I'm at the start, can't find a place that sells food, and the game auto saved right as I'm about to starve.
I try to hit 'C' at the main menu to create a character but it just tells me that a save already exists. I don't see any prompts for deleting a character.

The following threads offer some potential solutions, it seems:

https://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/ultima_2_create_new_character

https://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/restarting_in_ultima_ii

https://www.gog.com/forum/ultima_series/ultima_2_create_a_player_problem

Ty, I'll try searching more next time.