A food item is almost cut in pieces (8)
I believe the answer is:
biscuits
'a food item is almost cut in pieces' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'is almost cut in pieces' is the wordplay.
'almost' means to remove the last letter (almost the whole word is kept).
'in' is an insertion indicator.
'pieces' becomes 'bits' (bit is a kind of piece).
'cut' with its final letter taken away is 'cu'.
'is'+'cu'='iscu'
'iscu' placed within 'bits' is 'BISCUITS'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for biscuits that I've seen before include "Crackers" , "Baked items" , "Maybe companions for tea" , "Small flat sweet cakes" , "In the US, they're cookies" .)
