Dinner Time

In books 5-10 of the Odyssey the reader encounters many scenes that involve eating. However, what people and monsters are eating, and how they are gathering their food, is very unique. A struggle appears when meal time comes around. In the Odyssey, is eating a good thing, or does the consumption of food serve as a convenient path to destruction? 

A good host immediately offers their guests a banquet, while a bad host immediately eats their guest and all of his dearest friends. This is a theme that is seen all throughout the Odyssey. However, why is consumption either the way to redemption or the way to destruction? This question is also something one can apply to the world today. Of course, there are not giants or monsters seeking people out for dinner on an ordinary afternoon, but there are many things that slowly chip away the structure of humanity. Consumption in the Odyssey, like consumption in real life, is either a tool to save someone or the means by which they are destroyed. 

P.S. I commented on Collin's Post