Food (Civ7)

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Food is one of the yields in Civilization VII and its expansions. It is needed for a civilization to increase the Population of its Settlements and expand its borders.

Mechanics

Food, alongside Production, is one of the only yields that applies exclusively to individual Settlements. As a result, it must be carefully managed for each Settlement to ensure steady growth and room for development.

The primary function of Food is to increase a Settlement's population. Each additional Citizen requires a certain amount of accumulated Food, with the threshold increasing for every new Citizen gained. Once this threshold is reached, a growth event is triggered, allowing the new Citizen to be assigned to a tile — either as a Specialist in a District or as an Improvement worker if the tile lacks a district. Specialists consume Food, making a high Food income essential for maintaining a large number of specialists within your Cities.

Because Food directly enables population growth, it plays a crucial role in expanding a City's territory and increasing overall yields, both at the Settlement and empire level. This makes Food arguably the most important yield in the early game. Without a strong Food supply, Settlements cannot grow, significantly limiting the total yields your empire can accumulate.

Beyond direct sources, Food can also be indirectly increased through Growth Rate. Various Wonders, Social Policies, and other mechanics can improve Growth Rate in specific or all Settlements. Growth Rate acts as a multiplier on Food income, meaning its value scales over time as a City's base Food production increases. In the early game, securing direct Food yields is critical for rapid expansion. However, in later Ages — when the Food threshold for new Citizens becomes significantly higher — prioritizing Growth Rate becomes more effective for sustaining long-term development.

Beyond all these traditional methods of acquiring Food, a unique mechanic allows for an even greater Food surplus: Town specialization. When Towns specialize, all of their accumulated Food is automatically sent to their connected Cities, providing a massive external Food supply. This effect is especially powerful when a Town is converted into a Farm or Fishing Town, as it maximizes its Food contribution. By the later Ages, this allows Cities to completely disregard local Food income and instead focus purely on infrastructure, Production, and other yields, while being continuously provisioned by their specialized Towns.

Sources

Special sources

TBA

Negative sources

• Social Science
• Assembly Line

Crises

• Decentralization
• Nouveau Riche

See also

• Food in other games