Heaps of food in the ship (6)
I believe the answer is:
stacks
'heaps' is the definition.
(I know this)
'food in the ship' is the wordplay.
'food' becomes 'tack' (I've seen this before).
'in the' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ship' becomes 'SS' (prefix in ship names eg SS Great Britain).
'tack' inserted within 'ss' is 'STACKS'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for stacks that I've seen before include "Orderly heaps as of hay" , "bags?" , "Large tall chimneys" , "Tons" , "Ricks" .)