Question:
Will we need to eat food in the future era, or will physical sustenance no longer be necessary?
Answer:
Until the era of Techiyas HaMeisim (the Resurrection of the Dead), even during Yemos HaMashiach (the Days of the Messiah), we will continue to eat and rely on physical food. However, after the resurrection, there will be no need for eating or drinking.
If you ask, “What will sustain us then?”—the answer is that the body will draw its life-force from the revelation of divine light. In short, physical sustenance will be replaced by spiritual nourishment, as the body will be energized and sustained by the radiance of G-dly revelation rather than material food.
Sources: See Mamarei Admur Hazakein 5768 Vol. 2 p. 687 “During Yemos HaMashiach (the Days of the Messiah), the world will remain physical in every respect, just as it is now. As our Sages said: “There is no difference between the present time and the Days of the Messiah except for the end of subjugation to foreign kingdoms.” The natural order of the world will remain unchanged. However, in the era of resurrection, spirituality will dominate the physical world. This means that physicality will be stripped away from all things. Even man, who is now physical, will become spiritual in such a way that his sustenance will no longer be physical at all. The resurrection itself demonstrates this, for the essence of the bones of the dead will be revived: the bones lying in the earth will be covered with skin and flesh and will live again. This is the opposite of the natural order, but it will occur because at that time there will be a revelation of divine light in the physical realm at an exalted level, so that a physical body will receive its life-force from divine light rather than from any material source. As our Sages taught on the verse “For Your dew is a dew of lights”—this refers to the dew that will revive the dead. The Zohar calls it Tal D’Bedolah, the dew that flows from Atikah (the Ancient One), which will serve as the true source of life for physical bodies. This is the essential difference between the Days of the Messiah and the era of resurrection in simple terms. The root of the matter lies in the fact that the world exists for six thousand years until the time of the Messiah…