ooh, Thorham, I was beginning to lose hope that anyone else could put together a worthwhile reply. Fair assessment, thanks!
So yes, I pharmed the Herder's Den in order to power-level my Farmer primarily, but keep in mind that the rest of my group was leveling up as well. They leveled up slower of course because they rely on exp from kills as opposed to the Farmer's fatass leveling up with food, but they leveled up nicely nonetheless. I did enjoy the experience of pharming for exp for those 2-3 days, because I have a morbid fascination with grinding in an RPG to achieve character building and progression. I think Grimrock does a great job of fulfilling the RPG elements; and of course it has mastered the dungeon crawler experience.
But pharming exp like a monotonous lunatic has nothing to do with the puzzle solving aspect of the game. When it comes to that - something else I love - I prefer to think that the cast of characters I control are perfectly capable of feeding themselves, just like they can clean themselves, and go to the bathroom themselves.
My stance isn't that "food sucks" at all. You just proved that I will partake in lots of eating via the Herder's Den. Well I can offer another bit of proof, my "Walking Dead Party" suggestion:
viewtopic.php?f=18&t=8181
I built an entire party based on the strategy of Walking and Eating! Da fuk??!
The fact is that I expected to have to walk around a ton in this game, just like I did in LoG 1. I was fully prepared to love and embrace it; yes, even when having to walk long distances to replenish food. What I did NOT expect, however, is for the second release of Grimrock to have puzzles that were much more intriguing, challenging, and splendid... so much so that I suddenly didn't want to worry about eating or walking away anymore.
I wanted to stay in the moment, I wanted to remain in the exact area that captivated me with a riddle.
But like Rithrin pointed out, the sense of urgency that comes from needing to feed these little babies started to infringe upon that intrigue. That is when I realized that Grimrock has outgrown it's "food" element. It has matured as a game, and it's time for the babies to walk (and eat) on their own.
Just my opinion of course, but so far only one person has understood it; and he respectfully disagreed. You started off blind to my point, similar to Captain Cutter up there, but maybe now you can see it and offer at least something intellectual, fun, or engaging as a retort. Cheers!