While I certainly sympathize with the OP, this has been an ongoing unaddressed issue for nearly as long as the game has been in early access. Supposedly the issue will be addressed when kingdoms are revamped but it certainly would be nice for some small fix in the interim especially since the game is supposedly “launched”.
In case anyone in CX needs a reminder about this issue, rather than post the countless times this has been brought up by players over the past year, here is an actual response to the issue in JUNE of TWO THOUSAND TWENTY ONE that the issue is understood and that future uses of food were forthcoming (spoiler alert: nope):