Why do actors not eat their food in TV shows/movies?

It is a lot easier to not eat the food. As the other answers mention, multiple takes would add up to having to eat a lot of food. 6 steaks, 5 fully dressed cheeseburgers, 7 plates of lasagna. Etc. read more

Great directors and actors can fool you into thinking everyone acting in the scene is filling up and having a wonderful time eating glorious food (reference the dinner scene in Titanic or the many eating scenes in Gosford Park). read more

No, actually yes but they do not swallow it. This is usually not possible because scenes are often filmed multiple times. If they did then every actor would be overweight. This is the reason why they have to spit the food they put into their mouth. They could do it if everybody was really good so lets say the dinner scene could be shot in one take. read more