I get where the concerns are comming from. If i would develop a game, adding food items, and reworking the health/stamina system, would be one of my least priorities considering the game is far from polished or done in the gameplay department.
Sure its nice to give players a few new building blocks to play with and the like, and i get that the developers want to keep people interested that are playing right now.
But the whole idea of ''we work on what we feel like at the time, and what comes to mind'' cant be a great way to make a good game.

Before Valheim got popular, the developers also had to make the basis of the game from the ground up. Decide on key game mechanics, code world generation, and so on. I think they should realy focus on those aspects and finish them first, if they want Valheim to be a great game a few years from now.

I dont think this has a whole lot to do with ''future bloat'' as OP descibed, but a concern in the same direction non the less.