Returning as soon as possible -- about time for some food! (5)
I believe the answer is:
pasta
'some food' is the definition.
(pasta is a kind of food)
'returning as soon as possible about time' is the wordplay.
'returning' says the letters should be written backwards.
'as soon as possible' becomes 'ASAP' (abbreviation).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'asap' enclosing 't' is 'atsap'.
'atsap' written backwards gives 'PASTA'.
'for' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for pasta that I've seen before include "Italian cooking staple" , "The stuff of spaghetti, macaroni etc" , "Staple food of Italian origin" , "eg Macaroni" , "Shaped and dried dough" .)