i think it's obvious. so we don't have to rely on food merchants to provide the means to get temporary buffs or base stat/skill boost.
we just have to have the ingredients ready (by hunting) and the recipe, just like crafting any other things.
it adds up to the survival element because we can cook them on the go on a campfire.
even better if we can craft a single-use campfire (with duration before it disappears) to cook something anywhere in the caves.
add new items like "Rathound Meat" so we can cook the Rathound Skewer ourselves, i personally eat this often.
and the recipes could be in the form of a piece of paper, or a book that works just like any flash drive blueprint. they can be bought from food merchants or certain NPCs who likes food, Mordre for instance, will be glad to share the Blue Eel Sandwich recipe for some charons or mini side quest. or Junkyard Surprise from Karim, or a random recipe from Jon The Ugly, etc.
