how can i find more foods?

[Daft punker]

no way im in chapter 5-1 and ill i eat is fish and meat and veggies??. only the spices and cheese is the ones i find new stuff from time to time. i have completed most NPC's side quests and still they dont trade or award me with new food.

[k4Qu]

trading and iirc u dont need to do any sidequests. sidequest are only for the gathering

[Mydgx]

Additional Ingredients are normally sourced from trading with NPCs, which at your point should be possible through a single NPC in the Base Camp of a map. They don't always offer these from trades however, so there is a chance that whenever you check there's simply no ingredients on offer.

Finishing Touches on the other hand are more varied. Some, like Eastern Honey, are gained when picking up sparking crafting ingredients like Honey and Herb. Others are caught when Fishing, with the Emerald Jitterbait being the common lure for such Fish. Finally, some Finishing Touches are gained through special Monster interactions. For example, when a Congalala is digging for Mushrooms do your best to break it out of the animation. This will leave behind a Truffle De Conga, one of the Finishing Touches.