What is the profit from this mechanic now? What is the game better at now?
This is a nice starting point:
Right, I almost forgot to mention this aspect.
Regardless of the "rest management" (which, let's be real, is not really asking from the player to "manage" a whole lot, currently, given the overabundance of the resource and the how trivial it is to automatize the process) this new mechanic is already a massive improvement if nothing else because it played its part in removing the GIGANTIG BULLSHIT that was using the food as a viable replacement for health potions. Even during combat.
Now, if we could also address the OVER-ABUNDANCE of food with some re-tuning it wouldn't be half bad, since anything that can at least vaguely discourage (if not downright prevent) extensive rest spamming counts as a net mechanical improvement in my book.
