> > > Answer me this: if chewing gum IS food, does that mean that sunflower seeds are food as well?
> >
> > Yeah, that was weird thing #4,368 in America: they sold sunflower seeds as snack food. I mean, seriously, do people eat those? Why?
> >
> > winter"Chocolate-coated sunflower seeds, I could understand..."mute
>
> I eat sunflower seeds. They're good. What I don't understand is the sunflower seeds/chewing gum analogy. You don't chew sunflower seeds and then spit them out. You don't even keep them in your mouth being chewed into a huge lump for hours. You just get some seeds and eat them in the normal fashion.

Sunflower seeds generally fall into the "flavored things you keep in your mouth without swallowing" category. You don't necessarily CHEW sunflower seeds like you can chewing gum, but you still have to spit them out when they lose their flavor.

My question is, would sunfower seeds, or any other flavored thing you keep in your mouth without swallowing for that matter, be considered food if chewing gum is deemed likewise?