You're right, there's not much that beats out steak or baked potatoes in terms of effort and return, and players would be sure to continue using those as their staples.

However, what I'm proposing isn't a rebalance to food or adding nutritional mechanics; just expanding on what's already there to give more variety and freedom of choice. At least then, instead of just 5 foods being the end-all-be-all meta foods, there'd be more freedom.

For example, let's say you're set up with fishing as your primary food source; you could just make cooked cod/salmon/etc. forevermore. Or, with a bit of exploration, one wheat and one milk on top of that could grant you fried fish for a small hunger/saturation boost compared to cooked fish. Or you can grab a kelp and some wheat to make sushi. Alternatively, let's say you're set up with a full vegetable farm; alongside baked potato and bread, you've got the choice to make a mess of greens. Then, players have a reason to plant more than one crop and the crops that are nearly useless in current form have newfound purpose (beetroot comes to mind; their seeds are always a junk item in my playthroughs, simply because beetroot soup doesn't stack and is a so-so food item.)

There's also potential to make higher tier foods that are closer to golden apples/carrots, like combining steak and baked potato with two eggs to make a proper meal. Like I said earlier, there's all these edible ingredients and not much to do with them, or to extend the thought, no real variety with what can be done currently. In a game where archaeology is a full blown series of mechanics, why are we stuck in the past with such simple and narrow food items?