So, Minecraft.

[Shamago]

Also, food. I've turned off Peaceful mode because fighting for things looks like a lot of fun. But now I need a good source of food. What is the easiest way to create a food farm? I know I can go out and slaughter animals and cook the meat, but I'd much rather create a real farm where I have a reliable and unending source of food. I've started a Wheat farm inside my little dirt starter house, but I'm not sure if that's the most efficient way to start a real food farm.

I like wheat/bread because it doesn't take much effort to accumulate a lot, only time. It's not the most efficient food in terms of keeping your hunger bar full (cooked beef/pork is, or golden apples), but it's close. Also in 1.1 you can only trample crops by jumping on them, normal walking doesn't affect them. A 9x9 square of farmland with a water source in the center and torches around the edges is ideal. I've even taken to building these underground in case of snow, though a greenhouse should work just as well.

I haven't gotten into animal breeding and the like since there are problems with stuff clipping into/over fences/walls and escaping/suffocating when penned in (at least in multiplayer mode.) And generally I avoid killing wild animals since they no longer respawn.

When first starting a world if you're like me and you don't like to kill wild animals, mushroom soup is probably the least resource-intensive food, and it's similar efficiency to bread. One mushroom of each kind is not at all hard to find usually. Use bonemeal on the mushrooms and harvest the resulting giant shrooms to replenish your stock. And if you're near a mushroom biome, just milk a mooshroom with bowls.