Friendship runs the whole social side of Dave the Diver: In the Jungle. Every adult in Utara Village has a heart meter that fills when you talk to them, finish their tasks, serve them food at Bancho Grill, and hand over gifts. The quickest way to push those hearts up is to match each person to their favorite gift and to cook with their favorite ingredient.
Quick answer: Give a villager their favorite gift for a large friendship boost, and serve dishes made with their favorite ingredient to raise their tips. You can only give one gift per villager per day, and favorite items show a heart icon next to them in your inventory.
Every villager’s favorite ingredient and gift
Each villager has at least one preferred food ingredient and one preferred gift type. Favorite ingredients increase what a villager tips when their dish is on the Bancho Grill menu, while favorite gifts add the most friendship per item. A few villagers accept several gift categories, so any item in those groups counts.
| Villager | Favorite ingredient | Favorite gift |
|---|---|---|
| Panutah | King Oyster Mushroom | Vintage Wine |
| Muna | Electric Eel | Ancient Tablets |
| Rimbo | Sockeye Salmon | Black Caiman Tooth |
| Lathi | Bamboo Shoot | Pirarucu Scale |
| Basu | Piraiba Catfish | Muse Dash Merch |
| Peneb | Nile Perch | Sweets |
| Lipah | All Meats | Lizards |
| Jepun | Taro, Cassava | Tumbler |
| Uzme | Giant Snakehead | Coral |
| Harta | Giant Freshwater Stingray | Gold Jewelry |
| Gesang | Orthoceras | Comics, Action Figures, Game Consoles |
| Chandra | Water Spinach | Pearls |
| Kinah | Moonlight Gourami | Novels, Notebook, Fountain Pen |
| Meilan | Not yet confirmed | Hibiscus |
| Jaka | Largemouth Bass | Noise-canceling earphones |
| Bonita | Black Caiman, Black Caiman Tail | Rover Merch |
| Omila | Banana | Cooking Tools |
| Perak | Snake Meat | Sports Balls |
| Cinta | Not yet confirmed | Flute |
| Eka | Not yet confirmed | Comics, Game Consoles |
| Saniah | Not yet confirmed | Sweets, Dolls |
| Bima | Not yet confirmed | Comics, Action Figures, Game Consoles |
Note: A handful of food preferences are still being filled in as villagers are met later in the story. When an ingredient is unknown, the gift column is the reliable lever for raising that person’s hearts.
How gifting works and how to confirm a favorite
Friendship is shown with hearts. Every villager can reach a maximum of four hearts, and simply meeting someone fills the first one. At two hearts an adult villager starts coming to Bancho Grill in the evening, and three- and four-heart milestones hand out furniture, charms, accessories, shop discounts, and other rewards.
You can only give one gift to each villager per day, so plan a daily route and spread your best items across the people closest to their next heart.
Where to find favorite gifts in Utara
Most household and merch-style gifts come from Rimbo’s shop. He restocks daily with video game and TV show merchandise plus everyday items that villagers like, so buying out his stock each day is the fastest way to keep presents on hand for people such as Basu, Bonita, and Gesang.
Jewelry, pearls, and similar valuables turn up while diving the lake and seafloor. These are less common, but you will usually pull one or two per dive, which keeps Harta and Chandra supplied if you collect them consistently. Fishing covers the ingredient side, letting you stockpile favorite fish for the diners who visit Bancho Grill and earn more money on those preferred dishes.
Some gifts arrive on their own. Finishing villager side quests and reaching three- and four-heart levels can reward gift items instead of money or restaurant decorations. Save those handed-down presents for whoever wants them most, and you can chain friendship gains across the village in a single day.
As you fill out the Resident Note for each villager, the heart icons in your inventory make the daily gifting routine almost automatic, and steady favorites are enough to carry every Utara resident toward four hearts.
