Commentary Par X 6

This verse initiates the theme of ingestion in the canto, a part of the metaphor of eating first deployed as a governing trope by Dante in Convivio.  It has a perhaps surprising presence in this canto that, in light of its higher interests, might seem an inappropriate place for such concerns.  See also vv. 23 ('tasted'), 25 ('feed yourself'), 88 ('thirst' for 'wine'), 96 ('where sheep are fattened').