People accept half a loaf as something to eat (5)
I believe the answer is:
melon
'something to eat' is the definition.
(melon is a kind of food)
'people accept half a loaf' is the wordplay.
'people' becomes 'men' (men are people).
'accept' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'half a' indicates taking half.
'loaf' with half the letters taken is 'lo'.
'men' going around 'lo' is 'MELON'.
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for melon that I've seen before include "Sweet juicy gourd" , "Type of pepo" , "Large vine fruit" , "Sweet juicy fruit" , "US profits" .)