Chef

The Chef skill allows to cook meals for the crew, so they can refuse to eat them out of paranoia. :p

Seriously: Since few people are willing to eat a meal they didn't prepare themselves due to the dangers of (and by the time they are, there may not be much food left to cook), the actual use of this skill is mainly to hyperfreeze stacks of  collected on expeditions before they spoil, and to see the properties of food and Alien Fruits.

The one exception being the, who can serve as a trusted delivery person after reading the respective.

What is unique about this skill, and another reason why Stephen may not want to pick it, is that every ship with an active is guaranteed to receive such a book when they find.

Despite all the inherent risks of contamination, this skill does have a small chance of cooking in to an, , , or , which all give more  than a , and a desperate crew member might eat these if the situation calls for it.

Furthermore, Chefs will never burn alien steaks while cooking them, thus always yielding. Other crew members have a 50% of burning them.
 * Cooked steak gives 6 / and 1, while burnt steak gives 3 / and -2.

Chefs can also cook fruits into in the. Juice retains many of the properties of the fruit it's made from, notably, , (minimum +1), and effects that are not chance-based. Juices are still perishables, but making them resets their freshness.


 * Since all perishable food (, and, raw and cooked ) spoil on day change regardless of its actual age, it is advisable to do any provident cooking early in the day, and to do any freezing by cycle 8.


 * Also make sure the NERON BIOS has been set not to destroy spoiling food immediately. Even slightly (or even completely) spoiled food can be valuable, especially with your ability to recognize it.

Affected items
Food:
 * Level of decay can be read.

Fruits:
 * Effects of consumption can be read.

Affected actions
(Consumables):
 * If any are available, uses 1  instead of.


 * If any are available, uses 1  instead of.
 * Removes the chances of burning the steak; thus always yielding


 * Bonus to efficiency on NERON Projects:

General effects

 * Gains 4 a day, to a maximum of 8.