The shovel may not be much, but it is designed to get you digging. You get a pipe weapon as a reward for completing that initial buried supplies quest. And you shouldn't be getting anything better at the very beginning of the game.
Well, I don't know about the best, but I would prefer a full stack of vegetable soup instead of a tubular weapon.
Although that would be nice, food isn't too hard to deal with, even for new players. They might be in the starving state a lot at first, but they should be able to find enough to stay alive. On the other hand, a gun weapon (even a horrible pipe weapon) makes a big difference for a new player and helps them to progress in the first days. For a veteran player, pipe weapons are pointless. But the game should be designed so new players can get into it in the first couple of days without too much difficulty.
There's not much ammo at the start of the game, and weapons without ammo are just trash. Food is much more useful in my opinion, especially considering that the first tier excavation quests no longer contain good food.
Pipe weapons aren't intended to be used constantly. They are a way to survive if you're overwhelmed (again, we're talking about new players). It's rare that I don't find a little ammo very soon in the game. And I believe the reward includes something like 10-20 ammo, which is enough for such situations. For a veteran player, pipe weapons are pointless, as I said. And that means that, for a veteran player, food would be better. But I still say that a new player is better off with a pipe weapon from that first quest than food. They're not limited to that one quest anyhow, and food can be a reward in other quests, where weapons will not be.
I think a shovel is a good first reward, and then after completing the quest, give you 50 polymers/duct tape/pipe get you half way to making a few collector. After he hands it to you he should say, "I'd get started making a dew collector or you'll be drier than a zombie in the desert by day 3"