But what about the Fresh Water? Didn’t that use to be a food ingredient? The crafting bench told me "you still need to find material to craft anything" that is why I thought I had found 0.
No, fresh water was never a food ingredient. You hadn't found enough things to craft anything at the bench. There was just one material you needed past that little cave that you barely missed to allow you to craft a sword. I think this all really is just me needing to find a better way to communicate some of this stuff, or maybe drop the materials that seem more like they'd be ingredients. Not sure.