I love cooking but I'm going to have to lay down my ladle and pick up my hoe. The pay just isn't worth it.
I cooked up a nice Meat Tetrazzini that gives 82 energy when eaten.
The ingredients required to make this delicious dish are worth the following energy:
2 Plain Rice Noodles = 16
(this needs to be cooked from 2 rice. Here 4 rice = 2 plain noodles, no pay for cooking)
3 Mushrooms = 9
2 Meat = 20
1 Cheese = 6
1 Tangy Sauce (10 energy) needs the following ingredients:
1 Sweet and Sour Sauce (24 energy) and 1 Secret Sauce (23 energy) or:
Honey = 4
Ginger = 1
Lemon = 5
Tomato = 5
Egg = 5
Black Pepper = 1
Butterfly Milk = 6 (mood)
If my math is right that totals 78. That means that the energy value of the individual ingredients is only 4 less than the finished dish.(I'm using the wiki info for the values used above.) Cooking 10 Tetrazzini requires some time and energy plus lots of skills and cooking pots. It is also necessary to collect the ingredients, process the fruit, spices and butterfly milk, and grow the tomatoes and rice or to buy them. A stack of 10 yields 820 units of energy.
On the other hand I could grow 1,568 units of energy in my 16 patch garden if I plant cabbage. That's for just one harvest and I'm not at the top of my game as a gardener.
So as much as this chef loves cooking and all the glamor that goes along with it, I'm on strike until I get a little respect! ;)