food

[The Nega Chin]

so i have been thinking, at the intro artyom says that 40.000 survived in the metros, a lot of those obviously died. though i still wonder how they manage to provide enough food, at one point ulman mentions that a location is good for growing shrooms so that means that they can farm though to me the metro looks to small to provide food for so many people even if most of it wasnt overrun by mutants.

[Soully]

They can net in an absolute ton of mushrooms in an area.

They can still boil water to distill the chemicals.

Garlic can grow above and below the surface, as can beets.

Pigs are abundant, as are Nosalis. both are Edible (You can thank Exhibition station for both)

Stalkers can find long-frozen Bread and canned meals on the surface

They DO fish, and most mutants are another food source.

Notice, though, that even in that state, they are still relying heavily on Rationing to survive.

It's also a very UNHEALTHY diet, all that animal protein and so few plants to go down with it... but it does sustain them for about 60 years before they die of some cancer or clogged arteries.

This is why Polis, Baumanski, and the Spartan Order are all much healthier than their pale counterparts. They have the stored food, or the technology, to keep enough plants to sustain themselves.

And let us not forget the obvious... There are far from 40,000 people in their now. A generation has gone by and each day claims a hundred more lives.

[Foinikas]

In the book it is mentioned that apart of pork meat,they also cultivate mushrooms that don't need sunlight.VDNH is famous for its mushroom tea which they export to other stations and make money from.I had read somewhere that they also have chickens apart from pigs.In the book there are entire stations that are decicated to farming and cultivating.
The people of Metro also make vodka.The Nosalis were not in the book from what I remember.I don't know if or how much mutant meat they eat.But there's also rat kebabs too I think in the book.Artyom found weed in Bourbon's bag and at some point he comes across two men smoking hukah.There have to be more vegetables grown in the Metro.