Cooking in Heartopia has become one of the most strategic hobbies for players seeking the complete experience in this simulation RPG, which remains popular in 2026. To learn the art of the pan, players need to seek out the mentor Massimo in the city center and offer him one of the precious Hobby Expansion Tickets. These tickets are rewards from the Developers’ Guild (DG) and, although the first two are mandatory for Fishing and Gardening, Cooking is the recommended choice upon reaching Guild Level 5, as it perfectly complements the other two already unlocked activities.
The process is relatively straightforward but requires attention. After unlocking the hobby, the player needs to collect ingredients – ranging from caught fish to cultivated vegetables – and use a stove to prepare the recipes. However, the system has its peculiarities. Unlike other games like Disney Dreamlight Valley, it is not possible to create recipes by experimenting with random combinations. Still, it is possible to make variants of existing recipes, swapping ingredients to create new dishes, which yields more experience points. The act of cooking itself involves a timing minigame, where you must click on a spatula that appears on the screen to prevent the food from burning and turning into a “Bizarre Food”.
Recipes, Variants, and the Importance of Other Hobbies
To progress in cooking and unlock new recipes, simply cooking is not enough. It is necessary to level up in the hobby using Improvement Tickets, obtained through various tasks around the world of Heartopia. Furthermore, the experience meter on the game’s clock does not count the number of dishes made, but rather the points earned per preparation. The true complexity, however, lies in the interdependence between hobbies. Many advanced recipes, like Mushroom Pie, require ingredients such as Wheat, whose seeds are only sold by Blanc when Gardening reaches a specific level. Therefore, focusing solely on the kitchen can stall your progress, as the game is designed for balanced development across all activities.
Ingredients come from various sources: vegetables from your garden, fish from rivers, fruits and fungi scattered across the map, and dairy products bought from Massimo himself – who has a renewable daily stock. A crucial figure is the traveling merchant Doris, who appears only during specific weather events, such as meteor showers or rainbows, and sells rare recipes in exchange for Stellar Fragments. In other words, to become a true chef in Heartopia, you need to be a jack-of-all-trades: fish, plant, explore, and keep an eye on the weather. In this way, the cooking hobby reveals itself not only as a practical skill within the game but as the heart of a complex network of interconnected systems that defines the pace and depth of virtual life in this enchanting world.
