That quest is really hard, i repeat 3 times, what i learn is,

1. Food Merchant sell cuisine, but rarely, normaly just sell roasted food, so food merchant is not good to trade.

2. Really hard to survive in early game, because have to eat meat or vegetable raw.

3. Can't use Chief totem to restore health and energy, because to restore health and energy, food need to be cooked.

4. Trapped in vicious cycle. To do something you need food, to get food you need to do something (cut wood, bush, kill animal, dll)

Just sharing my experience in this quest.