get hold of if you have access to the Crystarium and surrounding areas. Also a great dish for a quick boost.

2. Popotoes Au Gratin (Completing synthesis with an increased chance at high quality)

Popotoes au gratin: If the 'au' didn't give it away, it's a French dish. Potatoes, cream and cheese. Are you hungry yet?

Another dish you can buy from the Crystarium, only this one gives an awesome boost to Control. I think that’s because of the gratin. everything always tastes better with a bit of gratin. 

This is perfect for high-level pieces that you are trying to turn into high-quality pieces.

The craftsmanship means you don’t need to synthesise as much to fill the bar, and the control means you don’t need to touch as much to fill the quality bar. Both these positives together can save you CP and allows you more moves. The perfect combination.

  • Create yourself as a level 77 Culinarian.
  • Buy from Crystarium, Rotunda, for only 3643 Gil.
  • Skills that free up your CP.

Standard Popotoes Au Gratin stats:

  • Control + 7% (max 118)
  • Craftmanship + 4% (max 53)
  • 3% EXP bonus

A high-quality dish that can help you make high-quality pieces. It doesn’t sound too bad to taste either, potatoes and cream cheese. Mmmm.

1. Chili Crab (Good for High Quality)

Chili Crab: A stir-fry dish from Singapore that uses mud crabs. Yummy!

Sebastian did not escape the Royal chef this time. He is as useful to us in Final Fantasy as he was to Ariel in Kingdom Hearts. Eat this spicey dish for a high-quality boost in your creative endeavours.

While not as powerful as other crafting foods at this level, the popularity of the Chili crab makes it much more attainable for those who haven’t entered the Shadowbringers expansion world yet. 

Often found on the market board in large batches, you can either smash these out as a culinarian or buy in bulk to see you through hours of crafting bliss. 

  • One of the highest CP and control bonus available at the moment.
  • Easily accessible on the market board.
  • Can access through the Ishgardian missions in the Firmament
  • Or you can make your own with the Master Culinarian VIII book

A standard Chili Crab would provide you with:

  • CP + 21% (max 57)
  • Control + 5% (max 56)
  • 3% EXP boost.

Easy to access on the market board with a price tag and stats collection to suit all levels!

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Having travelled the length and breadth of Eorzea, Kelly can say for sure that the greatest sweet roll can only be found in Skyrim. She can often be found at the Drowning Wench flirting with chocobos.
Gamer Since: 2005
Favorite Genre: RPG
Currently Playing: Final Fantasy XIV, Elder Scrolls online, Planet Coatser
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