Food in world building

Worldbuilding: Food For The People

We all need food to live. Even in fiction, food plays a part in most stories, whether it is a simple supper at a boarding house or a grand wedding or coronation feast. In fantasy settings, most of the time it doesn't matter where the food comes from or how it was prepared.

fantasy-faction.com

I come across this article as I am figuring the local cuisine that one character may serve in a restaurant in a fantasy city I'm playing with. It's actually of interest to me because I have finished The Language of Food: A Linguist Reads the Menu and The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World and both are very interesting read about how we historically select certain traits in our food/pants we grow and how the food we eat are interconnected. For example, I have never realized ketchup originated from salted fish from South China and how apple spread from Central Asia to American West. I feel that that kind of details and connection will make my worldbuilding more substaintial and interesting?

So what's the role of food in your worlds? How do you design and the local food and any experience/tip/resources/thoughts etc. to share?