How Should the Nutriment Edible Food Be Seen?

And how, Monks, should the nutriment edible food be seen?

Suppose a couple, husband and wife, had taken limited provisions and were traveling through a desert. They have with them their only son, dear and beloved.

Then, in the middle of the desert, their limited provisions would be used up and exhausted, while the rest of the desert remains to be crossed. The husband and wife would think: Our limited provisions have been used up and exhausted, while the rest of this desert remains to be crossed. Let us kill our only son, dear and beloved, and prepare dried and spiced meat. By eating our son’s flesh we can cross the rest of this desert. Let not all three of us perish!

Then, Monks, the husband and wife would kill their only son, dear and beloved, prepare dried and toasted meat, and by eating their son’s flesh they would cross the rest of the desert.

While they are eating their son’s flesh, they would beat their breasts and cry: Where are you, our only son? Where are you, our only son?

What do you think, Monks? Would they eat that food for amusement or for enjoyment or for the sake of physical beauty and attractiveness?

‘No, Venerable Sir’

Wouldn’t they eat that food only for the sake of crossing the desert?

‘Yes, Venerable Sir.’

It is in such a way, Monks, that I say the nutriment edible food should be seen. When the nutriment edible food is fully understood, craving for the five cords of sensual pleasure is fully understood. When craving for the five cords of sensual pleasure is fully understood, there is no fetter bound by which a Noble Disciple might come back again to this world.

(Reference: SN 12:63)

In this Teaching from Gotama Buddha, he shares how one should view food as needed to sustain life and not for enjoyment or pleasure of the tongue and mind.

While there are foods that are flavorful with outstanding taste, if the mind has craving/ desire/attachment to food, then it will experience discontentedness when these foods are unavailable due to impermanence. A Practitioner will need to train the mind to view food as a substance to sustain life rather than, a substance that is meant to bring pleasure to the tongue and mind.

To attain Enlightenment, the mind needs to eliminate the craving/desire/attachment for pleasant feelings through The Six Sense Bases. This requires training and careful attention to observe the mind with full awareness or mindfulness.

Once the mind has eliminated craving/desire/attachment for food, it is possible to still eat enjoyable food without craving/desire/attachment.