Time to tuck into food giving lead, perhaps ... (5)
I believe the answer is:
metal
'lead perhaps' is the definition.
(lead is a kind of metal)
'time to tuck into food' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't'.
'to tuck into' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'food' becomes 'meal' (meal is a kind of food**).
't' going within 'meal' is 'METAL'.
'giving' is the link.
(Other definitions for metal that I've seen before include "Element eg for road or rail" , "Intrinsic quality; stone for roads" , "Silver or gold, say" , "Copper or gold, say" , "Iron, for instance" .)