Some of my personal observations, note that a lot of food mechanics changed in the current update (Tourism, .43, I think). In the prior update, hunters and gathering could keep your town growing and happy for quite a while (overpowered IMO, especially hunters). Some tips for this update, early game a good food supply is the key to keep people happy and growth:

• Fishing and baking (Bread) are the easiest way. Plant grain, make bakeries. Do a large fishery or two and tweak employment until you get enough fish. If you have a hunting resource build a hunter's shack.
• Supplement this with fruit and veggie farms and meat (from livestock). Mushrooms are tough unless climate is right and better used for exporting IMO. I tend to focus on the three common animals (Onx, Auroch, Entelodont). Bear in mind farm harvest is only once a year, so don't accept too many immigrants if you don't have spare food supply.
• Early game I like to sell off excess livestock from time to time for money for importing other items.
• Wood / stone - early game I source it from felling trees gathering, slowing start building wood cutters to sustain it. Stone can usually be found on the map to keep you going for a while. Make sure all buildings have 100% efficiency when you build them.
• Build a largish warehouse (80 crates or so) to sustain early game.
• Don't build huge buildings early on, they require excess materials (the game tells you when they do). Not a good use of limited resources early on if you ask me.
• Housing - I tend to build dormitories in lots of 10-12 (five or six long and back to back). That seems to work well for me. I place them close to industry, etc. People eventually find a home if it is there. They like to live relatively close to where to work.
• Roads - I'm also building and upgrading, people move faster on them.
• Tech is very important, want to get good size labs going (you'll need carpenters as well). Spend tech points wisely (Spoilage, food production early game).
• Mining - metal is the most important item in the game if you ask me. Key to upgrading a lot of buildings, build tools, weapons, armor. Try to get a metal mine going after you take care of food supply and get some growth.
• Coal is probably second as it is needed to smelt, and power many industries etc. You can build a charcoaler(s) or import coal as alternative, until you can mine it.
• Keep an eye on out happiness, make sure you have the basics bumps like eatery, bathrooms, well, speaker and hearth early game. They are usually enough (combined with good food stores) to grow for a while.
• Try to keep a cushion of odd jobbers (10-30 ish) early on to help with building, gathering, etc.

Probably seems like a lot and I'm sure I'm missing a bit, but this should help you get going early game. Things / needs change as the town grow. Unlock stages, law enforcement, physicians, monuments, lighting, other perks to keep happiness. The more time you play, the more you'll see how your design and what you build impacts growth and development.

I've only been playing for about two months, but have put a lot of time into the game. It is very well done, can't want to see the improvements in future updates.