What you are referring to here is an eating method called Fletcherizing made famous (to modern Western Society) by Horace Fletcher though obviously chewing for humans, since it's a natural process, is as old as when humanity first had teeth :)

The idea with this approach is, as you rightly point out, that you chew your food until it is completely liquid before swallowing it. A more practical approach (in my view) is that you chew your food until the taste and texture is gone before you swallow it.

I've been rather a fan of this method of eating for some years now though I haven't always kept it going consistently either. There are enormous benefits to the body (physical and non-physical) if you are able to make this way of eating a habit.

Consider that there are two main purposes for food...

1. Food has a physical purpose

This is as mainstream medicine suggests in that the physical body needs various nutrients in order to function. And the physical body is remarkably adept, more than mainstream medicine currently acknowledges, at extracting whatever it needs from whatever you give it.

I remember Abraham once remarking that eating cardboard boxes would provide enough bodily nutrition if you had no beliefs opposing that idea. They, in conversation with Jerry Hicks, have also talked another time of a man who lived exclusively from drinking beer and his body was apparently able to function normally.

If you are able to get into a good-feeling place before eating then your body will naturally nudge you towards foods that it can extract nutrients from. You will be giving the body exactly what it needs when it needs it.

Consider, however, what most people do these days...they get themselves into a bad-feeling place and then grab something to eat, mostly to comfort that bad feeling. Whoops :) No wonder so many have a bad relationship with food.

How does this physical purpose of food fit in with chewing?

It's because your stomach doesn't have teeth :)

When you chew your food extremely well, it starts the digestive process within your mouth itself which then speeds up the process of nutrient extraction within the stomach when the food reaches there.

And that chewing also helps to provide the additional benefit of a feeling of satisfaction and fullness so one finds it difficult and unnecessary to overeat. Bashar has mentioned on a few occasions that a lighter diet is very helpful to bodily health.

2. Food has a non-physical purpose

Now this is the important bit that gets overlooked by so many...

The taste of what you eat provides you with a Non-Physical satisfaction.

If it didn't, we would literally all be eating flavorless cardboard boxes and be happy with doing so.

But instead we have a vast culinary industry devoted to making food as tasty and palatable as possible...and that's because there's a part of us that needs the food that way.

So what's the best way then to extract maximum taste from food?

Yes, it's chewing it as much as possible :)

When you skip or neglect the chewing process of taste extraction, you are depriving your Non-Physical body of the joy of eating food...and joy is why we're all here anyway.

So how to master chewing?

Chewing is really a physical habit like any other physical habit so all the usual physical habit ideas apply.

But that's not as easy as it sounds with food. Over quite a few years, sometimes I'm able to keep that habit going and other times I'm back to swallowing large chunks like most everyone else does.

The way to make the chewing habit stick repeatedly and consistently is to always eat in silence, in a calm or good-feeling state, with your complete attention on the food you are eating. You will then be able to focus on every bite and you'll be amazed how much flavor and pleasure there is in every mouthful.

That's the ideal situation.

The tricky part is that modern society doesn't allow us that uninterrupted ideal situation, unless you manage to mostly cut yourself off from it and those within it.

Food is so often treated as a socializing tool to enhance relationships with others, or a chore if we have a busy schedule. We rarely get a chance to focus exclusively (meditatively) on the food we are putting into our bodies. And it doesn't help that we are required to carry out the eating process multiple times in a day :)

That's the bit I also have problems with and why my own chewing habit comes and goes over months/years. But, at least, the awareness of the importance of chewing keeps it coming back into my life when something happens to make me realize I've lost the habit again.

So, to sum up, I think the chewing habit is an ideal to be aimed at repeatedly rather than something to berate yourself over :)