Original Link: http://blog.askmrrobot.com/2012/09/food-buffs-in-pandaria-a-guide-by-the-numbers/

Food Buffs in Pandaria: A guide by the Numbers

So food buffs changed a little. I had to research this so we knew what kind of options to put into Mr. Robot’s optimizer. Since I have the info lying around, I thought I’d share.

The first thing to know is you can train in specializations, called “Ways.” You can specialize in as many of them as you want. The specializations are tied to a particular stats:

• Strength: Way of the Grill (makes Banquet of the Grill)
• Stamina: Way of the Oven (makes Banquet of the Oven)
• Intellect: Way of the Pot (makes Banquet of the Pot)
• Spirit: Way of the Steamer (makes Banquet of the Steamer)
• Agility: Way of the Wok (makes Banquet of the Wok)

Each specialization teaches you 5 recipes:

1. Single serving for +250 in the corresponding stat
2. Single serving for +275 in the corresponding stat
3. Single serving for +300 in the corresponding stat  (requires 1x Ironpaw Token)
4. Banquet (10 servings) for +275 in the corresponding stat and +250 in all other stats* (requires 1x Ironpaw Token)
5. Banquet (25 servings) for +275 in the corresponding stat and +250 in all other stats* (requires 1x Ironpaw Token)

• *Stamina is 50% higher than other stats. So stamina users get 375 instead of 250, and 416 instead of 275.

So now you’re thinking… wait… what’s up with these banquets? Here’s an example, the specialized banquets are a bit odd: they give everyone 250 of their best stat, and a +25 bonus to anyone who’s stat matches the specialization. For example, The “Way of the Pot” is the specialization for Intellect. So if someone puts down a “Banquet of the Pot” here’s what happens:

• Anyone who’s best stat is Intellect gets +275 Int (250 + 25 bonus)
• Anyone who’s best stat is something else, like strength gets +250 of their stat.
• Anyone who’s best stat is Stamina gets 50% more than 250, so 375.

Cooks can also make a Pandaren Banquet, which is NOT specialized.  It gives everyone 275 of their best stat (+50% for stamina). The costs are EXACTLY the same as the specialized banquets, which one exception: it costs 10 Ironpaw tokens to buy the Pandaren Banquet recipe.

Mr. Robot will let you choose which food buff you have: 250, 275, or 300. If stamina is your primary stat, you get 50% extra, so 375, 416, or 450 (yes, the 416 got rounded up a bit in game…).

What’s up with the veggies? You can make a farm in Halfhill – (think Farmville)

• You start with 4 plots and can unlock up to 16 plots.
• Each plot takes about 1 day to grow and yields a minimum of 5 of the crop. Sometimes you get lucky and your crop instantly grows. You also have a chance to harvest an extra 2 or 3 of your crop.
• If you get 5 crops x 16 plots, you get a minimum of 80 crops per day.

As you can see from that chart above, the larger banquets take 100 veggies. Assuming you wipe several times, you can get behind in your farming. You can also buy veggies with Ironpaw tokens (25 veggies for 1 token).

Here are some super detailed resources:

• More info on banquets, ingredients, where to catch the fish, etc
• More info on farming
• More info on tillers faction, farming, etc from Wowhead

What recipe will you be making? Specialized banquets or the Pandaren banquet? +300 food or cheap food?