Yeah, the cooking bonuses should be better. And there should be a "chef school" faction ... The bonuses from cooking should be unique also. Well, you can either eat one ultimate healing potion or 500 carrots, it is your choise.
I guess if you're losing a fight with an Ice Troll and are almost out of health, you can chow down about 100 carrots before it's next slash.
Similar to unmodded Fallout 3, BTW.
But a bit worse here because your health regenerates. So need need for food outside of a battle. And role-playing eating a six course dinner in the middle of a nasty fight is tough.
And since food cannot be used for Alchemy and can't be sold for much, it seems it's only purpose is decoration and role-playing.
According to the Official Game Guide there are maybe two recipes that give you a minor benefit for a couple of minutes or so, but that's about it.