I'm listening to the DevLine Recap, and I had some thoughts of how to deal with the food issue.
The buffs from food are minor, and that's fine, but the real issue is that the buffs are short-lived. There's simply little practical value buffing before a fight, because almost all bonuses last at most 3 rounds, and the game has no pause, so drinking e.g. resistance potions before a fight is useless. By the time the fight starts you will have worked through a good percentage of the buff time.
I'd like to see buffs from food and potions lasting something more like 15 rounds than 3.