They could even add a periodical "starving" debuff to emphasize the need of eating.
I don't get the sense this would be welcome in an OS game. I like survival games that are designed around that mechanic but OS really isnt that type of game. If the game doesn't provide some sort of visceral thrill from the act of acquiring food (hunting a deer with a bow in first person for example), then punishing players for not having it just feels like a "fun tax".
Like I mentioned before, some RPGs have "rest" systems to restore "per rest" abilities, in which case food scarcity can serve as a limit on how often you can rest, keeping resting from being a trivial action. In that case, food scarcity systems work. But OS isn't remotely like that.
