In FFXIV, Culinarian players make a subtle but important impact. The chef class of Final Fantasy provides meaningful, consistent buffs not just to your stats but also your ability to level. You just need to find Before you can learn all of those, however, you need to actually unlock the class and progress through its many quests.
Culinarian is a FFXIV job that allows players to craft certain food items. These items are used in a variety of ways, whether for specific quests or to make buff food that will help in high-end content. Sometimes, food items are even exchanged in roleplay, a social part of the game many players enjoy. Whatever your reason for wanting to level up Culinarian, here's how to do it.
FFXIV Culinarian Quest Locations
Finding your next Job quest in FFXIV can be tedious. You can search through your log of completed quests, which tells you the last mission you completed for any particular class, as well as the name of the NPC you need to speak with for the next one. But where is that NPC? Are they in the same place as last time, or did they move?
To help with this, we’ve laid out a simple table to indicate the region, coordinates, and required level for every Culinarian Job quest. Note that the first quest, “Way of the Culinarian,” begins at the Culinarian’s Guild in Limsa Lominsa, the capital city of La Noscea. Once you've got it unlocked, you'll start your journey as a Culinarian and receive a list of crafting tasks as well as job quests which will help you reach max level.
| Level | Quest Name | Area | Coordinates |
| 1 | Way of the Culinarian | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 9, Y: 7) |
| 1 | My First Skillet | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 5 | A Treat of Trout | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 10 | Dodo It Yourself | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 15 | On a Skewer Tip | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 20 | Releasing a Burden | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 25 | Winning Friends with Aldgoat | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 30 | The Chefsbane Cometh | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 35 | Of Cooks and Books | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 40 | Diplomacy of the Skillet | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 45 | A Taste of Home | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 50 | Revenge of the Chefsbane | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 50 | Wait on Me | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10, Y: 8) |
| 53 | A Spoonful Less Sugar | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 12, Y: 13) |
| 55 | Looking for Some Hot Stuff | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 12, Y: 13) |
| 58 | Love Meat Tender | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 12, Y: 13) |
| 60 | The Spirit of Hospitality | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 12, Y: 13) |
| 60 | Flavors of the Far East | Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks | (X: 10.1, Y: 8.2) |
| 63 | Rice to the Occasion | Mor Dhona | (X: 22, Y: 5) |
| 65 | A Broth from the Brine | Mor Dhona | (X: 22, Y: 5) |
| 68 | Teach a Man to Make Fish | Mor Dhona | (X: 22, Y: 5) |
| 70 | The Way to a Father’s Heart | Mor Dhona | (X: 22, Y: 5) |
| 70+ | The Crystalline Mean | The Crystarium | (X: 10.9, Y: 8.6) – Speak to Bethric |
| 80+ | Studium Deliveries | Old Sharlayan | TBD |
FFXIV Culinarian Basics & Importance
Culinarian is quite similar to Alchemist. It’s a highly in-demand and useful crafting class FFXIV — even if it’s not the best Disciple of the Hand to level up immediately. Classes that make tools and armor (e.g. the Blacksmith and Leatherworker) can help you cheaply produce better gear to make gearing up all crafters easier. Better gear means faster crafting and leveling.
That said, the humble Culinarian creates food that bestows a 3% XP boost to all jobs. That’s just a bonus, too. The real draw is a variety of different stats depending on the dish and your needs. FFXIV players at all levels should pretty much always have in-game food on hand. New players should eat it for the XP while serious crafters, gatherers, and raiders want the strong bonus stats. And unlike Alchemist potions, Culinarian food lasts a while. Meals typically give 30 minutes of bonuses by default. You can then eat two of the same food item for up to one real-world hour — even more with the right Free Company boost. There’s also no restriction on how much you eat.
The end result is that food is not just useful, but potentially lucrative at high levels. Endgame players looking for an edge always need more. Food is quite literally consumable, after all, unlike equipment that stays useful for months at a time between patches. These are actually often sold to other crafters who don’t feel like leveling up a Culinarian themselves. High-level foods are all but mandatory when crafting endgame “Expert Recipes” for instance. This makes the Culinarian — alongside the Alchemist — one of the better classes for earning consistent gil in FFXIV. Though there are some notable drawbacks…
Culinarian recipes require a lot of ingredients, for one. More so than most other Disciples of the Hand. That eats into inventory space, which can be quite limited in FFXIV. Said ingredients can also be a pain to acquire. Food relies more on random item drops from enemies. Not to mention semi-random catches from fishing (which may, in turn, require special baits). Whereas many other crafters mostly need guaranteed gathering items from Mining and Botany. You may want to lean heavily on Retainers to gather fish and monster parts for you.
The benefits of having a cooking class in your crew, however, are still pretty substantial.
Notes on the Crystalline Mean
Starting at Level 70 on all FFXIV crafters and gatherers, including the Culinarian in this case, there are no more class-specific quests. Instead, you gain access to “The Crystalline Mean.” This is a small gathering spot for special NPCs in The Crystarium, back on Norvrandt, after you reach the capital city during the Shadowbringers campaign. It has its own Aethernet point (simply marked as “The Crystalline Mean”) — but it’s on the upper floor of the city near the Amaro Launch if you have trouble finding it initially. Crafters and gatherers of sufficient level will further find their eyes drawn there by the blue side quest marker. The opening quest is also simply called “The Crystalline Mean.”
There are five notable NPCs in the area with five unique quest chains. Each chain is tied to not just one crafting or gathering class, but several — meaning you can complete any step of the questline as any one of the appropriate classes. The sole exceptions is Fishers; they get their own quests separate from any other classes.
Put another way, the Crystalline Mean functions very similar to Role Quests for the combat classes — where any DPS magic user can complete any step of the DPS magic questline, and so on. In this case, Crystalline Mean missions for the “Facet of Nourishing” are shared between Culinarian and Alchemist. You can complete any quest in their series as either Job (so long as they meet the level requirements). Said quests start at Level 70 with “Friends of a Feather,” after talking to the NPC Bethric at X: 10.9, Y: 8.6 in the Crystalline Mean.
Pretty much every Crystalline Mean mission involves talking to someone, crafting or gathering items, and turning them in — like Custom Deliveries for characters in Idyllshire, Eulmore, etc. You receive XP and gil for every quest and delivery — as well as Scrips from the latter. This makes the quest chains an excellent way to level up your non-combat classes. Not to mention you can use the Scrips to buy useful items and gear as you progress your Disciples of the Hand and Land.
Note that you must complete the Level 72 Main Scenario Quest “The Crystarium's Resolve” as any combat Job to reach and unlock the Crystalline Mean.
Notes on Studium Deliveries
Studium Deliveries are much like the Crystalline Mean. The quest begins in Old Sharlayan with "Perfectly Awful", and will allow players to unlock the Alchemist and Culinarian Studium Deliveries. Once you've finished the first quest, Debroye will station herself at X: 5.4 Y: 8.2, where you will need to drop off the deliveries to her.
These deliveries will help you go from level 80 to level 90, but just like the Crystalline Mean, choose your jobs carefully, because once you've finished it on Culinarian, it won't be available to you on Alchemist.
