Cookhouse

Cookhouse is one of the Buildings in Frostpunk.

Acquisition
Cookhouse is available from the start, can be built from Food tab.

Description
Due to our current and dire circumstances, we need all the Resources we can get our hands on to sustain ourselves, which unfortunately leads to some problems. Every chunk of Coal has to be stockpiled and used carefully to keep the Generator going, Wood as a building material has become a very scarce resource, and refining Steel in these freezing temperatures has become much harder than before. However, to keep gathering and processing these resources we need people, and it's an old rule that people cannot work with an empty stomach. Food is the fuel that keeps both your people and the economy going, and without it they become weak, Sick and eventfully starve to death. The problem is that with such a scarcity of resources we cannot afford to give people coal or wood to cook their own food, but we can’t let them eat Raw Food either because eating uncooked food is an easy way of getting sick in these frigid conditions.

So, since people are not allowed to cook their own food but we cannot give them raw food either, you as their leader must provide for them by building a Cookhouse, where your Workers process Raw Food into Food Rations. In reality, though, the Cookhouse is little more than a glorified Soup Kitchen.

The Cookhouse is chiefly supplied with Raw Food provided by the Hunters' Hut and Hothouse and will use one unit of Raw Food to produce two Food Rations.

If things get dire, you can pass a Law that allows your Cookhouses to become literal Soup Kitchens where they serve only soup (hence its name) with perhaps some bread made with algae/moss/lichen from Hothouses. This allows them to produce 5 Food Rations per every 2 units of Raw Food but people will not like eating soup.

Furthermore, another Law authorizes the cookhouse to add sawdust to the meals to make them more filling, allowing the Cookhouse to produce 6 Food Rations from every 2 units of Raw Food. Eating sawdust, however, is not healthy and people may get sick from eating it.

In addition to all that, if a severe food shortage leads to people dying from starvation, if you have the right laws already signed, you can sign a Law that allows the Cookhouses to process dead bodies into Food Rations, getting 15 Food Rations per body. That being said, though, May God have mercy on your soul if people find out what you are doing...

Standard meal
Converts 2 raw food into 4 food rations.

Soup
Converts 2 raw food into 5 food rations. Causes Discontent when eaten.

Sawdust Meal
Converts 2 raw food into 6 food rations. May cause Sickness when eaten.

Gruel
Cookhouse will produce 5 Food Rations from 2 Raw Food. Causes Discontent when eaten.

This recipe is only available in The Last Autumn.

Hearty Meals
Cookhouse will produce 3 Food Rations from 3 Raw Food. Raises Motivation when eaten.

This recipe is only available in The Last Autumn.

Abilities

 * Alternative Food Source
 * Change the Shift Length
 * Heater
 * Emergency Shift
 * Foreman
 * Cocaine Pills

Upgrades

 * Research Cookhouse Insulation (Technology): +1 heat level
 * Complete Cookhouse Helpers: 40% increase in bonus efficiency.

Trivia
in endless mode there is a relic that shows a previous version of the cookhouse, which was closer to a food cart than a mess hall.