I think I figured out why colonist love raw food so much!

[HazelThyme]

I've been fiddling with my food storage for some time, trying desperately to bury them as deep and far away from my workplace and rooms as possible sometimes a few weirdos still decide to munch on raw rice when it would take half the steps to get proper food. That was when I realised something, these silly colonists have the same targeting system as sappers when it comes to food. The way they search for food is by looking for things in an expanding radius, which means if their search box hits the random raw rice you have lying in your storage first instead of your lovely lavish meals or whatever goodies, they'll try to each raw food, then possibly go berserk. This means that they will literally navigate a maze to eat your raw rice instead of whatever cooked meal. If somebody can backup/confirm my findings that would be great.

[HazelThyme]

http://imgur.com/dTGjfvX
Also, on another note, your colonist will literally eat any other cooked food (and berries) over nutrient paste even if it means a longer journey.

[Zhentar]

You are not entirely wrong, in that colonists do prefer food that is closer to them "as the crow flies", ignoring walls. However, they do not search outward in a radial pattern - they consider all food on the entire map and pick the "best" food out of everything.

Pawns have a pretty strong preference for foods that don't give them any debuffs. They'll pick a simple meal (that doesn't contain insect/human meat) that is 102 tiles further away than raw food. Their preference for meals that do give them debuffs is much smaller; nutrient paste will only attract them from 31 tiles away, or simple meals with insect meat 36.

edit: and they will choose berries that are 49 tiles further away over nutrient paste, 65 tiles for simple meals

[Jarwy]

But would they KILL for a Lavish meal?

...

Probably not. The mood bonus from those things is pretty decent and jealosy doesn't yet extend to anything but personal rooms. Can't wait for the lifestyle envy to be implemented.

[b0rsuk]

Looking at your base design, it seems to be an exercise in totalitarian architecture.
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2013/01/totalitarian-architecture-of-soviet.html
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2009/02/totalitarian-architecture-of-third.html

Huge rooms for everything are inefficient. Have you considered having two smaller dining rooms or food storages ? Your city doesn't have a single grocery shop, does it ? Honestly I'm not surprised the colonist doesn't want to navigate your twisty corridors to eat there.

By the way, 8 chairs at a 2x2 table is not good design. The bottleneck is not chairs, it's the table spaces. Two colonists can't sit and share a table space while eating. It still works for 'relaxing socially'.

I'm surprised you're using parkas in a late game ice sheet colony. -40*C indoors - you can handle this with (woolen) jackets. There goes the -20% global work speed penalty.

[skullywag]

In that screeny what else is he supposed to eat? hes skipped over the rice and gone for the more appealing berries.

[Screech]

One square wide corridors... enjoy fighting your infestations!

[b0rsuk]

It's -40*C indoors. Infestations will spawn in the heated rooms, not corridors.

Sunlamp is truly a power hog, but with no paths between hydroponic tables you're paying for that with colonist time.

When I design bases, I put food storage right next to hydroponic room.

[cultist]

It's probably because you only have one paste dispenser and only one tile that can reach it. I doubt more than one pawn at a time can use it.
Also, ascetics prefer raw food. Check if you have ascetics in your colony.

[jjcm04]

I was watching Yeti ( A YouTuber) and he has been playing RimWorld for a long while ( I think since Alpha 6 or so), and he put simple meals right next to the eating table and pemmican, berries a few tiles away, and guess what... Yup they ate the raw berries.. Doesn't make sense when the simple meal will provide a small mood boost and not the raw berries, as well as the simple meal having more nutrition than the berries.

[HazelThyme]

I would sincerely appreciate it if people would stop criticising my apparent lack of taste in design and rather stick with the topic. Especially since I just got this game and I'm just trying to enjoy the game while sharing my findings with the community.

[b0rsuk]

It's probably because you only have one paste dispenser and only one tile that can reach it. I doubt more than one pawn at a time can use it.

Actually no, they queue for NPD very well.

[shenzya]

maybe i miss something here but , on that screen the raw berries are the 'best' food available

raw berrie : no mood debuff
nutrient paste : -3 eat awfull meal
raw rice / meat : -8 eat raw food
raw human meat : -20 raw canibalism

[Thyme]

As of A15, colonists can use the corner tiles of tables for eating simultaneously.

[b0rsuk]

Okay, in some situations the food situation is unbearable.
I'm playing a scenario which is completely like Crashlanded, except additional rule: "no sowing plants in ground". I'm trying to tame as many animals as possible to get milk, meat and eggs. With my 5th colonist, my best cook is skill 3. No wonder I opted for a Nutrient Paste Dispenser, filled with meat from hunted animals. Berries are best saved for taming animals... but guess what ? They will have NONE of that. They will keep eating those berries over nutrient paste, getting occasional food poisoning and "ate without table" debuff. I have absolutely no sane way to stockpile berries or turn them into pemmican either. Not to mention nutrient paste costs almost 3 times less berries. And with winter ahead of me, it DOES matter.