Eating

Eating, also known as feeding or ingestion, was one of the primary qualifiers that described a living organism. The most common form of eating of mono-form corporeal lifeforms involved ingesting organic material, which was chemically broken down by the organism's digestive system and distributed to its cells for minerals and energy. The term post-prandial was a medical term meaning "after eating". ()
On the Enterprise-D group of parasitic organisms attempted to consume the crews' cellular peptides (which would have caused them to collapse into pile of chemicals and thus die). However, they were discovered and purged from their bodies. ()
Some lifeforms, such as the Crystalline Entity, also consumed material, but converted it to energy directly rather than chemically breaking it down. () Some organisms fed on energy and either required a host, such as Ronin () or fed on it directly, such as Farpoint Station.
Cultures of some species, such as the Kreetassans considered eating in public akin to mating in public. () 
While observing the giant space amoeba discovered in 2268, Doctor Leonard McCoy described it as a very simple form of life capable of displaying almost all the functions living organisms perform, including the ability to eat, breathe and reproduce. McCoy, however, was not sure what it ate, but Spock speculated that perhaps it consumed energy itself. ()
According Quark in 2370, Plegg took a computer chip and turned it into the modular holosuite industry and brought holographic entertainment to the most remote parts of the Alpha Quadrant which created profit centers from societies that could barely afford to feed their own people. ()
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Category:Physiology
Category:Victual culture