This is what is meant by "understood to it's broadest limits":
The Four Foods:
1. Material Food, hard and soft
2. Sense Stimulation, (Phassa) Touch, the origin of vedana, sensation
3. Intentions (manosancetana: mano=mind; san=one with; cetana=heart), the food for action
4. Consciousness (vinnana: double knowing knowledge; awareness of knowing), food for thought
With Material Food (or any of the other foods) as his object, the individual, enabled by consciousness, propels himself into future rebirth.

-- P.P.