The thing about food and potions is that their use is voluntary as OP has indicated. No need to remove something that someone personally don't use anyway. The food and quantity of potions is present to allow for
[1] characters to always have something to do with their bonus action,
[2] players to choose their own difficulty preference (Easy = Eat all food during fight, Long rest after every fight, sneak constantly, exploit camera for recon, etc.),
[3] drawn out dice battles to be balanced in favor of the party. Anyone who has played DnD moderately has experienced that point in a battle where each side is missing more than half the time and it's just numbers fighting instead of characters in an adventure game. In a tabletop game it's easy enough to DM the battle to its conclusion. In a video game, the player should be favored to win if both sides have exhausted their power moves and are nearly at a stalemate.
[4] video game RPGs tend to be overloaded with consumables. I presume some of the fanbase thoroughly enjoy crafting, sorting, equipping and using potions. Those that don't can always turn them into gold.
All that said, I would like to see a better short rest mechanic using hit dice as a frequency limiting feature rather than once per long rest.
