A brief and interesting article by a sci-fi/food writer (from NPR).
http://www.npr.org/2013/07/13/201181...paign=20130715
Food seems to be neglected in RPGs too. When I GM, I don't really make an issue of it. It's very rarely that my players post something about eating. In the other games I play in, food is rarely, if ever, an issue. It just seems to be taken for granted that food is available and that the PCs eat it. In a post-apoc world, this doesn't seem right. In computer/console RPGs, food is usually used only as a mode of minor healing.
I think that food should play a bigger part in RPGs, especially T2K. First off, it's necessary for basic survival. Getting it should be one of the players' primary concerns. When it's generally scarce, food also becomes currency. Why can't one barter with food in a post-apoc video game like Fallout 3 (one of my all-time fav's). And lastly, food is a social lubricant. Meal times are opportunities to get together and chat. In a social game, like an RPG, this doesn't seem to happen enough. I find this quite ironic because the one FtF I participate in is also always pot-luck and we tend to gnosh throughout.