The pig sat twirling food in long strands (9)
I believe the answer is:
spaghetti
'food in long strands' is the definition.
(strand-like pasta)
'the pig sat twirling' is the wordplay.
'twirling' indicates anagramming the letters.
'the'+'pig'+'sat'='thepigsat'
'thepigsat' anagrammed gives 'SPAGHETTI'.
(Other definitions for spaghetti that I've seen before include "Birmingham interchange" , "Stranded fare" , "Long thin pasta" , "Variety of pasta" , "Italian food" .)