I've read most of this thread and I think the disagreement comes from a simple problem: everyone has a different definition of food. This leads to silly (but funny) discussions about whether "flavor"-laden juices are food.

I started thinking about what food is and isn't, and I came to an interesting conclusion: food isn't defined by what's made from, but rather what is done with it. Consider:

A cow is not food, while a steak is. Why? The substance remains the same. Trying to define food as being prepared to be eaten doesn't work either -- all sorts of fruits and vegetables are food without any preperation.

But then it hit me: what makes food be food is that its eaten. It is consumed by humans (I'm not worried about a definition that would also cover, say, bacteria). But this leads us into the flavor-juice thing. What about drugs? Are those food? If I do a line of coke, I'm consuming something, and my body is *also* getting energy out of the deal. But speed isn't food. I thought then that we should specify food needs nutritional value of some sort, but vitamin supplements aren't food.

This is all being too technical. I think the important thing to note about food is that it is consumed to satiate hunger! Ahhhh, now we have something. Drugs and vitamins have energy/nutritional value, but they don't satiate hunger (appetite suppressants notwithstanding, but directly tweaking the brain is a little unfair).

Putting this together, I think food is stuff consumed by humans in order to satiate hunger. This leaves certain things in a gray area. I'm not sure all candy fits in this definition (Pixie Sticks are consumed but they're not satiating), but I'm fine with that. I don't think all candy should be classified as food. Chocolate bars and the like, though, do satiate hunger and as such should be food.

It becomes clear, then, that gum isn't food. To start with, it isn't consumed. It's chewed. Secondly, it doesn't satiate hunger, and nor do its juices. Therefore, it isn't food. QED.

Any reason why my definition is a poor one?

Stephen