Nutrient paste meal

== Acquisition ==
Unlike other meals, nutrient paste meals are not produced via a bill. Instead, Human pawns seeking a meal can approach a powered nutrient paste dispenser, stand in the interaction spot, and instantly create a nutrient paste meal, consuming 0.3 nutrition of any food inside the hoppers linked to the dispenser. For a detailed description of how the dispenser consumes the required nutrition, see the nutrient paste dispenser page. 
The meal is created in the hands of the pawn using the dispenser. Once the meal is produced, the pawn will act the same as if they had retrieved any cooked meal from storage with Hungry pawns taking the meal to be consumed, while Wardens and Doctors will take the meal to their charges. Note that animals cannot use the nutrient paste dispenser, but prisoners can use dispensers with interaction spots in their prison. 
These meals can't normally be stockpiled. Should the pawn dispensing the meal be interrupted between dispensing and eating the meal, they will drop it. This is done by limiting a pawn's area restriction to just a nutrient paste dispenser, or by simply drafting them. This behavior can be exploited to stockpile meals, but their short shelf life of 0.75 days means they should be immediately frozen. See below for a more in-depth analysis of this strategy.
==Summary==
A nutrient paste meal can be eaten for 0.9 nutrition. As paste takes 0.3 nutrition to make, it has a nutrition efficiency of 300%. Nutrient paste cannot cause food poisoning.
When consumed, nutrient paste gives a . This mood penalty is not applied to Ascetic pawns and those with the Eating Nutrient Paste: Don't Mind ideoligious precept. If the meal was made out of insect meat or human meat, their respective moodlets will be applied. If Ideology DLC is active and the meal was made out of raw fungus, its normal moodlet will also be applied.
== Analysis ==
Nutrient paste is the most efficient way to prepare a meal, noticeably better than simple and fine meals (180% efficiency). This makes nutrient paste useful in a famine, even if you don't plan to use it indefinitely. In addition, no cooking is necessary. This avoids food poisoning entirely and can save a lot of time off a cook's hands. Nutrient paste is a poor choice for caravans, given how quickly nutrient paste spoils and the tedious micro required to make stacks of them.
 
However, nutrient paste meals give a -4 mood debuff, which ends up being -9 net mood compared to fine meals. It is advised to not give nutrient paste to pawns with a trait that gives a negative modifier to mental break threshold, because they can push a pawn over the edge. Because pawns prefer normal meals over nutrient paste, you can set restrictions to prevent normal pawns from consuming all of the good meals, leaving them to the volatile ones.
Nutrient paste is also the most efficient animal food, who don't care about mood, assuming it can eat the full 0.9 nutrition without overeating. But using it as such requires a pawn to manually produce nutrient paste meals, since animals can't use the dispenser.
The mood penalty is negated if the colonist eating it has a precept "Eating Nutrient paste" as "Don't mind" for their Ideoligion, making it a powerful choice for day-to-day work flow.
== Gallery ==
Nutrient paste meal a.png|One nutrient paste meal
Nutrient paste meal b.png|Partial stack
Nutrient paste meal c.png|Full stack
Carnivore nutrient paste meal a.png|One carnivore nutrient paste meal
Carnivore nutrient paste meal b.png|Partial stack
Carnivore nutrient paste meal c.png|Full stack
Vegetarian nutrient paste meal a.png|One vegetarian nutrient paste meal
Vegetarian nutrient paste meal b.png|Partial stack
Vegetarian nutrient paste meal c.png|Full stack
== Version history ==
* 0.3.410 - Pawns now try to eat nice meals when they have the choice over nutrient meals.
* Beta 19/1.0 - Traders will no longer accept typical short-life meals, including nutrient paste meals.
* 1.3.3087 - Fix: Nutrient paste does not produce ate meat or ate non meat thoughts.
* 1.4.3523 - Ascetics no longer get a negative mood debuff when eating nutrient paste meals.
Nutrient paste meal old.png|Texture before introduction of carnivore and vegetarian variant
Nutrient Paste Meal Old.png|Texture as of some version before 1.0.2096 
Category:Food Category:Processed Food Category:Meal