TL;DR
What this skill does
Food-domain skill. Unlocks recipes via the Skin system, raises household-meal Mood quality, and feeds the Food career. The highest-impact skill in EA for households running on a tight budget.
Who it's for
Who should level Cooking first
- Every first household — home meals free up budget for furniture and bills.
- Big families: family meals stack mood buffs plus bonus XP from level 7.
- You are targeting the Food career or the open-a-restaurant endgame.
Practice loop
How to level Cooking
Queue 'Cook' on any stove or counter prop. Cooking what your fridge can support is fastest; recipes you have not learned yet only grant a flat +0.5 XP per attempt regardless of skill. Use LEARNALLSKINS Recipes if you want the recipe tree pre-unlocked. Inspired mood vibe + Hungry need both stack +15% XP. From level 7 onwards, cooking for three or more household members gives a 'Family meal' bonus of +25% XP plus a Story Card roll.
Leveling numbers
Cooking XP table — every level, costed
Every playable skill in the Early Access build uses the same curve: level n costs (n − 1) × 8 + 10 XP, which adds up to 1,720 XP from level 1 to the cap of 20. The formula comes from the community wiki's skill infoboxes; the running total is our arithmetic on it.
| Level | XP cost | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 10 |
| 2 | 18 | 28 |
| 3 | 26 | 54 |
| 4 | 34 | 88 |
| 5 | 42 | 130 |
| 6 | 50 | 180 |
| 7 | 58 | 238 |
| 8 | 66 | 304 |
| 9 | 74 | 378 |
| 10 | 82 | 460 |
| 11 | 90 | 550 |
| 12 | 98 | 648 |
| 13 | 106 | 754 |
| 14 | 114 | 868 |
| 15 | 122 | 990 |
| 16 | 130 | 1,120 |
| 17 | 138 | 1,258 |
| 18 | 146 | 1,404 |
| 19 | 154 | 1,558 |
| 20 | 162 | 1,720 |
The source documents the formula, not whether each figure covers the level itself or the step into it — treat single-XP differences as noise. And note the game's own disclaimer: not all levels unlock something new yet.
Milestones
What you unlock at every tier
Skills cap at level 20. Highlights below mirror the Skin-system progression players reported during the first EA week. Treat them as expected rewards, not hard guarantees — patch 0.1.x may rebalance.
- Levels 1-4
Basic recipes (salads, pasta, eggs). 30% failure chance, fires possible.
- Level 5
Unlock 'Try Experimental Recipe'. Pass a roll to learn a new recipe permanently.
- Level 10
Unlock Restaurant-tier dishes. Food career promotion check.
- Level 15
'Five-Star Plate' unlock — meals grant +2 Mood and a 12-hour buff to all eating Paras.
- Level 20
'Chef de Cuisine' capstone. Unlocks the Food career's highest tier and the 'Open Restaurant' goal.
Career path
Where this skill pays off
Paralives EA shipped 11 career domains. The ones below pull directly from this skill — salary tiers, promotion checks, and Occupation Perks scale with it.
Powers the Food career. Pairs with Painting at restaurant manager tier (the 'Plate as Canvas' Occupation Perk requires both at level 8+).
Cheat path
Skip the grind with a console command
Open the console with Ctrl+F1 (or Cmd+F1 on Mac). Add one level with LEVELUPSKILL Cooking, or pin a target with SETSKILLLEVEL Cooking 10. Early Access ships no Steam achievements, so there is nothing to forfeit.
LEVELUPSKILL Cooking— adds one level instantly.SETSKILLLEVEL Cooking 5— sets to level 5.SETSKILLLEVEL Cooking 20— max out the skill.
Need the full command list? Open the cheats index for all 100+ Paralives cheats, categorised.
Common mistakes
Three pitfalls that stall this skill
Cooking when Hunger need is full
Paras refuse to taste-test, capping XP. Skip a meal or use the Hunger -3 cheat before practising.
Ignoring fires
Below level 5, fire chance is non-trivial. Place a smoke detector before long sessions, or pre-run EXTINGUISHALLFIRES.
Not stocking the fridge
Empty fridge forces 'Pour cereal' which gives 30% XP. Stock once a week.
Related skills
Adjacent skills to climb next
Skills in the same domain (or careers that double-dip) level faster together. Players reported domain-adjacent XP carrying about 1.2× into related skills.
Keep exploring
Continue the field guide
Wider reading from the rest of the Paralives field guide.
Twelve skills, seven domains, the lifestage learning matrix and the Sims 4 crossover table — back to base camp.
100+ achievement-safe console commands. Money, skills, needs, build mode — categorised and searchable.
Pick the career that turns this skill into rent. Each domain pairs with a real Melino workplace.