Characters in The Mana World should not be forced to eat, because this would be quite annoying for the player. But when a player wants to take the trouble to feed its character regularily with food items it should be rewarded.

When a character eats food it receives a temporary bonus on one attribute. While this buff is active no other food can be eaten (the character is "full").

Basic foods

Basic foods can be bought from NPCs, obtained from natural resources or as drops from monsters. They all raise one basic attribute for a limited amount of time.

Meat/Fish

Strength

Vegetables

Vitality

Spices

Dexterity

Sweets

Agility

Fruits

Willpower

Drinks

Intelligence

Cooked foods

Cooked foods combine the effects of their ingredients. Dishes created from meat, spices and drinks (Chicken + pepper + water = Spicy Chicken Soup) would, for example, raise strength, dexterity and intelligence.

Cooking is a crafting skill and thus cooking can fail when the cooking skill of the cook is too bad for the ingredients.