Looking around for five in need of food (8)
I believe the answer is:
starving
'in need of food' is the definition.
'looking around for five' is the wordplay.
'looking' becomes 'staring' (staring is a kind of looking).
'around' is an insertion indicator.
'for five' becomes 'v' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'staring' going around 'v' is 'STARVING'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for starving that I've seen before include "feeling famished" , "certainly not scoffing" , "Ravenous, really hungry" , "Suffering from lack of food" , "Dying of hunger" .)