Our Gemara on Amud Aleph quotes a verse (Vayikra 11:2) which is the introduction to the Torah’s list of kosher and non-kosher animals:

“These are the living things (chaya) which you may eat among all the beasts (beheima).”

Hebrew can be ambiguous. “Living things” can be read as “life things.” In addition, the Zohar (Shemini 41a) notes the discrepancy between the beginning of the verse. It starts with wild animals (chaya) and ends with (beheima), so perhaps the first part of the verse is a different idea. The Zohar says this verse is not just about kosher but about life force. God says to avoid eating impure matters so that one may be attached to Him and become more alive.

The nourishment and sustenance drawn from the food alludes to the idea that on a cosmic scale there is energy that is extracted from food to bring life. Rav Klonymos Kalman (Maor V’shemesh Shemini) explains this further according to the mystical idea that embedded in all physical matter are Godly elements that became trapped in the physical world. Eating kosher provides a spiritual conduit to properly liberate these sparks and bring them back to God. He even sees the split hooves as an allusion to the breakthrough that can happen when the physical bonds are split and the spiritual energy is released.

Digestion of food itself is a process of deriving energy from breaking the molecular bonds. And on a grand scale, breaking atoms releases massive amounts of energy, as seen in a nuclear explosion.

These metaphorical ideas are so close to reality that they aren’t merely metaphors, but rather dimensions of process. The scientific fact is that the physical world has enormous amounts of energy stored within its matter; the religious mystical overlay is that this energy is a Godly life force that we liberate when used properly.

Modern science only tells us facts, but religion tells us meaning. For example, a mother nurses and coos at her baby. Science can tell you the hormonal and pheromonal cocktails that are flowing in the baby and mother, and how it creates bonding. What it feels like for the mother and baby is in the realm of psychology and poetry, and what it means is in the realm of religion. Similarly, you could analyze the mathematics and combinations of sounds in a musical composition based on music theory, but that is not the experience of listening to the song, nor what it might inspire.