Number gathered round American church for food (5)
I believe the answer is:
nacho
'food' is the definition.
(nacho is a kind of food)
'number gathered round american church' is the wordplay.
'number' becomes 'no' (abbreviation for 'number').
'gathered round' indicates putting letters inside.
'american' becomes 'a' (common abbreviation - e.g. in organisation names).
'church' becomes 'ch' (common abbreviation**).
'a'+'ch'='ach'
'no' going around 'ach' is 'NACHO'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for nacho that I've seen before include "Something consumed" , "Mexican tortilla chip" , "Mexican snack item" , "chip production line unit" , "kind of chip" .)