meat and drink en · NOUN
Etymology
From meat in the archaic sense of food.
Meanings
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(uncountable) That on which somebody survives, or which makes their existence meaningful; means of subsistence.
The work he had done in instructing the woman; the work he had to do among the Samaritans; the prospect he now had of doing good to many, this was meat and drink to him; it was the greatest pleasure and satisfaction imaginable.
1811, An Exposition of the Old and New Testament:This sort of thing is meat and drink to the born Controller—and Controllers are born with the right imperturbable temperament for the job; hence the fact that they are recruited from many different grades of operating staff, and some recruits don't stay the course.
1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 132: