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[Aslandus]

I feel like this idea would need to also have a few things:

-individual food values, so a dwarf doesn't get the same amount of nutrition from eating a steak as eating a strawberry

-prepared food should not make a larger stack, but be counted as having more nutrition, for example, eating an apple vs an apple pie, sure you could get full eating six or so apples, but you would be more likely to fill your belly after one pie (which might also last longer without spoiling if that get implemented, or perhaps slightly spoiled food could be boiled up or something to make it edible again)

-stuff that is "easy" to grow like cave plants (which don't require light) should not have as much value, so if you want to keep a reasonable amount of food around you have to build your farms above ground where they might be at risk or keep alternative, often riskier, food industries around to keep the larder filled

-Things that can't normally be eaten raw can be eaten raw in a crisis, but it will result in the eater getting sick and either working worse or vomiting up their bellies and getting hungry again (maybe have a "strong stomach" trait that makes them less susceptible to the effects of bad food)

[Bumber]

Wait.
First you complain that there wouldn't be enough food and no easy way to obtain it, so I pointed out that caravans seem to work well.
Now you complain that caravans would bring too much food without being asked.
Which is it?

That you might not survive long enough to even see the first caravan. The caravan's stock could be more or less the same, but for the weight difference. It's a separate issue.

[pisskop]

caravans bring too much food, I agre.
  Especially raw food.

[Wooster]

-prepared food should not make a larger stack, but be counted as having more nutrition, for example, eating an apple vs an apple pie, sure you could get full eating six or so apples, but you would be more likely to fill your belly after one pie (which might also last longer without spoiling if that get implemented, or perhaps slightly spoiled food could be boiled up or something to make it edible again)

I like this. I assume a significant feature of such a system would be that dwarves take into account the food value when they decide what to eat.

• I think the thoughts from eating should be strengthened, and in particular we would need a negative thought from eating low value foods in order to encourage a lot of kitchen use.
• I would increase the overall value a little on processing, and I would increase the bonus with rising quality. Probably you could multiply the bonus according to the usual schedule: multiply the gross food value would, I think, be serious overkill. (The valuation system is overkill on quality already, and I think taking a value-added approach would help a lot with this.)
• A nice addition to this would be a flag for distinguishing food inputs which can be eaten as they are (e.g., fruit, cheese) from those which aren't really edible (e.g., raw meat, flour). Then if processing in a kitchen removes all "inedible" flags, it significantly boosts the apparent value of food which contains those ingredients. The effect would be that dwarves were dissuaded from taking inedibles to eat, and players were provided yet more reason to get food pushed through the kitchens.

[catten]

A nice addition to this would be a flag for distinguishing food inputs which can be eaten as they are (e.g., fruit, cheese) from those which aren't really edible (e.g., raw meat, flour). Then if processing in a kitchen removes all "inedible" flags, it significantly boosts the apparent value of food which contains those ingredients. The effect would be that dwarves were dissuaded from taking inedibles to eat, and players were provided yet more reason to get food pushed through the kitchens.

This is already there; sweet pods and cave wheat are inedible, as is cave wheat flour, but all can be cooked. Milk and most oils are this way also. Meat is probably considered edible only because adventurers don't have a way to cook it. But I'd love something that dissuades my dorfs from grabbing plump helmets from the farm stockpile on their way to the dining hall with its =cow cheese roast= stockpile!

[Wooster]

This is already there; sweet pods and cave wheat are inedible, as is cave wheat flour, but all can be cooked. Milk and most oils are this way also. Meat is probably considered edible only because adventurers don't have a way to cook it. But I'd love something that dissuades my dorfs from grabbing plump helmets from the farm stockpile on their way to the dining hall with its =cow cheese roast= stockpile!

Ah... I reveal myself as a player who doesn't use flour or oils very much! Or, indeed, who doesn't watch plant stockpiles closely. Maybe you just need to edit the RAWs for plump helmets?

My view is that stopping dwarves absolutely from eating anything not toxic is "unrealistic" (whatever that means in a fantasy game): the better approach is to allow them to do it but to provide reasons to choose an alternative. For the sake of "realism", I want dwarves with a hankering for a plump helmet to raid the brewer's larder for a snack; and I want dwarves whose only alternative is starvation to decide that a mouthful of flour is a better option. But if they're just looking for something to fill their stomachs, they really should prefer those tasty-looking cheeseburgers (cow meat*2, cheese, flour)! I like this food value mechanic because I think it admits that possibility.

[Urist Tilaturist]

Adventurers need a way to cook meat, and raw meat should be edible but cause horrible diseases much of the time, depending on the animal it came from. Adventure mode is even more alpha than fortress mode, so proper cooking will enter it eventually, but it may be some time.

[catten]

Adventurers need a way to cook meat, and raw meat should be edible but cause horrible diseases much of the time, depending on the animal it came from. Adventure mode is even more alpha than fortress mode, so proper cooking will enter it eventually, but it may be some time.

It could also be creature/ethic related. Urist McSushi loves raw fish, even though it's usually not considered edible. Goblins and trolls are probably fine with raw meat. Elves, too (tho they only get it by cannibalism, which is just bizarre). Dogs prefer rotten meat over fresh. Things like that. Oh, and predators should start eating their kills.

[Urist Tilaturist]

Dogs do not prefer to eat rotten meat. They eat it, but only because they will eat anything vaguely edible.

Any creature who eats raw meat should possibly suffer the consequences of illnesses and parasites. Wild animals also experience worms and even diarrhoea from eating bad meat. Elves should cook corpses before eating them, as real cannibals usually did - they may be cannibals, but even they would have some standards and would not want parasitic worms hanging out of their bottoms.

[Aslandus]

Animals like vultures have physiological defenses against parasites from rotting meat (things like bald heads and noxiously strong stomach acid). While predators should be eating what they kill, and while poisoning meat and things should be legitimate tactics for taking down big monsters, it seems a little too far to say that parasites that render food inedible for dwarves would be just as dangerous for beasties that would have evolved eating food with said parasites in it...

[Urist Tilaturist]

Vultures and other carrion feeders are indeed much more resistant to eating rotten meat, but most animals are not. Humans also evolved eating unhygienic food, some of which contained parasites; even today, many people have worms in poorer places. Only creatures who mostly eat carrion have adapted a lot to deal with it.

Parasite ridden food is not inedible, it just gives parasites to the eater. Most wild animals have parasites of some sort.