i feel that it should be easyer to get gold and that you shouldnt be hungry so fast
Food is easy to get, try fighting, ratmen or deer, you really do not need to feed your guy except every 1.5 - 2.5 hours.. Gold becomes easier to get as you level higher and fight higher level guys.
Also, a great way to make quick cash is to make a merchant character, theyre a little slow at first but once you hit 100+ mining you can make bars to sell them for fast cash or get work orders from the miner npc's.
Food and gold is very well balanced in this game. Not to easy to get but worth working hard for. Otherwise, players would be able to afford everything to quickly and get on players nerves with financial power exploitation.