Pulses not initially seen as food (4)
I believe the answer is:
eats
'food' is the definition.
(eats is a kind of food)
'pulses not initially' is the wordplay.
'pulses' becomes 'beats' ('beat' can be a synonym of 'pulse').
'not initially' means to remove the first letter.
'beats' with its initial letter taken off is 'EATS'.
'seen as' is the link.
(Other definitions for eats that I've seen before include "what is on the Christmas menu" , "Chews" , "Sate (anag.)" , "Provisions" , "Scoff" .)