Huh... so I used Gale for my whole first playthrough, 50+ hours and well let's say things must have been buggy for me:
1. No mention from him about eating items. I did very few long rests, but still, at least 4 or 5 by the end.
2. At some point, he tells me his story about the goddess and he says something like "thanks for feeding my appetite" which was my first reference to this (outside of the forums).
3. No future mentions at that point.
So (shrug).
