I don't think we have to throw out the baby with the bathwater. We both know it is not in God's nature to be surprised. We also know that it is not in His nature to be ignorant, as the text makes Him look in the garden (Adam where are you?) It is a recurring theme. So, I think those kind of things can be safely interpreted without throwing out the underlying story.
-- or, worse, that He intentionally created man so He could drown the whole wicked lot along with innocent animals.
Didn't God create us to eat innocent animals? :)
Not at all. God was being being humble and Fatherly with Adam. He gave Adam every opportunity to repent.
In case of the Flood He was "sorry" and "grieved" that mankind turned the way they did -- I don't think so.
Didn't God create us to eat innocent animals?
No. "Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you" (Genesis 1:12)
Even after God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden, He said: "Cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it. All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field" (Gen 3:17-18)
It is only later that man began killing animals, as the rest of the creation became corrupt by our Ancetral Fall. In fact, the Judaic idea of peace and prosperity to be established by a warrior-king meshiach (messiah) on earth would include cessation of hunting even by predatory animals.
By the way, this is probably why the Orthodox strict fast forbids any animal products for 40 days prior to Nativity (i.e. "Christmas") and Pascha or Resurrection (i.e. "Easter"), and why monastics do not eat meat.