Cooking (and many other professions) have undergone many changes in the Mists of Pandaria’s extension.
Now, you don’t have one teacher anymore, from whom you can learn everything, but you have six teachers. Each teacher has his or her “Way” and the food you can cook will have some specialization.
You will find the teachers in Pandaria, in Halfhill, to be precise (roughly in the center of the Valley of the Four Winds). Here is the list of the six teachers, and what they teach:
– Kol Ironpaw <Master of the Grill> – Way of the Grill – Foods give Strength.
– Jian Ironpaw <Master of the Oven> – Way of the Oven – Foods give Stamina.
– Mei Mei Ironpaw <Master of the Pot> – Way of the Pot – Foods give Intellect.
– Yan Ironpaw <Master of the Steamer> – Way of the Steamer – Foods give Spirit.
– Anthea Ironpaw <Master of teh Wok> – Way of the Wok – Foods give Agility.
– Bobo Ironpaw <Master of the Still> – Way of the Brew – Foods give Headaches and Grandeur.
Your cook can learn all of these specialities and level them to max all together.
At high level, you will learn two feast dishes in each specialization. These feasts, no matter from which Way it is, will give you the exact same buff: +275 useful Class specific stat.
The only advantage of learning all the feast dishes is that you can cook with whatever you have most of.
There is a lot of gold to be earned by cooking Pandaria food and feast, so move your cook to Halfhill and begin to learn it (besides, the quests are fun and easy and give a lot of gold and reputation).
If you don’t have a cook yet, it is very easy to get to high level in Mist of Pandaria if you have a level 85 character.
Just go to Halfhill and take the first quest at the teacher. You can learn to cook from level 1 there, and you can level up from 1 to 600 in no time. The vendors have everything you need to level up your cooking. You don’t even need to kill beasts or to fish to level up. Just buy them at the vendor. (Scorpyo)