Nice touch of realism, but eating food would feel more like a chore than a challenge.
I think the AI should be intelligent regardless
The potion idea is decent
I didn't find it to be a chore in New Vegas. I like the idea, plus, it provides another reason for being able to cook. Makes food healthier. If food could spoil, it would give you a reason to cook frequently, or at least stop in at taverns frequently at the end of a long day or journy, etc. Of course, it would have to be balanced as that could get annoying. I think you should have to eat and drink about once a day. Of course, when you go without food for a few days, then it should really start to affect you and so on. It wouldn't be that annoying as you tend to find inns with taverns in them for sleep, which you should also need about once a day. You would of course want to be able to go a couple of days before it really affects you though. I don't have it all worked out, but I'm sure Bethesda would try to balance it fairly and somewhat realistically without making it too annoying. If you don't want any of it, don't use it, or mod it if you can.
You can use mods. You just don't care to. There's no invincible force stopping you.
This is basically no different than wanting a multiplayer team deathmatch mode. Sure, Bethesda *could* do it, but just because someone wants it doesn't mean that they should. I'd rather Beth spend their time and effort making the core experience as good as it can be.
Additions that are totally exteraneous to the main game are exactly the type of thing that mods are best suited to, epecially when there is so much disagreement within the community about just what a hardcoe mode should entail.
No, I'm a console user, so I can't use mods. And I think a hardcoe mode would add to the "core" experience. Luckily, you seem to be in the minority, and I think Bethesda will probably include it as it was pretty popular in New Vegas from what I've heard.