> This is a debate that Dave and I got into yesterday, and argued about for hours or something, because that's just the kind of cool people we are: Is chewing gum "food"?

This probably hinges on the personal experience of whom you ask. When I was much younger, I would purposely chew up mounds and mounds of bubble gum with the *sole intention* of swallowing it. I don't do this anymore, but it used to be no less of a candy than Sprees or M&Ms to me. But I'm more willing to apply the definition of "food" to gum because I *did* swallow it willingly and chew it with that very intent in the first place.

Counter"I first did that just to dispose of it"point