Food riots to spread (7)
I believe the answer is:
risotto
'food' is the definition.
(risotto is a kind of food)
'riots to spread' is the wordplay.
'spread' indicates anagramming the letters.
'riots'+'to'='riotsto'
'riotsto' with letters rearranged gives 'RISOTTO'.
(Other definitions for risotto that I've seen before include "dishy thing!" , "Italian dish of rice, meat and vegetables" , "Savoury rice dish" , "It has roots in Italian rice-based dish" , "Rice/stock dish" .)