They are missing food with pained expressions (2-5)

I believe the answer is:

no-shows

'they are missing' is the definition.
(a no-show is someone missing from an event)

'food with pained expressions' is the wordplay.
'food' becomes 'nosh' (nosh is a kind of food).
'with' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'pained expressions' becomes 'ows' (ow is an expression of pain).
'nosh'+'ows'='NO-SHOWS'

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.

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