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[geroshabu]

Hello. I'm very new to the game, but I've managed to keep my fortress afloat for some three years now without too much trouble. (mainly due to looking up just about everything over and over again at the wiki) But now, for some reason, my dwarves stopped eating. I have a ton of supplies; lots of meat, over 150 fishes/turtles and more than 250 edible plants, all for 46 dwarves.
This problem arose at the same time I was a) making a large expansion underground, b) directed the river to act as my mote, and c) traded for lots and lots of outdoor seeds from a human caravan, which might be the problem as I no longer can scroll in the foods section of the menu; all that shows up are seeds.
I don't think the layout of my fortress is causing trouble since it didn't do that before, but here's a small picture of it nonetheless:


While I'm at it, I also seem to have some problem with the water supply. Since I redirected the river, I have a fresh water supply just outside my fortress, and also a well inside I installed after making an underground route for the river. But either way my dwarves seem to complain about the lack of good water. 
Anything I can do?

[Creamcorn]

Well one of your problems could be that you locked the doors, check them with 'q' of course that's Mike's graphics set so he could've changed that button or the food in your fort could be forbidden.

I would also suggest cooking that food, I mean all of it, just make sure you don't cook the turtles or seeds, 'z' see kitchen.

[Yanlin]

Anorexia.

[geroshabu]

Well one of your problems could be that you locked the doors, check them with 'q' of course that's Mike's graphics set so he could've changed that button or the food in your fort could be forbidden.

I would also suggest cooking that food, I mean all of it, just make sure you don't cook the turtles or seeds, 'z' see kitchen.

Thanks, but I've made sure the doors are open... They even continue stockpiling the food, and I have cooking on repeat to make sure they get some cooked meals, but they just doesn't seem to want to eat. Some go around chasing vermin instead, while a select few actually eat from time to time. But the majority is starving to death. :S

[chonger]

Just curious, how many dwarves do you have? Has dwarven economy started? According to the Wiki, dwarven economy should not cause dwarves to starve, but it might make it harder for them to get food.

Are they depressed? Depressed dwarves won't eat.

[geroshabu]

No, not yet. I only have 46 dwarves so far.

Some of them are depressed, but it seems like they are because they aren't eating, not the other way around... And even then, some of my happiest dwarves aren't eating either. :/
But since this might affect some of them, and possibly the productivity, is there any good way of making them happier right now? I know good quarters ans smooth walls and such helps, but are there other ways?

[hotcakes]

go to Z then select kitchen and toggle all the meat to be cooked and if you have a surplus of plump helmet spawn you can cook those too (cooking them does not give seeds back but brewing does) and dwarves dont need to eat very often and unless they have a flashing brown arrow over them they dont need to eat the arrow denotes the onset of starvation. also when i look at you fort here two layout suggestions: 1 dwarves can walk thru stockpiles even if there is an object on the stockpile 2 the extra space you put around the perimeter of your workshops and farms is unesscary dwarves can walk thru all farm tiles and most workshop tiles you can tell which tiles of a workshop are walkable b/c they are a lighter green than the solid ones. also GL with your fort

[Tormy]

It's impossible to tell that what is wrong this way. Upload your saved game to somewhere. 

[E-mouse]

I'm surprised no one mentioned food being forbidden, but I guess that's unlikely.

Do you mean "depressed" as in "unhappy/miserable" or "Melancholy?" Melancholy dwarves are effectively dead. They won't eat or drink and will attempt suicide on convenient cliffs until they die of starvation. But they don't do any work, either, so I doubt that's the case. I don't know if miserable dwarves are less inclined to eat.

As for improving happiness, my favorite solution is statues. Dozens of them. Just remember that they block access to that square: don't build a wall of them unless you want it to actually BE a wall. (Just one building-destroyers can knock down.)
As for the best application of those statues: public Legendary dining hall(s). Dorfs LOVE that. I think you can start with sprucing up the north end of the existing dining hall, but I'm not sure there's enough space there to make it Legendary - well, with plain stone statues, at least.