It's not a bug, food is now a scarce resource, don't build houses until you need them, then only build what you need. A little later in the game, there are spells that improve food production and research under Civics but, even improved farming is now a rare item in research.
It's ok, food stays at almost zero until you get the spells and researched food/farm production items. Town/city growth is now slowed down a lot in Beta 4.
Don't forget to build your city/town in around food production resources.
