Rules that encourage players to eat actual food and not just rations?

Unless you have a compelling reason to do this, I wouldn't. In my experience, players role-play the amount they want to, and demanding more results in less enjoyment of the game about 4 times out of 5.

Strictly enforcing any kind of rule regarding food requirements beyond "we spend X amount of money covering basic requirements" only ensures they'll spend additional time and resources overcoming that requirement, which they'd probably rather spend on other things. That's not to say they're aren't times where this could be an interesting aspect of the story you're telling, but I wouldn't make it the norm.

In any case, I suspect video games are far better at this kind of intensive resource management than pencil and dice tabletop games.

I think maybe there comes a time on the careers of most role-players who play long enough where they start wanting more realism or of their game. And I think most people outgrow this. Some players might go so far as to include multiple sets of clothing in their equipment list, but who tracks which set is dirty vs clean, which smells too bad to wear in town, how often they wash their clothing, or mend it? All these things are presumed to happen backstage, not because they're not important, but because they're not interesting.

/r/DnD Thread