Thank you for the feedback!
I haven't seen Artic Eggs before, but seeing it now it's definitely similar in terms of the aesthetics, general premise and gameplay. Funny how that works. Good find!
Picking things up by using the mouse to move the spatula under things was the main way of interacting with the food from the beginning, but I added a more reliable way of picking up food as it wasn't reliable enough when speed was needed and the physics didn't behave in a reliable way. The goal is to combine the two ways of interacting into one that has both reliability in usage and physics-based movement.
The lack of motivation to continue playing is something I'm aware of. Among other features, the plan was to have different upgrades and skills to buy using money that you earn, but it none of those systems made it in.
Lastly, I agree on the throwing fish isn't as good as it can be. It needs more polish and a proper indicator of where the fish will land.