Meal

[Lemon8or]

the stat boosts are minimal and it seems to me it's more of a placebo that any real use

It's when you are pushing contents that they really come into place. It's the difference between world first or world second for hardcore high-end raiders or even beating a Coil turn or fail at it for normal people. If nothing, it's a nice 3% exp boost.
For bard, focus on crit (egg food). For black mage, focus on det/crit (mushroom food).