Q:

New woodean board for a kitchen table

I live in Germany and would like to replace the top of a kitchen "table":

I am thinking of taking a rather inexpensive wood board from birch or beech:

Of course I'd need to paint it.  I though of using a lacquer of some sort:

As a second thought, this comes into my mind:

but I am neither very excited about the way it looks, not how it feels to touch, nor antything. 
Questions:

Comments on general worktop made of birch or beech? 
Is birch or beech better? 
Comments on the two types of lacquers I am think about? 
What lacquers would you recommend? 
What's the impact of the lacquers on surfaces that touch all kinds of foods that eventually come to our stomachs? 

A:

For a food-safe wood finish, I have had good success using a 1:1 ratio of real pure tung oil and citrus solvent.   
My kitchen table is cypress, which is much softer than birch or beech, soft enough that I need to lightly sand and refinish the table every year or so.   Working with tung oil and citrus solvent rather than a lacquer makes this task very easy because I don’t have to deal with toxic fumes and a long drying time. 
I also have a birch butcher-block countertop with the same finish.   The area closest to the sink has a small amount of water damage after about 5 years.  I might consider using the marine finish there. 