Well there's a bit of talk of possibly there being new races upcoming (or for people to mod them in), so here's a possible list of ideas on that:

Ghosts: Capable of going through solid objects, but actively gains less stats per level.

Ghouls: Can consume dead bodies for increased max health permanently; but has a malus health regeneration.

FloraMan: Regain health and hunger in day light, does not at all during the night (Or in caves or in buildings)

Dwarfs: More efficient miners, losing less stamina when mining/mining faster.

Kobolds: natural lock pickers, small enough to get through certain blockages (Steel bars for instance), worse starting stats.

Possibly for races to also have unique abilities (Or attributes) attached to them (Like how classes start with an ability). An example of this could be:

Vampires capable of draining blood off of sleeping targets from behind. If the vampire drains all of the targets blood whilst they're asleep (Depends on vampire hunger amount), has possiblity to kill.

Humans being able to disguise, appearing normal for a time being whilst not doing much.

Trolls are known for their regeneration and great hunger, so perhaps the capacity to use up their food to heal faster.

Orcs having a racial rage ability, perhap stacking with the Berseker rage. Makes for a good early game, but for each class as it'd be by the race itself. Perhaps only activating upon being surrounded.

Rasimi gaining unarmed damage bonus damage, cats having claws and the like.

Dark Elves being capable of blending in with the trees, giving them a hide ability when near trees.

Races could also have certain natural defences against poison, magic damage types or physical damage.


Possible race ideas to the side, at the moment people can find that hunger/water is a tedius interruption inbetween the killfest that is Soulash. I propose that foods have some form of beneficial effect. This would make certain races (Such as a vampire) taking it as a sacrifice in a way, as they would not be able to gain the buffs from eating (Such as possible stat bonuses, or permanent stat alterations) from special meals. Be it a temporarily faster stamina regeneration, extremely minor healing, or mushrooms causing the player to have drug-like symptons.

Perhaps putting together meals (Dead wisps, dead imps, flowers, etc) made of special materials could lead to powerful effects, which is something that certain races (Vampire/Lich) would not be able to take advantage of for the trade off of how they(will) function.

Races

More races would be great, but the current races themselves don't feel that fleshed out yet. The troll is a good example of a balanced race, it has some minor stat boosts, with a bonus to HP regen and a penalty to hunger. That makes it unique and balanced, whereas a lot of races either have bonuses shared by other races (night vision is one three races) or even just some minor stat bonuses which are pretty inconsequential.  The better discussion IMO would be how to improve the existing races to make for more unique play styles. As you suggested, racial abilities would be a huge step in the right direction.

Hunger/Thirst

These mechanics in their current stage definitely feel more like a nuisance than anything immersive or challenging. I think the rate at which you become hungry/thirsty should be dramatically reduced, while also reducing opportunities to find food/water. In this way, it can remain something you should be preparing for without being a constant interruption to game play.

Being able to prepare special meals with potion-like effects from magical ingredients would certainly improve depth and interest in the mechanics, potentially also making use of some items with very limited applications such as the wild mushrooms. But I think the opposite should also be true, perhaps taking minor penalties from eating lower quality food like raw meat (unless you have some sort of racial immunity to that), to motivate players to pursue better foodstuffs without making it feel as much like a forced mechanic as it does now.