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Aims and objectives. To explore and describe the experience of eating and eating-related difficulties in stroke survivors living at home.Background. The ability to consume food and to take pleasure in eating is anessential part of life. For people with stroke, eating difficulties are frequent. Aphenomenological perspective of stroke survivors’ experience of eating difficultiesexceeding the acute stroke event and in-hospital rehabilitation is missing.Design. A qualitative study founded on the Husslarian descriptive phenomenology.Methods. Colaizzi’s seven phases of data analysis provided a systematic approachto explore 17 in-depth interviews from seven participants and how eating difficul-ties influenced their daily lives.Results. Eating difficulties revealed themselves in participants’ relationship with theouter world in far-reaching disruptions of habits, capacities and actions. Four keythemesilluminatingtheeatingdifficultiesemerged:(1)preservingdignitybynotconvey-ing serious problems, (2) staying vigilant to bodily limitations, (3) stepping out of thesecurity zone and (4) moving on without missing out. The findings exposed that eatingdifficulties might not only lead to serious consequences such as malnutrition but also,andequallyimportantly,leadtolossesintheexistential, socialandculturallifeworld.Conclusions. The experience of eating difficulties entails an ongoing readjustmentprocess, which is strongly influenced by interactions with other people. The find-ings suggest that individualised long-term support is needed to facilitated the useof helpful strategies to manage eating difficulties.Relevance to clinical practice. The long-term losses that people with eating diffi-culties experience are not reflected in conventional screening tools and interven-tions. To avoid haphazard identification presupposes professional knowledge ofhow eating difficulties are woven into daily life. This knowledge may informinnovative nursing strategies reaching beyond immediate rehabilitation. Partner-ship-based practice may provide an important framework to establish uniqueneeds and to mobilise relevant actions and resources.Key words: adult nursing, eating problems, nurse–patient relationship, phenome-nology, rehabilitation, strokeWhat does this study contribute tothe wider global clinicalcommunity?