Hunger is a status that occurs, well, when you're hungry.
-HUNGRY is dangerous because, with -THIRSTY, regeneration of moves and health is all but stopped. A hungry explorer, haggard in the wilderness, will regenerate one (1) move per tic. During PK, this will often be fatal.
Eating food of any sort will alleviate the hunger status. Food is everywhere in WoTMUD. Survival skill will allow butchering of nearly any hunt, but one can find potatoes and carrots aplenty just laying around.
High levels of practiced survival will stave off hunger and thirst for much longer than a normal person.
The size of the food will determine how much hunger is affected. EAT a couple large pieces of meat to satiate any appetite, while TASTE will eat only a small portion of the food to stave off hunger.
Dodge characters need to carry as little weight as possible, so many players choose to carry iron rations and nibble them rather than carry heavy meat.