Chew Your Food

One admonition we've probably all heard is "chew your food." Our parents told it to us so often that we subconsciously tell it to ourselves when we notice that we're "wolfing" down the food.Chewing your food, and chewing it well, contributes to good health. How so? First, digestion begins in the mouth. And good digestion is an important component of good stomach and intestinal health.
Chewing breaks down clumps of food into smaller particles. This does three things: it reduces stress on the esophagus (it's easier to swallow smaller than larger), it it makes the stomach's job easier (smaller bits digest easier) and it keeps the the food exposed to saliva longer.
Saliva contains enzymes that begin the chemical process of digestion. There are carbohydrate digesting enzymes in saliva, and fat-digesting enzymes, as well. And chewing protein-rich foods accelerates their digestion as well.
There are other effects if we don't chew our food. If we don't chew properly, and the food fragments give the stomach and intestines problems, not only do we not get the nutrients we need, but we create a "petri dish" for bacteria. And that "petri dish" inside us can produce indigestion, in addition to other ailments.
But chewing well has two other health benefits: it relaxes the lower stomach muscle, so the stomach can finish its job; indeed, chewing starts the whole digestive process.
Enough of all that, though. The main reason to chew your food is because if you don't, you can't taste it! Chewing your food allows you to appreciate the flavors and texture and even the smell of your food.
The concept "chew your food" applies in a spiritual context, as well. Our Sages make the analogy that Torah is the food of the soul: "Your Torah is in my inner parts" (Psalms 40:9).
Rabbi Shneur Zalman, founder of Chabad Chasidism, in the Tanya, explains the verse: When one knows Torah, the Torah is absorbed in the soul and intellect. (Just like, when you "know" a subject you've internalized it, intellectually; it's within you, part of your intellectual being.) So, by analogy, Torah is called the "bread" or "food" of the soul: just like physical bread nourishes the body when it's eaten and digested, transformed into one's flesh and blood, so too knowledge of Torah, once the person has studied it well and deeply, becomes food for the soul.
So, the concept of "chew your food" exists in a spiritual sense, as well: It's not enough to study Torah in a way of "I get it" - listening and getting the ideas in a general sense. Rather one has to "chew" a Torah concept - to think about it, contemplate it, test it, argue over it - in short, to extend the metaphor, one has to "chew it over" to make sure the Torah learned is thoroughly examined and properly understood.
So if we really want to "taste" our food - to appreciate the richness, textures and subtleties in a Talmudic discussion or Chasidic discourse, we have to delve deeply and slowly. That's the only way to truly understand, to get the full flavor of Torah, G-d's wisdom.