Although pretty self explanatory, here is a basic breakdown of what to do before cooking.
Gather/Fishing:
Gathering and Fishing take up career vitality but also goes into the “Ingredient” portion of the Level Upgrade Requirement.
Shopping:
You can also shop for food by going into the Food tab in your Career section and pressing the Shop button of the appropriate ingredient. You buy ingredients with gold. As some ingredients are categorized in rather interesting sections, such as ice being located in the “seasoning” section, I’ve arranged the ingredients by section in the following recipes.