Food

Food is any edible item. If you do not eat, you will starve! Make sure you eat everyday to avoid starvation. A cooked cut of meat, flat rye bread, or a large fish will decrease your hunger by about half the bar, whereas eating a small fish, blanched mushrooms, or berries will only relieve a little bit of hunger. Food will spoil over time. Eating spoiled food will cause you to become sick, and may cause death.

Food could be broadly divided into three categories: Meat, fish and plants.

Meat
One of the best sources of nutrition in the game, meat always comes from animals. Unless you're into ...strange meat. Different meat sources have different nutrition values; a roast elk cut will restore more hunger than, say, a squirrel cut would.

Popular methods of getting meat are through trapping or active hunting, often with a ranged weapon such as a bow or javelin. Meat can be preserved by salting, drying or smoking.

Fish
Another good source of food, fishing for food is an easy way to provide for beginning characters (provided that your fishing skill is high enough). While small fish restore barely any nutrition, large fish, particularly salmon or trout will easily restore the entire bar. Fishing can be done passively or actively, using nets or a fishing rod, spear or club, respectively. Fishing stores often sell, in addition to these tools, different forms of watercraft. They can be used to reach deeper water where more fish reside.

Plants
While not as filling as the other types of food, plants are plentiful in the right seasons and much less risky to get. Plants are usually either berries or crops, ready in summer and autumn. Mushrooms are another source of food, but it is risky to eat them raw as the majority are poisonous unless cooked. Plants can be farmed for a steady food source. (Farmed? I was under the impression is that only 3 things can be planted on the ground: beans, peas, and turnips.)