It is Meat and Drink to me
Meaning
Meat and drink in this phrase have two meanings, which appear to be independent of each other. Either, to be a source of support or pleasure or, to be a simple and routine matter.
Origin
It isn’t clear which of those two meanings is intended in the earliest known use of the phrase – John Frith’s, A boke answering vnto M. Mores lettur, 1533:
“It is meate and drinke to this childe to playe.”
Shakespeare used the phrase in As You Like It and the meaning there is clearly the former:
“It is meat and drinke to me to see a Clowne.”
