I DO know for a fact, that there's plenty of plugins out there that will adjust the server. So you will get food and resources in desert mode. Things will just be different and a lot more interesting
It would be a lot of fun and interesting times if there would be just random box (ie some supply runs) you can find that spawn every 2 h in a random location of the run and include some basic gear.
Also, you could create a very neat starting village that has a few villages to trade materials for food, such as:
64 sandstone for 1 raw fish
10 wood (not planks) for 1 cooked pork chop
64 wood for 1 iron ingot
Also, some saplings and dirt should be included into the drops, but most importantly, the drops should be random and contain a large amount of a single resource needed to survive. Ie, coal, wood, stone, saplings, food, weapons. That would also encourage players to trade. (also, players should be able to switch in out of PVP mode every 20 minutes, and couldn't do it after taking damage for 2 minutes).
But, honestly. I can advise you guys just to go ahead and try it... hell, it REALLY won't get any worse.