Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Mechanics Behind Food Items/Consumption (Cooking?)

Greetings Larian/BG3 forums!
I wanted to express interest, and open up space for the interest of others in the topic of the game mechanics behind food, as in the gameplay demos we have now seen that food items are going to be lootable and available to players.
This then begs the question of how these items are going to be used within the game by the player.
To me, there would seem to be roughly 3 major possibilities, one of which i think is best and will argue for.

-1) Food items have no in-game use, and are meant to be sold to vendors.
-2) Food items are consumables, and restore some in-game resource (such as health or spell slots..) and/or give players a temporary buff. (this was the system in DOS and many other game)
-3) Food items are a necessary resource for player survival.

The first option, which essentially gives food the role of a non-coinage treasure item, is a bit odd, and begs the question of why food would be a lootable item in the first place.

The second option, which is a much more common system, I think has several major flaws, all relating to the fact that food is thematically mundane and common by its nature. First, it essentially makes food take on the "role" of potions, or other magical consumable items, which if done right makes genuine magical consumables feel a lot less unique or special, and if done wrong could dilute the mechanical need for potions items at all. Second, if the mechanic is more so "food gives buffs," then again because food is mundane and abundant, the buffs it would give would have to be proportionately minor, which would mean that, at best, food would be something that is there, but can basically be mechanically ignored entirely (so then option 1) essentially..), or, at worst, would become tedious "buffing prerequisite" to all or certain instances of combat, which involves guesswork, and moreover isn't in any way "fun."

So then, what is the mechanical solution? I would argue it is the third option. But how should such a "survival mechanic" be implemented? Especially in a game where, as yet, there is no indication of independent temporal/day/night cycles. I want to argue that is could best be implemented, and should be, as a limiting factor on Long Rests in the game. Short rests would be free, but in order to have a Long Rest, a certain amount of food rations (maybe even firewood as well), should be required, in order to make the decision to Long Rest at any point in the game require more thought, and not be something that could be spammed for convenience (as I remember being the case in previous BG games even...), as it would require (maybe finite?) food resources. This could also make in-game inns in towns more mechanically valuable, and noticeable, as well.

Although, this is all assuming something of this order isn't already in the works by Larian for BG: 3.

Thoughts?