Cooking in Monster Hunter Wilds is an essential part of every hunting journey. A well-prepared meal can determine the outcome of a battle, as food provides powerful bonuses to health, stamina, defense, and even special abilities.

Unlike previous games where Felynes handled the cooking, in Wilds players must find ingredients themselves, create dishes, and cook them using a portable grill or a camp grill.

Understanding Dish Composition and Ingredient Types in Monster Hunter Wilds

Before diving into where to find ingredients, it's important to understand how the cooking system works in Monster Hunter Wilds. Dishes in Monster Hunter Wilds consist of three types of ingredients: rations, extra ingredients, and finishing touches. Each plays a specific role in creating a dish, with rations being the base, and the other two adding bonuses and unique effects.

Rations are the foundation of every dish, providing basic bonuses to health, stamina, and some defensive stats. These include meat, fish, and vegetables. Regardless of the dish you're preparing, at least one ration ingredient is mandatory.

Extra ingredients enhance the dish by adding special skills, boosting its effectiveness, and prolonging the effects. They are rarer than rations and often tied to specific biomes or NPC trade.

Finishing touches are the rarest type of ingredients, providing additional bonuses like increased resistance, improved healing, or enhanced resource gathering. They are harder to obtain and usually have limited availability.

Dishes can be cooked in two ways: in your tent – allows for a full cooking experience with all available ingredients. Using a Portable BBQ Grill – enables cooking anywhere in the open world, ensuring constant readiness for battle.

Where to Find Rations in Monster Hunter Wilds

Now that we've covered the dish system, let's explore how to obtain each type of ingredient. Rations are the most common ingredients and are easily found in the game.  They are divided into three categories: meat, fish, and vegetables. However, they function as a general resource rather than specific items.

They can be obtained in several ways:

• The Ingredient Hub at the base camp of Windward Plains can regularly replenish your supplies.
  
  
• Meat is obtained by processing small monsters and wildlife.
  
  
• Fish can be caught using a fishing rod in water bodies.
  
  
• Vegetables naturally grow in the environment and can be harvested from plants.

Since rations are abundant, players need not worry about their scarcity. They serve as the dish's base but do not provide any special bonuses beyond basic stats.

How to Get Extra Ingredients in Monster Hunter Wilds

Extra ingredients are specific to each region and culture, making them more challenging to obtain compared to rations. They are often tied to quest rewards, NPC trade, or special environmental conditions.

Extra ingredients provide unique Food Skills and can significantly enhance the dish's effect. They are associated with certain cultures and biomes in Monster Hunter Wilds.

How to Obtain Extra Ingredients

1. Quest Rewards – Completing hunts, side missions, and tasks from NPCs often yield Extra Ingredients.
   
   
2. Item Trade Merchants – Become available after defeating Apex Monsters in each region and allow trading resources for unique ingredients.
   
   
3. Interregional Trade – Some ingredients can only be obtained by exchanging materials between different areas.

Merchants' inventory changes depending on the time of day and environmental conditions (Plenty, Fallow, Inclemency), so players should regularly check for the necessary ingredients before they disappear.

Where to Find Finishing Touches

Finishing touches are even rarer than extra ingredients and usually require farming or trading. They provide strong additional effects like status resistance, enhanced healing, or increased material gathering.

Unlike rations, these ingredients need to be specifically sought out, considering the variable conditions in the game.

How to Obtain Finishing Touches

• Resource Gathering – Some Finishing Touches are obtained from rare gathering points.
  
  
• Fishing and Hunting – Some rare fish or monsters drop these ingredients.
  
  
• Item Trade Merchants – Can be acquired through trade, similar to Extra Ingredients.

How to Use the Portable Grill for Cooking

Once all the necessary ingredients are gathered, they need to be properly cooked to maximize their effect. The portable grill allows cooking anywhere to gain bonuses before a battle.

To cook, open the grill menu, select a ration, add extra ingredients and finishing touches. Different combinations yield different bonuses, so it's important to plan dishes ahead of specific hunts. You can also save favorite combinations for quick preparation.

If cooking options are inactive, you may lack Raw Meat or have a full inventory. Free up space to continue cooking.

Best Ingredient Combinations for Bonuses

• For offensive strategies: meat as a ration, Airy Egg as an extra ingredient for increased attack, Jeweled Mullet Roe as a finishing touch for an additional bonus in wet conditions.
  
  
• For defense: fish as a ration, Sharp Kunafa Cheese for reducing damage taken, Monster Chili for climate resistance.
  
  
• For support: vegetables as a ration, Sild Garlic to prevent fainting, Eastern Honey for enhanced healing.