So the struggle to find stuff to eat is too extreme as others have said. Finding food isn't the problem. You get such little nourishment from food which makes it a constant hunt for it. In reality you can go 2-3 weeks without food. Its water that is most important. I like hunting and scavanging, but it seems that is 90% of what this game is - hunting for food. Focus too much on finding food all the time.
Also, the water jug whats-her-name gave to me doesn't stay full and slowly drains over time. What? Why? I use the well in town when I'm close, but many times I'm away from town and try to drink from the jug and its either empty or barely has anything in it. I don't think I've ever taken my first drink after filling it and it was full.
I eat 2 or 3 pumpkins and still hungry. What? Some mushrooms are poisonous, but others are not. However, after eating some non-poisonous mushrooms it still reduced health. Maybe bug idk. Onions reduce charisma, but the nutrition doesn't last long enough for that to be real. Bad breath lasts longer than the nutrients? Doesn't make sense.
Combat is clunky af. No strategic way to avoid getting hit, just have to keep trading attacks and hope you win. Makes the bear pretty fucking rough.
It just needs tweaked some and it would be fine. Like more from food. I shouldn't have to eat a whole garden just to survive for another day. If I'm focusing on food 90% of the time I'm not able to play the rest of the game much.
These recipes are fine and good, but there isn't anyway to use most of them. Missing a frying pan. Fish trap can't be used. etc.
I've only found a teapot and a knife to be used in crafting/cooking. NPCs ovens are off limits after they let me use them first time so I guess it doesn't matter if I can even catch fish because I don't have anything with which to cook them.
Its fairly easy to harvest stuff to sell so I find myself just doing that and hoping there will be more food to buy next time.
Edit: Figured out the water jug issue. I noticed the splashing sounds occasionally when running, but I didn't put 2 and 2 together. So it seems when you move fast either running or jumping there is a chance of 1/3 of the water (0.5 liter) to spill out. So this isn't a good option for hydration away from the village.