'Ello. I myself am a voraphile and joined for the sole purpose of replying to this thread. If I don't write an entire essay, I haven't done voraphilia justice. xP
Anyway, as people have said, voraphilia is a desire to eat or be eaten whole and alive. The other 'harmless' food-- cakes and such-- is a different fetish known as 'stuffing.' Most stuffing stories involve cleaning out a buffet and such. Anyway.
Vore can come from many sources, and very few voraphiles actually know WHY they like it, myself included. Even a lot of psychologists are baffled.
Anyway, vores HATE to be called 'cannibals,' because we'll argue that about 99% of the time, the species are different, even if it's a muttgirl eating a catgirl (thus, both are mostly human).
Only about 50% (and yes, I'm pulling these numbers out of thin air, or personal experience) actually like it 'erotically.' I will confess-- I'm one of them. The other 50% merely think of it as a friendly glomp, almost like a hug from the inside.
People also have unique preferences as to predator and prey-- some love nagas (people that are snake from the waist down) as pred (rather common) or perhaps mermaids as pred OR prey.
Vore is almost a different fetish for every person, but it's safe to say that most like soft (swallowing, no chewing), sexy vore, digestion optional.
HA. Thought that was the end. But no. That brings me to my next point: digestion. Digestion is pretty much split around 50/50. Some like it, some like 'containment vore,' and some like to be digested, but reformed.
Sometimes a person's voraphilic taste will come from an inferiority complex and a liking for the other gender to be superior, which will most of the time result in a prey-loving vorie, while some like to be dominant and superior, strong, which will usually like to be pred-using. There are also many that don't mind doing either.
If a person is accepting, it is possible to convert them to voraphilism (though, don't get me wrong, we're not a religion, but you get my point, no?). This I've done with my girlfriend, which works out great for me. ^.^;; Awright, I'm done.