Nutrition/Weight

Here is a list of food organized by its nutrition/weight ratio. The idea is that, all other considerations being equal (such as other uses for food besides nutrition, etc.), it makes most sense to eat foods with a lower ratio first and hang on to food that gives a higher ratio to maximize weight efficiency.

V indicates vegetarian food
! indicates vegan food

Food	Cost	Weight	Probability	Nutrition	Nutrition/weight	Turns to eat	Conduct
lembas wafer	45	5	20	800	160	2	!
lump of royal jelly	15	2	0	200	100	1	V
pancake	15	2	25	200	100	2	V
egg	9	1	85	80	80	1	V
blessed tin of spinach	5	10	0.625	600	60	1-2	!
slime mold (user defined fruit)	17	5	75	250	50	1	!
candy bar	10	2	13	100	50	1	V
uncursed tin of spinach	5	10	11.25	401-600	40.1-60	varies	!
food ration (gunyoki)	45	20	380	800	40	5	!
cram ration	35	15	20	600	40	3	!
K-ration	25	10	0	400	40	1	!
banana	9	2	10	80	40	1	!
orange	9	2	10	80	40	1	!
clove of garlic	7	1	7	40	40	1	!
sprig of wolfsbane	7	1	7	40	40	1	!
fortune cookie	7	1	55	40	40	1	V, breaks illiteracy unless blind
kelp frond	6	1	0	30	30	1	!
eucalyptus leaf	6	1	3	30	30	1	!
C-ration	20	10	0	300	30	1	!
apple	7	2	15	50	25	1	!
carrot	7	2	15	50	25	1	!
pear	7	2	10	50	25	1	!
tripe ration	15	10	140	200	20	2
melon	10	5	10	100	20	1	!
cursed tin of spinach	5	10	0.625	201-600	20.1-60	varies	!
cream pie	10	10	25	100	10	1	V
lichen corpse	5	20	n/a	200	10	3	!
meatball	5	1	0	5	5	1
meat ring	5	1	0	5	5	1
meat stick	5	1	0	5	5	1
huge chunk of meat	105	400	0	2000	5	20
lizard corpse	5	10	n/a	40	4	3
corpse	5	varies	0	varies	varies	varies
tin	5	10	75	varies	varies	varies

Racial bonuses and penalties

As of NetHack 3.6.1, the following bonuses and penalties exist:

• Lembas wafers provide 200 extra nutrition to elves while providing 200 less nutrition to orcs. (At a nutrition/weight ratio of 120 for orcs, they remain the most efficient food available.)
• Cram rations provide 100 extra nutrition for dwarves.